All Together

A Walt Disney Commercial Cartoon.

Parading in front of Ottawa's Parliament Building, a collection of Disney characters show they are ALL TOGETHER for buying War Savings Certificates to help win the war against the Axis.

Commissioned by The National Film Board of Canada, this very short little film pulled no punches in its direct message to viewers to support their country's war effort by putting their finances into the fight. For the record, in the parade by order of appearance are: Pinocchio, Geppetto, Figaro, Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey, Louie & Pluto. On a vehicle rides Mickey Mouse, conducting his BAND CONCERT (1935) buddies - including Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar & Goofy - in Bagley's National Emblem March. Bringing up the rear are the Seven Dwarves: Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy & Dopey. Of them all, only Donald speaks and his voice is provided by Clarence `Ducky' Nash.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work will always pay off.

This here is one of the many Disney War Advertisements.

The beginning states that it was shown in Canada because America wanted them to support the war as well as the Americans at home.

All is a parade of Disney characters. With picket signs that show a message that if you and other people buy war bonds together, then you'll see America winning the war.

The downside is they used a lot of reused animation and alter it to make it look different. Probably due to the strike that occurred at Disney Studios during WW2.

It's alright to see. It's available on the Home Front DVD as well as several other shorts.

This is another one of those Disney cartoons that promotes the purchasing of war bonds in order to serve in World War II. Here, a huge cast of Disney characters march on by in support of war service, to the top-tapping "National Emblem" song. The large cast of characters include Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pinocchio, Geppetto, Huey/Duey/Louie, Pluto and The Seven Dwarfs.

Not much of a story here - just another war time advertisement, but it's great seeing the many Disney characters getting together here and with a patriotic song serving as the background music.

Grade B-

All Together is interesting from a historical standpoint, but I am not sure whether it is something that I'd see more than a certain amount of times. There is not that much story here, the short is really dedicated to the Disney characters parading and getting their message across. If you are looking for laugh-a-minute sight gags and whatnot look elsewhere, there isn't really that much humour in All Together as everything is on banner with nothing spoken(Donald is the only character who speaks here) or illustrated. But that doesn't mean All Together is bad, it isn't. Although much of it is recycled, the animation does look beautiful, the use of The Band Concert was really effective. The music is characterful and vibrantly orchestrated as well. And it was a joy to see our favourite Disney characters, not just Mickey, Goofy, Pluto and Donald and his nephews but also Geopetto, Pinocchio and Figaro as well as the Seven Dwarfs, any Disney fanatic will just be in heaven just seeing them. So all in all, not a favourite and I don't think it ever will be but it is a thoroughly decent one. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Using lots of recycled animation (most obviously from The Band Concert) this Disney wartime cartoon, made for screening in Canadian cinemas, is very unsubtle and is more of a frank advertisement than anything else.

It's yet another one of those shorts that does nothing but promote war bonds 4 for 5. I still have no clue what this means despite seeing half a dozen cartoons like this. And it got boring after the first one. It's amazing people still bought war bonds after being bored by cartoons such as this. I would certainly be spending my hard earned dough on myself instead of war bonds. Though if the cartoons got worse I would just buy the bonds to shut them up in the end.

Disney did some shocking and interesting wartime shorts but this the cheapest and most boring I've seen so far.