Voix de rêve

Donald had to face the reality that no matter what he did, he couldn't get people to accept him seriously because of his voice. How fortunate for him when he finds a street vendor selling voice pills. He has a good thing going but never thinks ahead enough to keep things going. But overall, I was annoyed at the lack of compassion.

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

DONALD'S DREAM VOICE - and all of its benefits - comes from a precious box of little red pills.

There are a lot of laughs in this little film, especially as Donald frantically tries to retrieve the last of his pills. The Duck's splendid new voice is an obvious spoof of velvety-toned English actor Ronald Colman. The story was written by Roy Williams, later to be an important adult member of television's MICKEY MOUSE CLUB in the 1950's. Clarence Nash provides Donald with his ordinary voice.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & 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 comic 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 childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Donald Duck attempts to sell brushes door to door, but because nobody understands his voice, rebukes him. This results in some funny slapstick moments, especially the part where a woman slaps poor Donald after she thought he was mouthing her off. As a result, Donald bought some "voice pills," which turned his quacky voice in a suave one. So, Donald was able to sell enough brushes to use the money to buy Daisy an engagement ring. But, as with bad-luck-prone Donald, things sometimes doesn't go according to plan. However, it's a fun cartoon to see and Donald does bask in some good moments once in a while. The parts where his suave voice suddenly reverts back to his old voice are funny, as is the part where he disguises as a woman to fool a gruff man.

Grade B