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Rating: Donald Duck and Adolf Hitler. Have you ever imagined them together? Walt Disney did, in one of the most unknown and crazy animated shorts ever made.
"Der Fuehrer's Face" was created in 1943, during the Second World War, as part of the anti-Nazi propaganda effort by the United States to motivate entering a war that, presumably, many Americans felt distant. I do not intend to discuss the policy that, later, the United States adopted, ending up helping quite a few war criminals from defeated Germany. Nor do I intend to evaluate the financial aid that the Bank of America gave to a young German party, the Nsdap, in the '30s. An aid that cost one of the bank's major figures, a man of good hopes and a bright future named Prescott Bush, ancestor of George and "Junior" George W., the accusation of collaborationism. Finally, I do not intend (a clear example of preterition) to dwell on the ambiguous positions of Walt Disney himself in the anti-communist field.
What I am eager to tell here is the sheer delirium of a small yet enjoyable piece of work. We see Donald Duck, yes, Donald Duck himself, waking up one fine morning in the Third Reich. From the cuckoo clock emerges a miniaturized Hitler who, instead of "cuckoo," intones the familiar "heil." The haystacks and all other objects around him are shaped like swastikas. A new day begins for Herr Donald, a proficient German citizen. First of all, a glance at "Mein Kampf," the Bible and guiding light for the young Aryan duck. Then, invigorating exercise: doing gym exercises saluting the Fuhrer. Finally, work: assembling progressively larger artillery shells while tirelessly shouting "Heil Hitler." The Nazi salute becomes increasingly frantic, and the missiles improvise a deadly dance until they all explode together. But luckily, it's just a nightmare: Donald Duck wakes up and is still an American citizen.
The short film concludes in a burst of rhetoric, Donald embraces the American flag, and the classic circle of the Silly Symphonies features a grumpy Fuhrer being hit in the face with a ripe tomato. The music, a sarcastic parody of the SS anthems, especially the infamous Horst Wessel Lied, paces the hapless adventures of a duck at the Fuhrer's court. The scene of the artillery shells coming to life surrounding the poor Donald is pure madness and at times recalls the animations from Pink Floyd's "The Wall" by Alan Parker. In this precious document of an era, the ridiculous and pompous appearance of some of the most famous Axis characters, the Italo-Nipponic-German alliance that tried to impose the National Socialist law around the globe, is laughable: we thus see Mussolini, Goering, Hiro Hito parading as extras in a grotesque brass band pushing Donald Duck towards the assembly line where his work will contribute to the cause of the Thousand-Year Reich.
This short film manages to take us straight back to the historical climate of a terrible era and, at the same time, mocks the most grotesque masks of those totalitarianisms that at the time seemed destined to triumph. In hindsight, kissing the US flag can quite rightly seem to us a sign of a patriotism at least questionable, but in the context of the era, they are only a understandable concession to the rhetoric of anti-Nazi propaganda.
Donald Duck and Adolf Hitler, we said. What a pair, folks.
If you can't imagine them together, this visionary short will change your mind. As far as I'm concerned, it's the demonstration of a thesis that is very dear to me: everything can be mixed with everything, provided there are good reasons. And here, without a doubt, there are.
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