Der Fuehrer's Face

Der Fuehrer's Face
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jack Kinney
Story by	Joe Grant Dick Huemer
Produced by	Walt Disney
Starring	Clarence Nash Cliff Edwards Charles Judels
Music by	Oliver Wallace
Animation by	Bob Carlson Les Clark Bill Justice Milt Neil Charles Nichols John Sibley
Layouts by	Don DaGradi Andy Engman
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date	January 1, 1943(1943-01-01)
Running time	8 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Der Fuehrer's Face(originally titledDonald Duck in NutzilandorA Nightmare in Nutziland) is an Americananimatedanti-Nazipropagandashort filmproduced byWalt Disney Productions,created in 1942 and released on January 1, 1943 byRKO Radio Pictures.The cartoon, which featuresDonald Duckin a nightmare setting working at a factory inNazi Germany,was made in an effort to sell war bonds and is an example ofAmerican propaganda during World War II.The film was directed byJack Kinneyand written byJoe GrantandDick Huemer.Spike Jonesreleased a version ofOliver Wallace'sthemefor the short before the film was released.

Der Fuehrer's Facewon theOscarforBest Animated Short Filmat the15th Academy Awards.It is the only Donald Duck film to receive the honor, although eight other films have also been nominated.In 1994, it was voted Number 22 of "the 50 Greatest Cartoons"of all time by members of the animation field.However, because of the propagandistic nature of the short and the depiction of Donald Duck as a Nazi (albeit a deeply reluctant one), Disney kept the film out of general circulation after its original release. Its first home release came in 2004 with the release of thethird wave of the Walt Disney TreasuresDVD sets.

Plot

Anoom-pahband – composed ofAxis powers leadersJoseph Goebbelson the trombone,Heinrich Himmleron the snare drum,Hideki Tojoon the sousaphone,Hermann Goeringon the piccolo andBenito Mussolinion the bass drum – marches while singing the virtues of theNazi doctrine.They are in a caricature of aGermantown, where the trees, windmill blades, fences, telephone poles and clouds are all shaped likeswastikas,while the houses resembleAdolf Hitler's face.

Donald Duck, apparently a German citizen in this world, is awoken by hispickelhaube-wearing alarm clock at 4 a.m. He smashes the clock with his fist. His cuckoo clock chimes with a Hitler-esque bird, only for Donald to throw a shoe at it. The rooster outside does theNazi saluteand crows "Heil Hitler".Passing by Donald's house, the band members poke him out of bed with abayonet.Donald faces and salutes the portraits of Hitler,Hirohito,andBenito Mussolini,then tries to go back to bed, only for someone to splash him with water while yelling angrily inGerman.

Donald goes to make breakfast. Because ofwartime rationing,it consists of bread that's so stale and hard it resembles wood (and must be cut with a saw), coffee brewed from a single hoarded coffee bean, and a bacon-and-egg-flavoredbreath spray.The band shoves a copy ofMein Kampfin front of him for a moment of reading, then marches into his house and escorts him to a factory, with Donald now carrying the bass drum and Goering kicking him.

Donald "heil[s] right in Der Fuehrer's face".

Upon arriving at the factory (at bayonet-point), Donald starts his "48 hours a day" shift of screwing caps ontoartillery shellson an assembly line. Mixed in with the shells are portraits ofDer Fuehrer,so Donald must perform the Nazi salute for each portrait, all while screwing the caps on with his other hand, much to his disgust. Each new batch of shells is of a different size, ranging from individual bullets to massive shells larger than Donald. The pace of the assembly line intensifies (as in theCharlie ChaplincomedyModern Times), and Donald finds it increasingly hard to complete all the tasks. The band's song intermittently resumes, but is now more cynical, saying that Der Fuehrer "lies and rants and raves", the citizens "work like slaves" and that they'd like to see Hitler blown up. A different German-accented voice shouts propaganda messages about the superiority of theAryan raceand the glory of working for Der Fuehrer. When Donald momentarily grumbles in frustration, the guards overhear him and point their bayonets at him, forcing him to fearfully recant his complaints.

Donald has "paid vacation" which consists of forced exercise (contorting his arms into swastika shapes and quickly Nazi-saluting) in front of a painting of theAlps.This only lasts for a few seconds before the voice declares that Donald, "by special decree of Der Fuehrer", must work overtime. The work resumes at an even faster pace while the voice constantly screams orders. Donald has a nervous breakdown with hallucinations of artillery shells, including snake- and bird-shaped shells, army boot shells crushing Donald, and marching band shells that hiss the music. (Some of the animation in this sequence is recycled from the "Pink Elephants on Parade"sequence fromDumbo).

Donald wakes up in another bed (wearing stars-and-stripes patterned pajamas), only to see the shadow of a figure holding its right hand up. Believing it to be a Nazi salute, he begins to do so himself until he sees that it's the shadow of a miniatureStatue of Libertyon his windowsill. Donald realizes that the whole thing was a dream and he lives in theUnited States.He embraces the statue, saying, "Am I glad to be a citizen of the United States of America!"

The short ends with a caricature of Hitler's angry face and a tomato is thrown at it, with the splatter forming the wordsThe End.

Voice cast

• Clarence NashasDonald Duck
• Cliff EdwardsasNazilead singer
• Charles Judelsas Off-stage Nazi

Song

"Der Fuehrer's Face"
SinglebySpike Jonesand His City Slickers
Recorded	1942
Songwriter(s)	Oliver Wallace

Before the film's release, the popular bandSpike Jonesand His City Slickers, noted for their parodies of popular songs of the time, released a version ofOliver Wallace's theme song, "Der Fuehrer's Face" (also known informally as "The Nazi Song" ), itself a parody of theHorst-Wessel-Lied,in September 1942 onRCA VictorBluebird Records#11586.Unlike the version in the cartoon, some Spike Jones versions contain thesound effectof an instrument he called the "birdaphone", a rubber razzer (also known as theBronx Cheer)with each "Heil!" to show contempt for Hitler(instead, the cartoon version features the sound of a tuba). The so-called "Bronx Cheer" was a well-known expression of disgust in that time period and was not deemed obscene or offensive. The sheet music cover bears the image ofDonald Duckthrowing a tomato in Hitler's face. In the Jones version, the chorus line, "Ja, we is the supermen—" is answered by a soloist's "Super-duper super men!" effeminately deliveredsuggesting the prevalence ofepicenesamong Nazis; in the Disney version, these lines are delivered flatly but with effeminate gestures by Hermann Göring. The recording was very popular, peaking at No. 3 on the U.S. chart.

Other versions

• Johnny Bondrecorded the song in July 1942 on the OKeh label.
• Tommy Trinderrecorded the song in theUnited Kingdomsoon after the cartoon's release.
• Harry Turtledoveadapted the song in one of hisColonizationnovels, in tune with the novel's theme of analternate historyalien invasion during World War II.

Four Favorites#11, August 1943

Political themes

Although the film portrays events in Nazi Germany, its release came while theUnited Statesalso was ontotal warfooting. Coffee, meat and food oils were beingrationed,civilians wereheavily employedin military production, andpropaganda in support of the war effort(such as the film itself) was pervasive. The film's criticism therefore emphasizes violence and terror under the Nazi government, as compared with the dull grind that all the warring nations faced.

Censorship

In 2010,Der Fuehrer's Facewas ruled by a local court inKamchatka,Russiato be included in the national list of extremist materials, which was first created in 2002. This was due to a local who received a suspended sentence of six months for uploading it to the internet and "inciting hatred and enmity". In July 2016, another Russian court reversed the ruling of the local court, removing the short film from the list. The court highlighted that the film's portrayal of Nazism through caricature form cannot be deemed "extremist" in nature.

In popular culture

• In August 1943, the cover of the comic bookFour Favorites#11 depictedThe Unknown Soldier,Captain Courageous,Lightning,Magno,and Magno's sidekick Davey all singing "Right in Der Fuehrer's face!" while an anthropomorphicwar bondsimultaneously knocks out Hirohito, Hitler, and Mussolini in one punch.

Home media

The short was released on May 18, 2004 onWalt Disney Treasures: Walt Disney on the Front Lines.

See also

• Education for Death
• Blitz Wolf
• Commando Duck
• List of World War II short films

Further reading

• Young, Jordan R. (2005).Spike Jones Off the Record: The Man Who Murdered Music(3rd edition) Albany: BearManor MediaISBN1-59393-012-7.

External links

• Listen to "Der Fuehrer's Face" by Spike JonesonYouTube
• Der Fuehrer's FaceatIMDb
• Der Fuehrer's FaceatDisney A to Z
• Der Fuehrer's Faceon the Encyclopedia of Disney Animated ShortsArchived2016-06-10 at theWayback Machine