Peace on Earth

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Know Hugh Harman more for his cartoons that have a cute approach with a lot of sentiment. There have been times where this approach has been done sweetly and charmingly, there have also been other times where it can be too cutesy and cloying. My review summary is in no way a derogatory knock against Harman, far from it. It is alluding to that 'Peace on Earth' is a Harman cartoon that is darker and grimmer to usual. A more mature Harman cartoon and it's good, great even.

'Peace on Earth' is not what one would call subtle, there is a very important, admirable and powerful message that certainly makes its point and at times in too thick a way perhaps. It is though a message cartoon, meaning that there was always a trap of it being on the preachy side.

Regardless, 'Peace on Earth' makes a big emotional impact. It packs a very poignant punch and really makes one think about what it's trying to say. The beginning and end scenes are cute but not too sentimental, while the darker content in between provokes thought and moves. Story-wise, it's simple but this is a good thing, making the cartoon easier to understand and resonate with.

The characters carry the cartoon beautifully, they look adorable in appearance but show stronger personalities than one would expect. Mel Blanc voices beautifully, this is a less manic Blanc than in his Looney Tunes oeuvre, something that was a perfect fit and the right one.

Animation is rich in detail for design and backgrounds, vibrant in colour and crisp. Composer for the prime-era 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons and regular Tex Avery composer Scott Bradley provides a lush and atmospheric music score.

Overall, great cartoon, as well as being perhaps Harman's most mature cartoon it's one of his best. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This cartoon is one of the finest produced by MGM and hasn't really lost it's impact even after sixty years. Given that the shadows of WWII lurked during its preparation, the thoughts of those involved in its preparation are fairly obvious. Although I understand why The Ugly Duckling won the Oscar (it's a beautifully crafted short and deserved recognition), I wish that this one had won or at least tied. MGM did a reprise on this one in the 1950s called, "Good Will To Men" that was good and well worth seeing, but this one is better. The Cartoon Network runs this one and it's also in print. Well worth your time. Early use of roto-scoping (live footage fimed and then animated) is excellent. Profoundly recommended. Anyone who argues animation isn't an art-form should see this!

This surely has to rank as one of the great "shorts" of all time. Released by MGM at the perfect time - in 1939, with the world poised on the brink of the Second World War - the cartoon portrays a family of squirrels living in an era after humanity has wiped itself out in war, as Grampa Squirrel (voices by Mel Blanc, who would of course become most famous as the voice of Bugs Bunny) attempts to explain to two babies on Christmas Eve why the Christmas song being sung says "peace on earth; goodwill to men." "What are men?" ask the babies, and Grampa Squirrel relates a story that should make all human beings squirm at our hypocrisy as he explains how humans killed each other off, and then relates the discovery by the animals who survived of a book that has a set of rules including "thou shalt not kill."

It's simplicity probably makes this all the more thought-provoking.

When Hugh Harman made PEACE ON EARTH, he intended it to be an ambitious anti-war film. He later said he wanted to make it a longer 2-reel cartoon. Nonetheless it turned out to be one of the greatest and most chilling cartoons to come from Hollywood's animation golden age.

Despite being an anti-war film from the late 1930's, the message isn't very clear, beyond demonstrating man's inability to maintain a peaceful society with animals succeeding after man's demise. There are religious icons sprinkled throughout the film, but there aren't used to preach any messages, as one would suspect from a film of this kind. Their presence in the film also seem vague.

The elder squirrel's recollections of man's war echoes the horrors of World War I, which was still strongly in the public's recollection at the time. In fact, it almost feels like an alternative timeline of WWI.

Harman and Ising were known for trying to compete with Disney. They were really the only men that come close to replicating Disney's polished animation, but storytelling was not their strength. Nonetheless, this is one of Harman's best films. Unlike most Christmas films, this one can be unnerving to some audiences due to its grim war sequences and outcomes. A post-apocalyptic film before the genre even existed (without nuclear weapons obviously).

Remade by Hannah-Barbera in 1955 as GOOD WILL TO MEN with updated horrific war imagery reflecting the Cold War and a more clear cut religious message.

I saw this cartoon exactly once, when I was about 8. Even as a child, I found it compelling; the radarscope battle scenes still show up in my dreams from time to time. As with many childhood memories, one wonders if it will have the same impact when you see it again, as an adult. Well, having fortunately stumbled upon this by accident on the internet, I was pleased to find it did wear well. Of course, knowing as I do now, that this was made in 1939, I can see it as one of the high moments of American Isolationist sentiment and thus, a mistake. But, setting that aside, it is well-intentioned and eloquent. The usually saccharine Hugh Harman rises above his oeuvre here; the squirrels and bunnies have aren't merely cute. The framing device at the begging and end, if typically cute, is arguably necessary; Harman gets the balance right. The remake of this cartoon -- 1955's "Good Will to Men" manages to miss the balance, and just does not have the same impact. "Peace on Earth" was voted one of the Fifty Greatest Cartoons of All Time in 1994. It is said that this cartoon was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, perhaps an apocryphal tale, but one that indicates the significance of "Peace on Earth" really well.