Commando Duck

This Disney propaganda film made towards the end of World War II was designed to raise morale amongst the American troops.

A scared Donald Duck accidentally lands in a Japanese jungle and takes on the troops. You don't see much fighting more the aftermath of broken planes. There's loads of silly and amusing slapstick moments. As you would expect from a film from this time, there are some crass Japanese stereotypes. This is elevated above many of the Disney propaganda films of the time due to excellent animation and some amusing antics from Donald Duck.

The film appears on out of print and fairly expensive On the Front Lines collection and it's one of the best on there. The picture quality is decent, but not amazing. Unless a HD upgrade is released it's as good as you can expect.

This is one of the few Disney shorts to show one of our beloved characters fighting the enemy in combat.

Donald is given a mission to face the enemy and destroy the Japanese airbase on a tropical island.

In order to do this he must travel by river and be on the look out for Crocodiles and Japanese Snippers This task is very risky for a soldier to do specially for Donald.

This here is yet another great WW2 Donald Duck short.

Please that this is one of the many Disney shorts banned due to it having Japanese as the enemy and making them look very gullible and sneaky. So those who are Japanese might find this short offensive.

You're able to see it off of the Disney Treasures Front Line Box Set.

The heavily supplied "Donald" must head to a Japanese airbase on a remote island. There he is to surround and wipe them all out...! Well narrowly avoiding a couple of crocodiles upon landing, he sets off on his mission whilst the vocals of his well camouflaged enemy indulge in some stereotyping pidgin-dialogue about only shooting people in the back. Quickly, "Donald" realises that his inflatable dinghy isn't bullet proof, nor is it much use on waterfalls either, especially when more and more full of water and expanding exponentially - though the resulting inundation clearly has it's uses. Cartoons were regularly used as propaganda tools, but I rarely remember one quite this aggressive. Not just in the animation, itself, but in the whole presentation. Somehow, even the perilous antics of the duck didn't inject much humour into this and I didn't love it.

Disney and Donald Duck are a perfect combination when it comes to animation. Commando Duck is simply wonderful, and one of Disney's best World War 2 shorts. True it does stereotype the Japanese and in a way that not everybody is going to find gratifying. But actually I wasn't offended by the stereotyping and I love their sense of humour, their one-liners are a definite highlight of Commando Duck. Donald is a great and charismatic lead character, one who you feel for and understand his frustration and predicament. The animation is beautifully done, with colourful backgrounds and I loved how the washed down air-planes look like something from a Salvador Dali painting. The music is rousing and nimbly orchestrated, while the one-liners and gags, mainly from Donald accomplishing his goals quite by accident, make for great and very inventive(especially the solution to how Donald will destroy the base).

All in all, one of the best Disney WW2 shorts and extremely entertaining. 9/10 Bethany Cox

"Commando Duck" is a cartoon I can almost guarantee you won't see on television. This is because it's a WWII propaganda cartoon and nowadays the cartoon wouldn't make a lot of sense. Plus, it offers some stereotypes of the Japanese that probably make the Disney folks nervous. But it WAS WWII and the Japanese military machine was evil--so it isn't like the cartoon takes any serious risks! If you do want to see it, you can find it either at archive.org or on the set "Walt Disney Treasures - The Chronological Donald, Volume Two"--though in the latter case, it's a bit buried on the DVD so you have to look carefully.

I actually used to show this cartoon as well as the stupendous "Der Fuehrer's Face" because they took a humorous look at the war and offer insight into the times. "Commando Duck" finds Donald about to be parachuted in behind enemy lines*. His job is to destroy the Japanese airfield--all by himself. While this seems like an insane task, our heroic duck accepts the challenge. What's to become of poor Donald? While this is a not a great Donald Duck cartoon, it is very well animated and delivers a propaganda message in a fun and enjoyable manner.