Fall Out - Fall In (1943)

So much average

Instant Favorite.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This is a funny little cartoon where Donald Duck is serving in the military as a private, out on a very long training march. It's funny seeing him grow exhausted as he treads through the desert and snow until he and his fellow solders finally reach their camp. When Donald must follow orders to pitch his tent first before dinner, the tent won't cooperate and results in classic funny Donald frustration. Even during bed time, Donald has trouble with the uncooperative tent and the loud snores of his fellow soldiers. Funny stuff here and it's just classic and hilarious how Donald deals with his mishaps. At the end, Donald shows some great endurance as he almost gets no sleep and is told to march on - strong-willed like a real soldier!Grade A

Donald is now quickly learning the drudgery of the Army (um...isn't this supposed to PROMOTE it?). He's now singing his little song anymore and is quite miserable. His platoon are on some kind of marching mission. A long, long, long trek across valleys, mountains and deserts.He's last in line and is not coping as well as the other troops. And when they finally make a camp Donald misses out on supper because he cannot make his tent. It is rather funny and I always have sympathy for Donald when everything goes wrong (then why am I laughing?) and the music is rather creative, making the most of beats, drums and the marching motif. Quite infectious.

What makes this particular cartoon great is that everyone watching it can empathize with Donald. Donald portrays a WWII army soldier in training. He and his platoon go on a 40-plus mile hike. He goes through all of the emotions which many of the GIs would have experienced. Even if you weren't a soldier, the idea of continually doing something until you're past exhaustion is something we can all relate to. It also shows the folks back home some of what training was like.The animation, especially the backgrounds spoofing John Ford films, is beautifully done.If you'd like to see more cartoons of this type, check out "Walt Disney on the Front Lines." This DVD collection includes over 30 short animation films. In addition, it includes the full-length feature "Victory through Air Power."

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.It's just FALL OUT-FALL IN for poor Private Duck, whose Army experience is becoming nothing but one long march.This World War Two era cartoon features better than average animation and a funny performance from the Duck. Clarence Nash provides Donald with his unique 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 will always pay off.