Der Fuehrer's Face

An oom-pah band{{snd}}composed of Axis powers leaders Joseph Goebbels on the trombone, Heinrich Himmler on the snare drum, Hideki Tojo on the sousaphone, Hermann Göring on the piccolo and Benito Mussolini on the bass drum{{snd}}marches while singing the virtues of the Nazi doctrine. They are in a caricature of a German town, where the trees, windmill blades, fences, telephone poles and clouds are all shaped like swastikas, while the houses resemble Adolf Hitler's face.

Donald Duck, apparently a German citizen in this world, is awoken by his pickelhaube-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 the Nazi salute and crows "Heil Hitler". Passing by Donald's house, the band members poke him out of bed with a bayonet. Donald faces and salutes the portraits of Hitler, Hirohito, and Mussolini, then tries to go back to bed, only for someone to splash him with water while yelling angrily in German.

Donald goes to make breakfast. Because of wartime 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-flavored breath spray. The band shoves a copy of Mein Kampf in 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 Göring kicking him.

Image:Ducknazi.jpg

Upon arriving at the factory (at bayonet-point), Donald starts his "48 hours a day" shift of screwing caps onto artillery shells on an assembly line. Mixed in with the shells are portraits of Der 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 the Charlie Chaplin comedy Modern 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 the Aryan race and 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 the Alps. 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 from Dumbo).

When the hallucinations are cleared, 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 actually the shadow of a miniature Statue of Liberty on his windowsill. Donald realizes that the whole thing was a dream and he lives in the United States. He kisses and 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 words The End.

• Clarence Nash as Donald Duck
• Cliff Edwards as Nazi lead singer
• Charles Judels as Off-stage Nazi{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Keith |title=Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2 |date=3 October 2022 |publisher=BearManor Media |language=en}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Der Fuehrer's Face

| cover = Derfuehrersfaceposter.JPG

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Spike Jones and His City Slickers

| album =

| released =

| format =

| recorded = 1942

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

| length =

| label =

| writer = Oliver Wallace

| producer =

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title =

| next_year =

}}

Before the film's release, the popular band Spike Jones and His City Slickers, noted for their parodies of popular songs of the time, released a version of Oliver Wallace's theme song, "Der Fuehrer's Face" (also known informally as "The Nazi Song"), itself a parody of the Horst-Wessel-Lied, in September 1942 on RCA Victor Bluebird Records #11586.{{cite news |author= |title=The Week's Best Releases |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQwEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Der+Fuehrer%27s+Face%22&pg=PT62 |newspaper=Billboard |page=66 |date=September 26, 1942 |access-date=June 17, 2014}} Unlike the version in the cartoon, some Spike Jones versions contain the sound effect of an instrument he called the "birdaphone", a rubber razzer (also known as the Bronx Cheer){{Cite web | url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1633240/m1/#track/5 | title = Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #5 | year = 1972 | website=Digital.library.unt.edu}} 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 of Donald Duck throwing 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 delivered suggesting the prevalence of epicenes among 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2004/03/03/2004-03-03_scorn_and_disdain_spike_jone.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408091714/https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2004/03/03/2004-03-03_scorn_and_disdain_spike_jone.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 8, 2009|title=SCORN AND DISDAIN SPIKE JONES GIFFS HITLER DER OLD BIRDAPHONE, 1942|website=New York Daily News|date=April 8, 2009}}{{cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |title=Pop Memories 1890-1954 |year=1986 |publisher=Record Research, Inc. |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |isbn=0-89820-083-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/242 242] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/242}}

• Johnny Bond recorded the song in July 1942 on the OKeh label.{{cite web |url=http://countrydiscoghraphy2.blogspot.ca/2015/02/johnny-bond.html |title=Praguefrank's Country Music Discography: Johnny Bond|website=Countrydiscography2.blogspot.ca |date=19 February 2015 |access-date=11 December 2015}}
• Arthur Fields recorded the song in July 1942 on the Hit Records label.{{Citation |last=Arthur Fields |title=Der Fuehrer's Face |date=July 1942 |url=https://archive.org/details/78_der-fuehrers-face_arthur-fields-oliver-wallace_gbia0011320a |access-date=2025-02-01 |others=Internet Archive |publisher=Hit |language=English |last2=Oliver Wallace}}
• Tommy Trinder recorded the song in the United Kingdom soon after the cartoon's release.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umYO28mRcZA|title=Der Fuehrer's Face|date=18 June 2018 |access-date=21 January 2022|via=YouTube}}
• Harry Turtledove adapted the song in one of his Colonization novels, in tune with the novel's theme of an alternate history alien invasion during World War II.

File:FourFavorites1101.jpg

Although the film portrays events in Nazi Germany, its release came while the United States also was on total war footing. Coffee, meat and food oils were being rationed, civilians were heavily employed in military production, and propaganda 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.Van Riper, A. Bowdoin (2011) Learning from Mickey, Donald and Walt: Essays on Disney's Edutainment Films

In 2010, Der Fuehrer's Face was ruled by a local court in Kamchatka, Russia to 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.{{cite news |last1=Kozlov |first1=Vladimir |title=Oscar-Winning Donald Duck Short About Nazi Germany Taken Off Russia's List of Extremist Material |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscar-winning-donald-duck-short-913151 |access-date=21 July 2016 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=21 July 2016}}

• In August 1943, the cover of the comic book Four Favorites #11 depicted The Unknown Soldier, Captain Courageous, Lightning, Magno, and Magno's sidekick Davey all singing "Right in Der Fuehrer's face!" while an anthropomorphic war bond simultaneously knocks out Hirohito, Hitler, and Mussolini in one punch.

The short was released on May 18, 2004 on Walt Disney Treasures: Walt Disney on the Front Lines.{{cite web |title=Walt Disney on the Front Lines DVD Review |url=https://www.dvdizzy.com/onthefrontlines.html |website=Dvdizzy.com |access-date=14 February 2021}}

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

• Young, Jordan R. (2005). Spike Jones Off the Record: The Man Who Murdered Music (3rd edition) Albany: BearManor Media {{ISBN|1-59393-012-7}}.

{{reflist}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• {{Internet Archive|DerFuehrersFace}}
• {{YouTube|dZlFBSRrSR0|Listen to "Der Fuehrer's Face" by Spike Jones}}
• {{IMDb title}}
• {{DisneyAtoZ|title=Der Fuehrer's Face}}
• [http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=359 Der Fuehrer's Face on the Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610020733/http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=359 |date=2016-06-10}}

{{Donald Duck in animation}}

{{Donald Duck World War II|state=collapsed}}

{{Disney World War II propaganda films}}

{{AcademyAwardBestAnimatedShortFilm 1941–1960}}

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Category:1943 American animated short films

Category:Protest songs

Category:Films about Adolf Hitler

Category:Cultural depictions of Benito Mussolini

Category:Cultural depictions of Hermann Göring

Category:Cultural depictions of Joseph Goebbels

Category:Cultural depictions of Heinrich Himmler

Category:Cultural depictions of Hirohito

Category:Cultural depictions of Hideki Tojo

Category:Animation based on real people

Category:American World War II propaganda shorts

Category:Best Animated Short Academy Award winners

Category:1940s Disney animated short films

Category:Donald Duck short films

Category:Films about Nazi Germany

Category:Films about nightmares

Category:Films directed by Jack Kinney

Category:Films produced by Walt Disney

Category:Films scored by Oliver Wallace

Category:Bluebird Records singles

Category:Anti-fascist music