Der Fuehrer's Face
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Der Fuehrer's Face is a 1942 animated cartoon by Walt Disney Studios starring Donald Duck, as well as a song from that short. Both mock Adolf Hitler.
It was directed by Jack Kinney and released on January 1, 1943 as an anti-Nazi propaganda piece for the American war effort. It won the 1943 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
A brass band (including Hirohito on sousaphone and Mussolini on bass drum) marches through a small German town, singing the virtues of the Nazi doctrine. Passing Donald's house, they poke him out of bed with a bayonet to get ready for work. Because of wartime rationing, his breakfast consists of stale bread, coffee brewed from a single hoarded coffee bean, and a spray that tastes like bacon and eggs. 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.
Upon arriving at the factory (at bayonet-point), Donald starts his 48-hour daily shift screwing caps onto artillery shells in an assembly line. Mixed in with the shells are portraits of the Fuehrer, so he must interrupt his work to do a Hitler salute every time a portrait appears. The pace of the assembly line intensifies, and Donald finds it increasingly hard to complete all the tasks. At the same time, he is bombarded with propaganda messages about the superiority of the Aryan race and the glory of working for The Führer.
After a "paid vacation" that consists of exercising for a few seconds in front of a painted backdrop of the Alps, Donald is ordered to work overtime. He has a nervous breakdown with hallucinations of artillery shells everywhere. When the hallucinations clear he finds himself in his bed—in the United States—and realizes the whole experience was a nightmare.
[edit] History
Before the film's release, the popular band Spike Jones and His City Slickers, noted for their parodies of hot songs of the time, released a version of Oliver Wallace's theme song, "Der Fuehrer's Face" (also known informally as "The Nazi Song"). Unlike the version in the cartoon, some Spike Jones versions contain the rude sound effect of rubber razzers (aka the Bronx Cheer) with each "HEIL!" to show contempt for Hitler. The underlying implication of passing gas in Hitler's face, a very vulgar theme for that time period, illustrates how normal censorship of the public media tends to be relaxed when the subject is an enemy. Jones recorded two versions of the song at the request of RCA Victor Records which released the song on the Bluebird label - one with a trombone note after each "HEIL!" and the other with a razzer called a 'birdaphone'. The birdaphone version was the one released. The success of Jones' record prompted Disney to change the short's title, originally Donald Duck In Nutzi Land, to match the song.
Due to the propagandistic nature of the short, and the depiction of Donald Duck as a Nazi, Disney has kept it out of general circulation since its original release. Der Fuehrer's Face finally received an official U.S. video release in 2004, when it was included in the Walt Disney Treasures limited edition DVD set Walt Disney: On the Front Lines. It also appeared in another Walt Disney Treasures set; The Chronological Donald Volume Two (released in December 2005).
Text of song:
- When der Fuehrer says, "We ist der master race,"
- We HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in der Fuehrer's face!
- Not to love der Fuehrer is a great disgrace,
- So we HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in der Fuehrer's face!
- When Herr Goebbels says, "We own der world und space,"
- We HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in Herr Goebbels' face!
- When Herr Goering says, "They'll never bomb dis place,"
- We HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in Herr Goering's face!
[edit] Other versions
Harry Turtledove adapted the song in one of his Colonization novels, in tune with the novels' theme. See the page on the Race for the lyrics.
Spike sings a short version of the song in the comic book Spike vs. Dracula #3.
In M*A*S*H, in one episode, Hawkeye Pierce goes insane from lack of sleep and sings part of the song to Radar. This is the Spike Jones version, with the raspberries included.
