Peace on Earth (1939 film)
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Peace on Earth is a 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon short subject directed by Hugh Harman, about a post-apocalyptic world populated by animals.
According to Hugh Harman's obituary in the New York Times[1] and Ben Mankiewicz, host of Turner Classic Movies Cartoon Alley, the cartoon was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. However, it doesn't appear listed on the Nomination Database[2]. Mankiewicz also claimed that the cartoon was the first cartoon about a serious subject by a major studio. In 1994 it was voted #40 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. It was also nominated for the 1939 Academy Award for Short Subjects (Cartoons), but lost to The Ugly Duckling, a Silly Symphonies short by Disney.
The plot revolves around two young animals, in this case squirrels, asking their grandfather on Christmas Eve what the "men" are in the lyric "Peace on Earth, good will to men." The grandfather squirrel then tells them a rotoscoped history of the human race, focusing on the neverending wars men waged. But ultimately the wars do end, with the death of the last man on Earth, a soldier.
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera remade the cartoon in CinemaScope in 1955. The new version, entitled Good Will to Men, was also nominated for the Best Short Subjects Oscar.
The 1939 short features an original song sung to the tune of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
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