Donald Duck and the Gorilla

Donald Duck and the Gorilla is a Donald Duck Cartoon originally released in 1944. It stars Donald Duck along with his three nephews; Huey, Dewey and Louie and Ajax, the killer gorilla. The 1930 Mickey Mouse cartoon The Gorilla Mystery has a similar plot involving a gorilla named Beppo who captures Minnie Mouse.

Plot

One stormy night, Donald and his nephews overhear the radio announcer, Breckenridge, notify the listeners that a gorilla named Ajax has escaped from the city zoo. The nephews pale with fright, and Donald laughs at them. As a prank, Donald frightens his nephews with gorilla hands to make it seem as if he is Ajax. To get revenge on their uncle, the nephews dress up in a gorilla suit and also eat Donald's lollipop while Donald isn't watching.

At the same time, the real Ajax appears in front of the window and breaks into the house. Ajax lets out a enormous roar, but Donald momentarily assumes that Ajax is the triplets' disguise before spotting them. When the radio says you can master any wild animal by looking them straight in the eye, Donald stares at Ajax's eye; it forms a tombstone reading "Here lies a dead duck". Ajax is about to bite Donald, Donald shoves an umbrella into Ajax's mouth, making Ajax momentarily stop fighting. Donald and his nephews quietly tiptoe away but Donald unfortunately crosses paths with Ajax, and Ajax starts chasing Donald.

Ajax chases Donald through the house, causing a lot of havoc of Donald's house, and they finally meet up on the gateleg table. Ajax pushes the table to try to flatten Donald and bite Donald's tail, but it pokes Ajax in the eye. Amid all these things, with the help of the radio announcer, the nephews use tear gas to stop Ajax, and it successfully subdues Ajax, but affects Donald as well. Tearing up, Ajax and Donald console one another as the cartoon closes.

Releases

VHS

• Cartoon Classics : First Series : Volume 3 : Scary Tales
• Disney's Halloween Treat
• Cartoon Classics : Second Series : Volume 13 : Donald's Scary Tales

Laserdisc

• Cartoon Classics : Scary Tales
• Donald's Scary Tales
• Halloween Haunts

DVD

• Walt Disney Treasures : The Chronological Donald Volume 2
• Mickey's House of Villains

VCD

• Cartoon Classics: Birdbrain Donald (Malaysian Release)

Television

• The Ink and Paint Club : #34 : Donald's Nephews

Technical specifications

• Animation type : Standard
• Sound mix : Mono
• Aspect ratio : 1.37 : 1
• Negative format : 35mm
• Print format : 35mm
• Cinematographic process : Spherical

Notes

• At one point, Donald's tail gives Ajax an eye-poke, one of the signature moves of the Three Stooges.

External links

• Donald Duck and the Gorilla on IMDb