Movie Review: On the Front Lines - Walt Disney Treasures

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Rare stuff that will fascinate the target audience

Cons: Very little of it has true entertainment value

The Bottom Line:

Historical shows

Targets Disney fanatics

They will eat it up

Disney Goes to War and DisNerds and History Buffs Rejoice

The Disney Treasures DVD sets have been a blessing for fans. Each entry has collected rare stuff from the Disney vault for fans to own. Many of them have focused on the various animated shorts featuring the studios signature characters. But every year they release one or two sets like On the Front Lines, which focuses on the propaganda Disney produced during World War II.

Because he felt the need to help his country, Walt Disney almost bankrupted his company producing stuff for the war effort. Now, we get a chance to see this part of animation history at home on DVD with this two disc set.

Disc 1 features 29 shorts and we've got quite the range here. The most entertaining feature Donald in the army and were recently re-released in the Chronological Donald Volume 2 set. First, he gets drafted. Then he has to learn to deal with life in the army. These feature the humor and slapstick that the Donald cartoons are best known for. Yes, they are propaganda, but they are also entertaining. Even Pluto gets into the act in "Private Pluto," but he fairs better then his fine feathered friend.

Then there are the home front shorts. We're reminded to save our cooking grease to be recycles in "Out of the Frying Pan and into the Firing Line." We are reminded to buy war bonds in "Thrifty Pig" and "Seven Wise Dwarfs." Interestingly enough, some of these sorts were made for Canada prior to the US's entry into the war. Some of these are interesting, but a little goes a long ways. I was bored by the time I made my way through them all.

Also included are some health educational shorts made for South America. They discuss the hazards of mosquitoes, the importance of cleanliness, and eating a balanced diet. Again, they are mildly entertaining, but certainly not worth watching more then once.

The highlights of this disc for the Disney fan and History buff are the most blatant propaganda pieces. All four of these shorts are introduced by series host Leonard Maltin to put them in their proper historical context. First up is "Der Fuehrer's Face" which finds Donald trapped in Nazi Germany, at least for this dream. The effects of Nazi propaganda on youth are shown in "Education for Death." "Reason and Emotion" calls for us to listen to reason and not give in to our fear driven emotion. Finally, "Chicken Little" becomes a war time cautionary tale with a shocking ending. "Der Fuehrer's Face" and "Chicken Little" are entertaining, while the other two and downright scary. I definitely recommend that parents watch all four of these before they let their kids see them.

Disc two's main attraction is "Victory Through Air Power." This feature length movie was produced to bring the arguments of a book by the same name to more people. It makes a compelling argument that the Allies needed to build up their air forces to win the war, arguments about modern warfare that still apply today. The film starts with the history of animation and then shows how it has greatly changed the meaning or war. Mr. Maltin claims that this film did help change FDR's mind on the importance of our fledgling air force.

Disc two also features a few of the educational shorts Disney produced during that time. Frankly, after viewing the two that are included in their entirety, I'm glad that most of them are just highlighted. I don't find watching a film on how to fire a gun or how to flush rivet that entertaining. There are lots of production galleries and even galleries of some project this Disney fan had never heard of before. Finally, we have interviews with Disney veterans Joe Grant, John Hench, and Roy Disney.

This is a set that Disney buffs will want because it fills in some time in the studio's history. It also has interest for historians of all stripes as it presents a picture of life on the home front during World War II. Since the entertainment value of much of the disc is low, I took away one star. I probably won't go back to this set in the near future, but I was fascinated by much of what I saw here and am thrilled that the studio released On the Front Lines so fans can view it today.