CINEMA CARTOONS
While working in The Walt Disney Company's studios from 1935 to 1942 Barks was directly involved with 36 animated cartoons (shorts) mostly featuring Donald Duck. Regrettably, Barks was not credited in any of them, because crediting beyond the director's name was just not done in those days. Full credits only started shortly after Barks left Disney! Therefore for years it was not obvious to Barks fans which cartoons he was actually involved with either peripherally or fulltime, but the listings below should cover them all.
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Title: MODERN
INVENTIONS Synopsis: Donald has quite an adventure in an art deco museum of modern inventions, including a run-in with a robotic nurse and a robot barber's chair. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwipkjdb31o Comments: Barks worked with Jack King. - Barks suggested the barber's chair gags and was consequently transferred to the story department. - The film was released as a Mickey Mouse cartoon. |
Title: DONALD'S
OSTRICH Synopsis: When an ostrich named Hortense gets free of her shipping crate and swallows everything in sight, station agent Donald is in for a hilarious day. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su6xeaqRzW8 Comment: Barks worked with Harry Reeves. |
Title: SELF
CONTROL Synopsis: Though he tries to take radio philosopher Uncle Smiley's advice about controlling his temper, Donald flies into a rage when his rest is upset by various pests including a woodpecker and an uncooperative hammock. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiA-ZkWWvNU Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Harry Reeves was a storyman. |
Title: DONALD'S
BETTER SELF Synopsis: Donald is on his way to school when he meets his spirited Better Self and Evil Self who battle over his plans for the day. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDLWbBrvA40 Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Harry Reeves and Tom Armstrong were storymen. |
Title: DONALD'S
NEPHEWS Synopsis: Huey, Dewey, and Louie are sent to visit their Uncle Donald by his sister Dumbella. He attempts to practice child psychology, but it is all for naught as the nephews ruin his house and play all sorts of tricks on him. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mXBEG0sk1E Comments: Barks worked with Jack Hannah and Harry Reeves. - This cartoon marks the first appearance of the nephews in a film. |
Title: GOOD
SCOUTS Synopsis: Donald takes his nephews on a scouting expedition where they have many outdoor adventures including meeting a disagreeable bear and battling the famous geyser Old Faithful. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqUoZApxuj4 Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Harry Reeves and Charles Couch were storymen. - The film was nominated for an Academy Award (an Oscar), but lost to Disney's Ferdinand the Bull. |
Title: DONALD'S
GOLF GAME Synopsis: Donald's attempt to show off his golfing ability to his nephews is defeated by their constant tricks including sneezes, trick clubs and a grasshopper trapped inside a golf ball. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe9_5r6xM8M Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Jack Hannah, Harry Reeves, and Charles Couch were storymen. |
Title: DONALD'S
LUCKY DAY Synopsis: Donald is a messenger boy having a series of mishaps on Friday the 13th. He discovers he is delivering a bomb. When the bomb falls in the water as it explodes, it showers fish about the pier. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m04XSNi6OV8 Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Jack Hannah and Harry Reeves were storymen. |
Title: THE
HOCKEY CHAMP Synopsis: Donald attempts to show off his professional ice hockey abilities to his nephews, but their skill gets the best of him. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhXqL8TZnCI Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Jack Hannah was a storyman. - A scene in which Donald is hanging from a noose in a well was cut but later reinstated. |
Title: DONALD'S
COUSIN GUS Synopsis: Donald's goose cousin, Gus, comes to visit and practically eats him out of house and home. When Donald's attempts to get rid of Gus are unsuccessful, he gives up in disgust. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJYtrCakZ08 Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Jack Hannah was a storyman. - First appearance of Gus in a cartoon. He was only used once more - in a short cameo role as a dancer in Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983). |
Title: SEA
SCOUTS Synopsis: Donald is an admiral on a seagoing voyage with his nephews when they encounter a ravenous shark. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNYePRc8eGQ Comment: Barks served as Story Director. |
Title: DONALD'S
PENGUIN Synopsis: Donald gets a baby penguin as a gift. It causes so much trouble he nearly shoots it, causing it to disappear. Remorseful, Donald is overjoyed to see the penguin return and they hug affectionately. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdPKMokayFo Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Harry Reeves and Charles Couch were storymen. - A scene in which the gun fires by accident was cut. |
Title: THE
AUTOGRAPH HOUND Synopsis: Despite a watchful security guard, Donald manages to sneak into a movie studio to get autographs. But when a watchful security guard catches him - we learn the guard wants Donald's autograph. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcMQiSiMWxA Comments: Barks worked with Jack Hannah. - A number of celebrities were caricatured in this cartoon. Examples: Greta Garbo, Mickey Rooney, Sonja Henie, The Ritz Brothers, Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Charlie McCarthy, Joe E. Lewis, Katherine Hepburn, and the brothers Groucho and Harpo Marx. |
Title: MR.
DUCK STEPS OUT Synopsis: Donald's frustration level is stretched to the limit when he attempts to court Daisy but the nephews keep interfering. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MVlL0nEH5c Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Harry Reeves, Jack Hannah, Milt Schaeffer, and Charles Couch were storymen. - First cartoon appearance of Daisy Duck, if one does not count the Mickey Mouse cartoon Don Donald from 1937, in which Daisy was called Donna. - Strangely, Daisy's voice is identical to Donald's. |
Title: BONE
TROUBLE Synopsis: Pluto steals Butch's bone and gets chased into a carnival hall of mirrors. Although he is frightened by the distorted images, he uses them to his advantage to escape from the bulldog. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv3kxIQSgEY Comments: Barks worked with Jack Kinney. - Barks' first cartoon starring Pluto. |
Title: PUT-PUT
TROUBLES Synopsis: Pluto tangles with a spring coil on land while Donald has trouble starting the outboard motor on his boat. In the finale, the motor clamps on to Donald's tail and drags Pluto surfboard style. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWPgl8E__F8 Comment: Barks did probably not draw the storyboard sketches. |
Title: DONALD'S
VACATION Synopsis: Donald sets up camp in the great outdoors to find peace and relaxation only to have problems with his folding equipment, chipmunks who steal his food and a hungry bear. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DkXBFMt72A Comments: Barks worked with Jack Hannah. - For some unknown reason the very start of Donald's paddling his canoe was cut off. |
Title: WINDOW
CLEANERS Synopsis: Donald is having enough trouble with his helper, Pluto, washing the windows of a tall building when a bee, goaded by Donald, enters the scene and causes total disaster. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHo7q32Hwls Comment: Barks worked with Jack Hannah. |
Title: THE
FIRE CHIEF Synopsis: Fire chief Donald sets fire to his own station house and tries to put it out with a little help from his nephews. When Donald mistakenly attaches the water hose to the gasoline supply, the station and the fire truck explodes. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_0V_xKRpoQ Comment: Barks worked with Jack Hannah, Harry Reeves, Homer Brightman, and Gilles de Trémaudan. |
Title: TIMBER Synopsis: In payment for stealing food, Donald is forced by Black Pete to chop down trees, and he gets involved in close encounters with axes and saws, and a furious chase on railroad handcars. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWgMeMM_i4U Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Jack Hannah was a storyman. - Barks' first cartoon with Black Pete. |
Title: THE
GOLDEN EGGS Synopsis: Donald unsuccessfully disguises himself as a chicken in order to recover a basket full of eggs protected by a rooster. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV5juFWVjF8 Comment: Barks worked with Jack Hannah. |
Title: EARLY
TO BED Synopsis: Donald has a hard time falling asleep, frustrated by a ticking alarm clock and an uncooperative fold-down bed. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLmBX8ZeltA Comment: Barks worked with Jack Hannah. |
Title: TRUANT
OFFICER DONALD Synopsis: Donald tries various methods to force his nephews to go to school. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqvPEdnI8UI Comments: Barks worked with Jack Hannah. - The film was nominated for an Academy Award (an Oscar), but lost to Disney's Lend a Paw. |
Title: OLD
MACDONALD DUCK Synopsis: Donald does chores and feed the chickens and pigs. When he tries to milk a cow, a fly bothers him and his attempts to combat it causes the pail to be upset and Donald to be kicked by the cow. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJvEwsac134 Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Jack Hannah was a storyman. - A part of this cartoon was used in Disney's feature film The Reluctant Dragon as a graphic guide to animation. |
Title: CHEF
DONALD Synopsis: Donald is inspired by a radio program to make waffles but accidentally adds rubber cement to the batter, resulting in so much havoc that he charges off to the radio station to give them a piece of his mind. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoqXzmEYcyU Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Jack Hannah was a storyman. |
Title: THE
VILLAGE SMITHY Synopsis: Donald's pride in his trade is put to the test when he attempts to work with a cartwheel and to shoe Jenny the donkey. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw-FnUXEPEo Comment: Barks scripted this cartoon alone. |
Title: DONALD'S
SNOW FIGHT Synopsis: In retaliation for destroying his fur coat, Donald smashes his nephews' snowmen, instigating an icy war of mousetraps, snowballs and hot coals. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-lIjOWbUFY Comment: Barks served as Story Director. |
Title: DONALD
GETS DRAFTED Synopsis: Donald regrets his army induction order when his sadistic sergeant Black Pete drills him and teaches him discipline. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwjeBL01tz0 Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Jack Hannah was a storyman. - This is the first Disney cartoon with a World War II theme. - In this short we learn Donald's middle name, which is printed on his draft notice (by Barks). His full name, Donald Fauntleroy Duck, is shown on the title screen. - The song The Army's Not the Army Anymore became sort of an unofficial anthem for Donald's wartime pictures. He can also be heard whistling it while he works in The Vanishing Private. |
Title: THE
ARMY MASCOT Synopsis: Pluto yearns to be an army mascot because of the good food they get, and he outwits a goat mascot to get the job. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYF-WPF_Ybw Comment: Barks worked with Jack Hannah. |
Title: THE
VANISHING PRIVATE Synopsis: After Donald camouflages a cannon with invisible paint, Black Pete tries to catch him, so he makes himself invisible. The general sees Pete chasing nothing and puts him in a straitjacket, with Donald guarding him. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jQ32XGavR8 Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Donald sings the song The Army's Not The Army Anymore that was first included in the earlier cartoon Donald Gets Drafted. - Originally, the more violent scenes such as grenades being tossed were often censored. |
Title: SKY
TROOPER Synopsis: Donald takes a flight with Black Pete, but Donald loses his parachute and clings to Pete as they fall, holding on to a bomb that eventually blows up a field. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmz_YveSsf4 Comment: Barks worked with Jack Hannah. |
Title: BELLBOY
DONALD Synopsis: The hotel manager assigns Donald to senator Black Pete, and though he tries to be polite and dignified, Pete's son taunts him and he loses his temper and his job. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCFrhFhFa6I Comment: Barks worked with Jack Hannah. |
Title: THE
OLD ARMY GAME Synopsis: Though Donald is in the army, he enjoys his evenings out by fooling sergeant Black Pete, leaving a snoring record in the barracks. But one evening he is caught, escaping in one of three boxes, which turns into the famous shell game. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiZmgMTkVHo Comments: Barks worked with Jack Hannah. - An essential scene where Donald considers suicide (thinking that he has been cut in half) was sometimes cut out, which made it hard to grasp the following actions. |
Title: HOME
DEFENSE Synopsis: Donald falls asleep at his wartime post as aircraft spotter, and his nephews take advantage of it by frightening him with their toy plane and fake parachutists. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeA4IgDnLIg Comments: Barks worked with Jack Hannah. - Some gun scenes were cut out. |
Title: TROMBONE
TROUBLE Synopsis: The gods Jupiter and Vulcan are disturbed by Black Pete's sour trombone playing. They enlist Donald to get rid of him. But instead, Donald finds the trombone and plays it himself. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkIrdmY3GlQ Comments: Barks served as Story Director. - Jack Hannah was a storyman. |
Title: THE
PLASTICS INVENTOR Synopsis: Donald bakes a plastic airplane, following instructions from the radio. He proudly goes to try it out. But it melts in a rainstorm, coming down on a flock of blackbirds like a pie. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AT1GdI0Rbo Comments: Barks worked with Jack Hannah and Dick Shaw. - The plastics industry was in its infancy back then, producing a weak and brittle plastic, but the material was never so poor that it would melt in water. Obviously Barks did not know that at the time. |
http://www.cbarks.dk/thevideoscinema.htm | Date 2010-11-22 |