Stop That Tank! is organized into two separate sections: the first animated section lasting three minutes, 15 seconds is a comedic demonstration of the anti-tank gun in an anti-Nazi propaganda "sketch", while the second longer section uses both cartoon animation and live action sequences to demonstrate proper use and handling of the Mk.1 Boys Anti-Tank Rifle.[3]
Plot
An armada of Nazi German tanks, led by Adolf Hitlerder Fuehrer, approaches a town, with Hitler announcing, "the enemy is asleep" and ordering his troops to "give 'em the works". The tanks rush forward, firing into the sleepy town.
CamouflagedCanadian soldiers, equipped with the Boys Mk.1 rifle, start to emerge from various secret positions to stop the advancing tanks, hitting them repeatedly with accurate rounds. Hitler's tank receives a direct hit from the Canadian troops' fire and tumbles straight down into hell. In front of a huge, red, round-faced Devil, Hitler begins throwing an hysterical tantrum on the floor over his defeat. The Devil, shouting over the increasingly loud and irrational tantrum, indicates Hitler believes that against the anti-tank rifle, he cannot win.
The Boys anti-tank rifle is then described in detail through both animated and live action sequences. Using highly detailed schematic views, the design of the .55 calibre anti-tank rifle is analyzed. A demonstration of how to use the weapon stresses the need to accurately aim and "lead" a moving target, locate weak areas on armoured vehicles, and fire effectively at close range. Live action sequences demonstrate loading, firing, reloading, taking the weapon apart, cleaning and maintenance. This footage adds an air of authenticity "by virtues of its photographic realism".[4]
Boys Anti-Tank Rifle
The methodical and precise training section is intersected with moments of comic relief, although these are sparse and further display the educational nature of the film. First, a short, stout soldier attempts to lift the Mk.1 rifle but is not strong enough, and the rifle falls on top of his head and pins him down from the back of his neck. Next, a misjudged shot from the MK.1 Mk.1 rifle hits the backside of a bull in a nearby field, the bull angrily jumps rear end first into a pond and screeching "why don't you shoot where you're looking?" A soldier who underestimates the strength of the internal spring when taking apart his weapon, has the spring comically bouncing out of the magazine into the face of the short soldier from earlier in the film.
Finally, in invoking the old saw, "a rifle is like a woman, treat her right and she will never let you down"; the short soldier cuddles in bed with his Mk.1 rifle, giving it a kiss.
Treatment
Although mainly focussed on the educational and training side of the film, Stop That Tank! contains strong anti-Nazi and anti-Hitler propaganda. Disney cartoonists reduce Hitler to a ridiculous and non-threatening laughing stock drawn as a bulbous, red nosed buffoon, whose tongue flaps and waves from his mouth with flushes of hot breath and saliva. He delivers a Nazi salute and cries "Heil!" to which five faceless and identical soldiers respond with a unanimous "Heil Hitler!" Hitler then begins a speech made up of a string of gibberish and nonsensical noises, punctuated by stereotypical German words such as "sauerkraut" and "schnitzel" which has to be subtitled for the audience to understand.[5]
In Hell, the Devil becomes the audience's translator for Hitler's screamed gibberish and tells the audience that Hitler is screaming, "It isn't fair, I'm being oppressed, and it's an outrage!" This representation of Hitler in hell takes a different approach than other cartoon shorts of the same nature from the war period. For example, in Frank Capra's Private Snafu's "Spies", Hitler is presented as the Devil himself, a looming, evil figure leering over Private Snafu. In Disney's portrayal, the Devil is seen as not as a purely evil entity, but rather the calmer, sensible counterpart to Hitler's hysterical and nonsensical behaviour. From this, Disney has created a version of Hitler who is laughable and is perceived to be easily defeated in order to reassure and boost the confidence of the Canadian soldiers for whom the film is intended.[6]
The style and techniques of creating this tantrum-throwing, childish and incompetent Hitler character were being tested and experimented in early films such as Stop That Tank! and would be later developed in more prominent works such as Der Fuehrer’s Face (1943) and Education for Death (1943). Hitler's ridiculous nature is highlighted in his outlandish and exaggerated movement, which sees him bulging and sweeping across the top of his tank, and later writhing on the ground in Hell, unlike the later Disney anti-Nazi film, Der Fuhrer's Face.[7]
The vaunted Nazi weaponry are also ridiculed, with Nazi tanks depicted as rickety, with their different parts bouncing up and down and coming apart from one another. The tanks develop their own faces to enable them to show their personified terror at the great damage being inflicted on their armoured bodies when, in a frenzied, cowardly retreat, the tanks are almost falling apart in their efforts to run from the bullets of the Canadian Mk.1 rifles.
Boys Anti-Tank Rifle
Stop That Tank! is basically a training film intended to be used in the Canadian Army. The Boys Mk.1 rifles were produced in Canada by John Inglis and Company, and were distinguished primarily from other variants by the flat muzzle brake and V-shaped bipod.[8]
After the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940, the Boys anti-tank rifle had gained the reputation from British and Canadian soldiers as a "jinx" gun, due to its ineffectiveness on German tanks.[9] With the introduction of more heavily armoured German vehicles, the Boys Mk.1 quickly lost its effectiveness as an anti-tank weapon. The recommended firing range was subsequently reduced from 500 yards to 300 yards with its true effectiveness limited to within 100 yards of the target.[10]
Stop That Tank! was not only intended to educate Canadian troops on the operation of the Mk.1 rifle but also put new recruits and existing soldiers at ease regarding doubts about their weaponry.[9] The extended "textbook" style treatment, interspersed with humour as well as a propaganda message, was considered a very effective instructional tool. In a screening for members of the public, civilians felt that they had gained enough information "... to pick up a Mk.1 and blast a German tank out of existence".[11]
Production
With the outbreak of a global war, Walt Disney Studios felt a great pinch in their finances due to the loss of much of their European market - further limited by the Nazi invasion of France in 1940. This meant that the next Disney release Pinocchio (1940) was only dubbed in Spanish and Portuguese, many fewer languages than previous Disney works.[12]
This loss of profit, combined with losses on recent films, meant that Disney studios faced a bleak outlook, with a deficit of over half a million dollars, layoffs and pay cuts for the first time in the studio's history, and a $2.23 million ceiling on their credit allowance. With bleak prospects, the studio was made into a corporation in April 1940, which raised $3.6 million to help pay off debts owed by the studio.[12] To enable his studios to keep afloat and producing films, Walt Disney sought out external funding to cover production costs, which would allow him to keep employees on the payroll and keep the studio working.[4]
In March 1941, Disney invited over three dozen representatives of various national defence industries to a lunch meeting, in an attempt to solicit work from them.[13] He followed this luncheon with formal letters offering work "for national defence industries at cost, and without profit. In making this offer, I am motivated solely by a desire to help as best I can in the present emergency."[14]Four Methods of Flush Riveting (1941) was the first training film made by the studio, commissioned by Lockheed Aircraft.[15]
In response to Disney's efforts, John Grierson, the head of the National Film Board of Canada, entered into a co-production agreement for four animated films to promote the Canadian War Savings Plan.[16] In addition, a training film for the Canadian Army was commissioned, eventually becoming Stop That Tank!.[15]
The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy issued Disney a contract for 20 training films.[14] Later, Disney had contracts totalling 50 training films for the navy, and went on to become the most important producer of training films for the United States military.[17][Note 1]
The style of realistic animation in Stop That Tank! was similar to that of the earlier Disney instructional film, Four Methods of Flush Riveting.[19] The need for accuracy in depicting the Boys Mk.1 and its inner workings necessitated a Mk.1 rifle being shipped from Canada to California for Disney animators to study.[3] After the release of four animated short films that were screened in Canada from November 1941 until early 1942, Stop That Tank! was the first internationally commissioned "technical" film by the Disney Studios and represented a "milestone" in the studio's history.[9]
Reception
Although not intended for a theatrical audience, Stop That Tank! was effective in delivering its message to Canadian troops through the Directorate of Military Training, Department of National Defence (Canada).
In a modern assessment of the film, a reviewer noted: "... comic reliefs were very welcome during the otherwise extremely dry and boring instruction film. However, for contemporary audiences only the opening sequence remains of interest. Its strong and rather vicious propaganda was going to be echoed in a lot of cartoons during the war era."[1]
In a 2015 Popular Mechanics review, Eric Limer described Stop That Tank! as "... an especially good illustration of Disney's instructional work, but Stop that Tank was far from the only example of Disney's more explanatory work during the war. Between 1942 and 1945, Disney contributed footage to dozens upon dozens of films, often in the form of animated maps or diagrams that were plugged in-between lengthier live-action footage. Everything from methods for riveting to a crash-course in meteorology for pilots. While revisiting the more pungent animated propaganda of the time can be a little cringe-inducing, these instructional videos still hold up pretty well. They're educational artifacts about the weapons of a bygone area, as well as remnants of a fascinating partnership."[20]
The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound synchronized cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the 1960s when theatrical animated shorts started to lose popularity to the newer medium of television. Animated media from after the golden age, especially on television, were produced on cheaper budgets and with more limited techniques between the 1960s and 1980s.
Donald Gets Drafted is a 1942 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon has Donald Duck being drafted into the U. S. Army during World War II and follows his introduction to military life. The film was directed by Jack King and introduced the song "The Army's Not the Army Anymore" by Carl Barks and Leigh Harline. The voice cast includes Clarence Nash as Donald, John McLeish as an officer, and Billy Bletcher as Pete who is Donald's drill sergeant.
Der Fuehrer's Face is an American animated anti-Nazi propaganda short film produced by Walt Disney Productions, created in 1942 and released on January 1, 1943 by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon, which features Donald Duck in a nightmare setting working at a factory in Nazi Germany, was made in an effort to sell war bonds and is an example of American propaganda during World War II. The film was directed by Jack Kinney and written by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer. Spike Jones released a version of Oliver Wallace's theme for the short before the film was released.
Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi is an American animated propaganda short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released on January 15, 1943, by RKO Radio Pictures, shown in theaters with Fighting Frontier. The film is directed by Clyde Geronimi and principally animated by Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas, and Bill Tytla. The short is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by American author Gregor Ziemer. The film features the story of Hans, a boy born and raised in Nazi Germany, his indoctrination in the Hitlerjugend, and his eventual march to war.
Hans Fischerkoesen, also known as Hans Fischerkösen or Hans Fischer was a German commercial animator. Fischerkoesen is considered an animation pioneer, due to the inventions and innovations he applied to animation technology, especially the use of three-dimensional elements in his animations. Later he becomes Germany's most influential cartoonist, often nicknamed “Germany’s Walt Disney” alongside Rolf Kauka. He won both first and second prizes at a Dutch-sponsored international competition in 1937, for advertising films. By 1956 he had won major prizes at commercial film festivals in Rome, Milan, Venice, Monte Carlo and Cannes. Most notable was the participation in the 1st Berlin International Film Festival, where Fischerkoesen's film Blick ins Paradies won the Bronze Medal award.
The Boys anti-tank rifle was a British anti-tank rifle used during the Second World War. It was often nicknamed the "elephant gun" by its users due to its size and large 0.55 in (14 mm) bore.
7 Wise Dwarfs is a 1941 four-minute educational short animated film made by the Walt Disney Studios for Walt Disney Productions, for the National Film Board of Canada. The film was released theatrically on December 12, 1941, as part of a series of four films directed at the Canadian public to learn about war bonds during the Second World War. 7 Wise Dwarfs was directed by Richard Lyford and featured the voice talent of Pinto Colvig as "Doc".
Blitz Wolf is a 1942 American animated propaganda short film produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A parody of the Three Little Pigs told via a World War II perspective, the short was directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons but lost to Der Fuehrer's Face, another anti-Nazi World War II parody featuring Donald Duck.
The third wave of Walt Disney Treasures was released on May 18, 2004. It was originally planned to be released in December 2003, but was delayed for almost half a year in order to meet an increased demand with a higher number of tins produced. This wave was the first to have a certificate of authenticity with the individual number of the tin on it, replacing the number embossed on the tin. This was the final wave released with side straps.
Between 1941 and 1945, during World War II, Walt Disney was involved in the production of propaganda films for the U.S. government. The widespread familiarity of Disney's productions benefited the U.S. government in producing pro-American war propaganda in an effort to increase support for the war.
Victory Through Air Power is an American animated documentary propaganda film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists on July 17, 1943. It is based on the 1942 book Victory Through Air Power by Alexander P. de Seversky. De Seversky appeared in the film, an unusual departure from the Disney animated feature films of the time.
World War II changed the possibilities for animation. Prior to the war, animation was mostly seen as a form of family entertainment. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a turning point in its utility. On December 8, 1941, the United States Army began working with Walt Disney at his studio, stationing Military personnel there for the duration of the war. The Army and Disney set about making various types of films for several different audiences. Most films meant for the public included some type of propaganda, while films for the troops included training and education about a given topic.
Home Defense is a 1943 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. The film shows Donald Duck and his three nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie serving as civilian aircraft spotters during World War II. The film was directed by Jack King, Clarence Nash voices the characters.
Reason and Emotion is a propaganda short film by Walt Disney Productions, released on August 28, 1943, by RKO Radio Pictures. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in the same year. The short is eight minutes long.
The Thrifty Pig is a four-minute educational short animated film made by Walt Disney Studios for the National Film Board of Canada. A World War II propaganda film, it was released theatrically on November 19, 1941, as part of a series of four films directed at the Canadian public to learn about war bonds. The Thrifty Pig was directed by Ford Beebe. It is also a remake of the 1933 film of the same name.
All Together is a three-minute educational short animated film made by the Walt Disney Studios, for the National Film Board of Canada. The film was released theatrically on January 13, 1942 as part of a series of four films directed at the Canadian public to buy war bonds during the Second World War.
Donald's Decision is a four-minute educational short animated film made by the Walt Disney Studios, for the National Film Board of Canada. The film was released theatrically on January 11, 1942 as part of a series of four films directed at the Canadian public to buy war bonds during the Second World War.
Letter from Camp Borden is a 17-minute 1941 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the wartime Canada Carries On series. The film was directed by Raymond Spottiswoode and produced by Stuart Legg. Letter from Camp Borden chronicles the experiences in 1941 of a number of soldiers training at the Canadian Army's Camp Borden during wartime.
Events in 1943 in animation.
Events in 1942 in animation.
References
Notes
↑ Disney Studios would eventually make 200 wartime training films.[18]
Citations
1 2 "Stop That Tank!"Dr. Grob's Animation Review, December 2, 2015. Retrieved: March 8, 2016.
Barrier, Michael. Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN978-0-1951-6729-0.
Cheu, Johnson. (Ed.). Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2013. ISBN978-0-7864-4601-8.
Crafton, Donald. Shadow of a Mouse: Performance, Belief, and World-making in Animation. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2012. ISBN978-0-5202-6104-4.
Maltin, Leonard. The Disney Films (4th Edition). New York: JessieFilms Ltd., 2000. ISBN978-0-7868-8527-5.
Shull, Michael S. and David E. Wilt. Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Short Films, 1939-1945 (2nd ed.) Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers, 2004. ISBN978-0-7864-1555-7.
Telotte, J. P. Animating Space: From Mickey to WALL-E. United States: The University Press of Kentucky, 2010. ISBN978-0-8131-2586-2.
Van Riper, Bowdoin A. Learning from Mickey, Donald and Walt: Essays on Disney’s Edutainment films. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2011. ISBN978-0-7864-5957-5.
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