Fall Out - Fall In (1943)

This is a funny little cartoon where Donald Duck is serving in the military as a private, out on a very long training march. It's funny seeing him grow exhausted as he treads through the desert and snow until he and his fellow solders finally reach their camp. When Donald must follow orders to pitch his tent first before dinner, the tent won't cooperate and results in classic funny Donald frustration. Even during bed time, Donald has trouble with the uncooperative tent and the loud snores of his fellow soldiers. Funny stuff here and it's just classic and hilarious how Donald deals with his mishaps. At the end, Donald shows some great endurance as he almost gets no sleep and is told to march on - strong-willed like a real soldier!Grade A

Fall Out-Fall In doesn't see Donald getting easily frustrated, temperamental or annoyed and the situations going on around him, which is where his personality is at his best. But we do feel sympathy for him, an approach that has either worked or hasn't, and luckily it does work here. And this sympathy isn't mild or anything, we genuinely feel for him and can really identify with this situation. Fall Out-Fall In with or without this is still a quite outstanding short. The animation is very detailed and beautifully coloured, with the backgrounds particularly evocative. The music has a lot of character and the orchestration is very creative without overpowering. There are some neat gags, mainly revolving around Donald and too many noises. Seeing as I'm having problems with noisy neighbours at night at the moment, I can definitely relate to Donald's trouble with sleeping through all the noise. Donald marching through the seasons is another nice touch, we also feel sympathy for him here and that is not because the short is telling us to. All in all, outstanding and while Donald is against his usual persona he and his situations evoke genuine sympathy. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Donald is now quickly learning the drudgery of the Army (um...isn't this supposed to PROMOTE it?). He's now singing his little song anymore and is quite miserable. His platoon are on some kind of marching mission. A long, long, long trek across valleys, mountains and deserts.He's last in line and is not coping as well as the other troops. And when they finally make a camp Donald misses out on supper because he cannot make his tent. It is rather funny and I always have sympathy for Donald when everything goes wrong (then why am I laughing?) and the music is rather creative, making the most of beats, drums and the marching motif. Quite infectious.

What makes this particular cartoon great is that everyone watching it can empathize with Donald. Donald portrays a WWII army soldier in training. He and his platoon go on a 40-plus mile hike. He goes through all of the emotions which many of the GIs would have experienced. Even if you weren't a soldier, the idea of continually doing something until you're past exhaustion is something we can all relate to. It also shows the folks back home some of what training was like.The animation, especially the backgrounds spoofing John Ford films, is beautifully done.If you'd like to see more cartoons of this type, check out "Walt Disney on the Front Lines." This DVD collection includes over 30 short animation films. In addition, it includes the full-length feature "Victory through Air Power."