The Spirit of ‘43 — Disney WWII cartoon; restored

During World War II, the Walt Disney Studios produced propaganda and instructional shorts for the United States and other Allied countries.

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[rockerseven]

As a kid, I always loved this because it was Donald Duck.
As an adult, holy crap this is nothing but wartime propoganda!

And it wasn't until recently that I learned the reason Beethoven's 5th is played is because it's the same rhythm as Morse code for the letter "V, " which was a big thing because it meant Victory. And in the doorway after Donald punches his evil side, it makes a V woth the Morse code ...-

When people today complain about Disney getting political (because of being pro-LGBTQ), just show them this, proving Disney has been political since the 40s lol.

[NucleAri]

Thank you for posting this video with high quality, trying to find ones with even alright audio and quality would have been quite difficult otherwise!

[BramGroatFilms]

As a small child, I used to think those tanks were some kind of penguin, and they were the ones singing.

[BramGroatFilms]

I’m used to the public domain version, so it’s weird seeing this in high quality.

For nearly twenty years I’ve wondered what the Idle Club Hour doors closing looks like without the scratch line going across the screen.

[rameybutler-hmnx]

People really do not get how patriotic we as americans were. They think we were just suckers.
But when all americans focus on one thing all hell bust loose.

[SSJKamui]

To be honest, I STRONGLY Suspect Scrooge McDuck is probably the only disney character with a swiss bank account.😂

[VidGamer]

"Just remember: every dollar you spend on something you don't need is a dollar spent to help the Axis."

One could argue that supporting local businesses and economies is just as important.

[jonathanbeshansky]

This one and the one you uploaded for The New Spirit and The Spirit of ‘43 so far are the best versions of each I have found on YouTube to date.

[Thelodis]

Wikipedia for Scrooge McDuck: "Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947".
My first thought is "Then who's this guy?", my second thought is that Scrooge is a cheapskate, so it's only natural that he steals the design of another character.

[sirjanska]

I always found it eerie how closely the characters in this pre-empted Scrooge and Gladstone. Then I learned that the story for the short was penned by Carl Barks himself, the creator of those characters.

[consciouslykonnected]

I watched this all the time as a kid 😂 idk where my parents got this but I used to watch this late 80s & early 90s hahaha

[rockerseven]

2:44 fun fact: The broken pieces form a V and the morse code for the letter V (..._) which stood for "Victory." And the song playing (Beethoven's 5th) starts off with the same rhythm pattern as the morse code V (dun dun dun Something the Allieds used to rally around in WWII.

[danzmitrovich]

I like the old war time cartoons for the spirit of America to work hard and smart about there money during the war

[jusjetz]

0:46 look it’s Scrooge McDuck! In Protoform of course.

[KatieSandell-oo]

Out of all the propaganda cartoons made by Disney, this is my most favorite

[quantumstereotv]

I'm not American but suddenly l feel the need to pay taxes to beat the excess.

[Granimal]

Ngl this shit almost made me want to pay my taxes😂

[Maikonix]

Why was I given this vhs as a 90s child xD wtf parents.

[cesarerizzato]

Man, i wish THIS was a level in epic mickey...

[matthiascronqvist]

They don’t make cartoons like this anymore and haven’t for over 70 years. This is a treasure. Regardless of the context it is something we as a nation will never do again. I as an adult wish so bad we could go back to these types of messages instead of how they do it today. I wish the technology was the same as back then. Life must have been a lot more fun and a lot more dreadful too. This should be in a Disney museum. It should not be put behind a surgeon generals warning for stereotyping. That’s absurd.