In 1932, Disney became a recognised Hollywood figure, with the production of the first coloured cartoon, entitled “Flowers and Trees” which won Walt the first of his studio's Academy Awards. In 1937, he released “The Old Mill”, the first short subject to utilize the multi-plane camera technique.
On December 21, 1937, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the first full-length animated musical feature, premiered at the Carthay Theater in Los Angeles. The film produced at the unheard cost of $1,499,000 during the depths of the Depression, the film is still considered one of the great feats and imperishable monuments of the motion picture industry. During the next five years, Walt Disney Studios completed other full-length animated classics such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi and Dumbo.
Shortly after the release of Dumbo in October 1941, the United States entered World War II., It was during this time that people rapidly caught on to Disney’s creative approach to generating educational films, and propaganda. In 1942, Walt Disney was approached with requests from the US services such as the The Navy, the Army, the Air Force, the Department of Agriculture, and the Treasury Department, to accomplish educational graphics of servicemen and civilians for the cause of the war. The Navy first requested 90,000 feet of film to be ready in three months. The purpose of these films was to educate sailors on navigation tactics. This was a shock for Disney, as he was used to creating 27,000 feet of film in a year. Therefore, Over 90% of Disney employees were devoted to the production of creating propaganda. Throughout the duration of the war, Disney produced over 400,000 feet of educational war films, which is equal to 68 hours of continuous film.
Aerology film production requested Disney to produce a propaganda film for air warfare. Disney came up with "Victory Through Air Power" . The characters in the animated film humorously tells about the development of air warfare and then switches to the Major illustrating how his ideas could win the war for the allies.
Disney created “The New Spirit” after a request from the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, Jr, to make Americans accept the payment of income taxes. The film was edited into “The Spirit of '43” . In this inspirational film, Donald Duck deals with income taxes and shows their benefit to the American war effort. The film was seen by 26 million people. In a later Gallup poll 37% admitted that the film played a factor on their willingness to pay taxes. Disney also made a book for children to try to encourage them to purchase War Savings stamps.
Walt Disney also created a number of anti-German and anti-Japanese films for both the soldiers and the US public. He wanted to portray these countries and their leaders as manipulative without morals. A few of the films he produced were "Der Fuehrer's Face” “Education for Death- The Making of a Nazi” and “Commando Duck"
In “Der Fuehrer’s Face,” Donald Duck breaks down after experiencing a nightmare where he has to make do with eating disgusting Nazi food rations and experiences a day at a Nazi artillery factory. “Education for Death- The Making of a Nazi” was a wartime propaganda film that takes on the perspective of Hans, a young German boy. As the movie progresses and Hans is exposed to Hitler and the Nazi culture, his value of human life decreases. In “Commando Duck”, Donald, by himself, destroys an entire Japanese airbase.
As well as producing films for different government divisions, from 1942 to 1943 Disney was asked to create animation for a series of pictures produced by Colonel Frank Capra for the US Army.This series included films such as “Prelude to War" and “America goes to War”. Although these films were originally intended for servicemen, they were released to theaters because of their popularity.
The Disney studios also created inexpensive package films, containing collections of cartoon shorts, and issued them to theaters during this period. The most notable and successful of these were Saludos Amigos, its sequel The Three Caballeros, Fun and Fancy Free, and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, The latter had only two sections: the first based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, and the second based on The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. During this period, Disney also ventured into full-length dramatic films that mixed live action and animated scenes, including Song of the South and So Dear to My Heart.
Walt Disney was a legend and a hero of the 20th century. His worldwide popularity was based upon his imagination, optimism, creation, and success. He let us enjoy the present, brought us closer to the future, while telling us of the past. It is certain, that there will never be such as great a man, as Walt Disney.
