Bully Boy

Mr. Prokouk, The Inventor

July 1949 •Czech

After a hard day at work, Mr. Prokouk decides to invent a machine to ease his labor. But inventing is work too, and Mr. Prokouk spends more time dreaming about inventions than actually inventing anything. Can he find an easy solution?

The Good Soldier Schweik

October 1956 •Czech

Adapting Jaroslav Hasek's raucous satirical novel, and also bringing Josef Lada's equally famous illustrations to garrulous puppet life, posed Trnka one of his biggest creative challenges. Trnka himself felt that the final episode was the most artistically successful, but there's much to enjoy in all three, not least the way that the lackadaisical layabout Svejk's own self-serving anecdotes are realized through cut-out animation.

Victory Through Air Power

July 1943 •English

This is a unique film in Disney Production's history. This film is essentially a propaganda film selling Major Alexander de Seversky's theories about the practical uses of long range strategic bombing. Using a combination of animation humorously telling about the development of air warfare, the film switches to the Major illustrating his ideas could win the war for the allies.

Sea Trial

October 1974 •Chinese

Lu Dahai and his shipbuilding team want the 10,000-ton ocean freighter "The East" to be given a sea trial. But the ship is made with domestic parts, and Chen Zongjie, a leader of the Party Committee of the Bureau of Foreign Transport, believes that the quality is not sufficient, and orders that the parts be replaced with imported ones before the sea trial takes place. In the end, the sea trial not only sets a successful new record, but also rescues a Taiwanese fishing boat in distress.

Dumb Patrol

January 1964 •English

Biplane battles over France in World War I between Bugs and Baron (Yosemite) Sam Von Shamm.

The Great Meeting

January 1951 •

Once upon a time there lived a journalist. Eager to spark interest in his boss’s newspaper, he published news of a colourful bird, more like a parrot than a chicken, less like an ostrich than a swan. No one could work out the origin of this strange bird and a web of sensational stories soon spun, but it burst the moment it came out that the witty journalist repainted an ordinary duck. From that moment on every lie journalists tell is called a ‘canard’. Our film leads directly to the nest of one such duck, in Bucharest, where the inform-propaganda spin doctor Pavel Judin, instructed by wise managerial orders and Moscow, overblows this featherless bird to the pleasure of ones and the derision of others.

What Hitler Wants

January 1941 •English

WWII Propaganda Film

Der Fuehrer's Face

January 1943 •English

A marching band of Germans, Italians, and Japanese march through the streets of swastika-motif Nutziland, serenading "Der Fuehrer's Face." Donald Duck, not living in the region by choice, struggles to make do with disgusting Nazi food rations and then with his day of toil at a Nazi artillery factory. After a nervous breakdown, Donald awakens to find that his experience was in fact a nightmare.

Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi

January 1943 •English

A propaganda film during World War II about a boy who grows up to become a Nazi soldier.

Abu and the Poisoned Well

January 1943 •Arabic

Ever seen a snake with a moustache? The Middle East was as much an ideological as a physical battleground in the Second World War. In the midst of the conflict Halas & Batchelor were commissioned by the British Government to make four cartoons featuring a young boy Abu and his mule. They were intended to demonstrate in simple visual terms that Britain was a stout friend and the Axis powers a pernicious evil.

Women's Letters

May 2014 •French

School of Assassins

January 1967 •English

This anti-Communism film uses animation to tell the story of two brothers, one of whom receives training for hemispheric subversion in Cuba and returns to his own country to spread violence and terror. He realizes his mistake when, in the course of trying to destroy an experimental farm, his actions bring about the death of his brother Gustavo. Produced by Copri International Films, Inc. (Miami, FL) and directed by Jose D. de Villegas.

Aurora's Sunrise

April 2023 •Armenian

The story of how Aurora Mardiganian (1901-94), a survivor of the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire (1915-17), became a Hollywood silent film star.

Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero

April 2018 •English

The true story of the most decorated dog in American military history -- Sgt. Stubby -- and the enduring bonds he forged with his brothers-in-arms in the trenches of World War I.

Hansen's Soldiers!

March 1912 •German

A young boy in a sailor suit plays with three dolls, representing German soldiers. He slowly nods off and in his dreams they come alive.

The Man Who Planted Trees

May 1987 •French

The story of one shepherd's single-handed quest to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the French Alps throughout the first half of the 20th century.

Home Defense

November 1943 •English

Donald is manning a listening post and falls asleep; he blows trumpet calls in his sleep and wakes his nephews. For their revenge, they send up a model airplane filled with gingerbread men with parachutes; Donald shoots it down, and cowers in fear when he sees the parachutes (and hears a simulated battle), until one lands on his beak. Donald kicks his nephews out until he mistakes a bee for an airplane, and calls them back to fight this menace.

Charley's Black Magic

October 1949 •English

This cartoon propaganda short by Halas & Batchelor sweetens the pill of post-war coal prices by promising jam tomorrow.

The Sailor and the Seagull

January 1949 •English

The Sailor and the Seagull was released by the U.S. Navy in 1949 with a simple goal: encouraging servicemen to re-enlist. In the film, a disgruntled sailor named McGinty complains about the raw deal he believes he is receiving by serving in the Navy. As luck would have it, a seagull comes to release him from service so that he can experience the freedom of civilian life. McGinty soon learns, however, that civilian life means less freedom and less money than he had imagined and quickly jumps at the chance to re-enlist. (cont. http://blogs.archives.gov/unwritten-record/2013/09/26/sailor-and-the-seagull/)

Toybox Series, Episode 3: Picturebook of 1936

April 1934 •Japanese

Peaceful citizens (one of whom resembles Felix the Cat) are dancing to music before their island is being invaded by a gigantic rodent that resembles Mickey Mouse. The islanders contact legendary folk-hero Momotaro from a giant book to battle Mickey.