Donald Duck (film series)

Donald Duck is a series of American animated comedy short films produced by Walt Disney Productions. The series started in 1937 with Donald's Ostrich (although two previous short films, Don Donald and Modern Inventions, both from 1937, were later re-released under this series) and ended in 1961 with The Litterbug, with an additional short, D.I.Y. Duck, being released in 2024.

The series stars the titular character Donald Duck, in addition to having recurring appearances by previously known characters such as Pluto and Pete. The series also introduced well-known characters such as Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie (previously introduced in comic books) and Donald's love interest Daisy Duck, as well as Donald's recurring rivals Chip 'n' Dale under their names (previously appearing without names in the shorts Private Pluto and Squatter's Rights).

Donald Duck is a spin-off series of the Mickey Mouse short film series, while Donald Duck also has its own spin-off series, Donald & Goofy, starring Donald Duck and Goofy.

Production

After his debut in the short film The Wise Little Hen from the series Silly Symphony, Donald Duck became a recurring character in the short films of the series Mickey Mouse. Due to his popularity, Donald began starring in his own series of shorts, beginning with Donald's Ostrich on December 10, 1937. Two previous shorts originally from the Mickey Mouse series, Don Donald (1937) and Modern Inventions (1937), were later re-released as shorts in the Donald Duck series. Similar to the Mickey Mouse series, the Donald Duck shorts begin with a close-up of Donald's face with a starburst behind him, followed by the title "A Walt Disney Donald Duck". The World War II-themed Donald shorts released during the 1940s, in which Donald is shown enlisting in the military, feature a variant of Donald's face with his sailor's hat exchanged for his privater's cap.[1] Other Walt Disney Productions short films starring Donald outside of the Donald Duck series, like How to Have an Accident at Work (1959) – released as A Walt Disney Cartoon – and some educational films from 1960s, also include Donald's starburst picture in their introduction. In the shorts filmed in CinemaScope, also the intro changes to one with Donald shining a flashlight on the image with his face and then the text of the intro.

The series had annual releases from 1937 to 1956, later having a hiatus until the release in 1961 of The Litterbug, which, unlike the others, was presented without the starburst with Donald's face and under the title "Walt Disney presents Donald Duck". In 2024, due to the 90th anniversary of Donald Duck, was released an additional short, D.I.Y. Duck.

While Don Donald and Modern Inventions were distributed under United Artists, Donald's Ostrich onwards were distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, with the exception of Grand Canyonscope (1954) and The Litterbug, distributed under Buena Vista Distribution, which distributed most of the other shorts in re-releases, and D.I.Y. Duck, distributed by its production studio Walt Disney Animation Studios.

The cartoons were directed by 12 different people. Those with the most credits include Jack King (53)[2] and Jack Hannah (48).[3]

List of films

The following is a list of Donald Duck short films.

This list doesn't include shorts from other series in which Donald Duck appears (such as those from the Mickey Mouse series, the Donald & Goofy series, or short films that aren't introduced as part of a specific series), segments from feature films (such as Blame It on the Samba or Pomp and Circumstance), nor shorts of Donald Duck made as part of the episodes of the television series Mickey Mouse Works.

Donald Duck Presents

Donald Duck Presents is an American animated television series that aired on The Disney Channel beginning in 1983 and which featured Disney animated shorts.[16] Although Donald Duck shorts were the primary programming, additional cartoons featuring Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Chip 'n Dale, Pluto, as well as Silly Symphonies, Disney featurettes, and other Disney-based shorts were shown. The show was first aired on September 1, 1983, a few months after The Disney Channel was launched. Its timeslot for its early run was at 8 a.m. Eastern/Pacific Time, making it the third program of The Disney Channel's 16 (later 18) hour programming day.

Brief clips and segues featuring Donald Duck typically were placed between each short. The shorts often were edited down, removing the opening and closing credits, and in some cases, edited for length. The opening of the show featured a cavalcade of scenes from Disney shorts, and a theme song. Unlike the opening of Good Morning, Mickey!, which features all of the characters in the theme, the opening of Donald Duck Presents features only Donald (and his nephews). The show was replaced by Donald's Quack Attack in 1992.[17][18]

Home media

The films have been released in various forms of home media, with selected films released on VHS, laserdisc, and DVD. Starting in 2010, some of the cartoons were made available on the iTunes Store as digital downloads.

The only complete re-release of the entire series has been in the "Walt Disney Treasures" DVD sets. The vast majority of the series appears between four two-disc sets: "The Chronological Donald, Volume One" (2004),[19] "The Chronological Donald, Volume Two" (2005),[20] "The Chronological Donald, Volume Three" (2007),[21] and "The Chronological Donald, Volume Four" (2008).[22] The sets also include several short films starring Donald outside of the Donald Duck series, such as The Wise Little Hen (1934) from the Silly Symphony series, Donald and Pluto (1936) from the Mickey Mouse series, all the shorts in the Donald & Goofy series, and several propaganda, educational, and commercial films starring Donald. Two shorts of the Donald Duck series, Der Fuehrer's Face (1943) and The Spirit of '43 (1943), are not present in the sets of "The Chronological Donald", instead being included in the "Walt Disney on the Front Lines" set (2004), which also included other World War II-themed Donald Duck shorts.[23]

Donald Duck Presents was released only on VHS PAL in the UK as part of a six-volume set which also each featured an episode of Good Morning, Mickey!, Welcome to Pooh Corner, The Mouse Factory and Mousercise. Unlike the stateside version of Donald Duck Presents, however, there were no cartoon shorts released; that position was filled by Good Morning, Mickey!. Instead, it contained different Disney featurettes.

• Volume One contains "Adventures of J. Thaddeus Toad"
• Volume Two contains "A Day at Disneyland"
• Volume Three contains "Donald in Mathmagic Land"
• Volume Four contains "Bear Country"
• Volume Five contains "Magic and Music" and "Peter and the Wolf"
• Volume Six contains "Nature's Half Acre"

See also

• Donald Duck filmography
• List of Walt Disney Animation Studios short films
• Silly Symphony
• The Wise Little Hen
• Mickey Mouse (film series)
• Donald and Pluto
• Pluto (film series)
• Goofy (film series)
• Mickey Mouse Works

External links

• "Donald Duck" at D23 – Disney A to Z
• "Donald Duck" at The Encyclopedia Of Disney Animated Shorts