"Donald Duck and The Gorilla"(1944) and "The Gorilla"(1927)

[00:00:00]if you were one of those kids like me that used to stay up all night watching Vault Disney then you'll probably agree with me when I say it was like traveling back in time but instead of trying to save Kennedy you just watch TV airing for the first time on September 21st 1997 Vault Disney would replay classic Disney movies TV shows and cartoons unfortunately the Vault would close around 5 or 600 a.m. and a separate block of cartoons would start if it was a Mickey cartoon I would usually go to bed but if it was Goofy or Donald I would stay up sometimes if the sun still hadn't come up it would be fun if a spooky cartoon play and today's subject was one of those Donald Duck and the gorilla is a Disney animated short from 1944 starring my favorite Disney character the duck himself one of the things I love about Donald is that the Disney writers weren't afraid to make him horrible this short showcases that perfectly it starts out with an appropr rely spooky opening as we push in on Donald's home on a dark and stormy night Donald and his nephews are listening to the radio when the announcer says that a dangerous gorilla named Ajax has escaped from the zoo and that citizens should be on the lookout as this gorilla is a killer Donald takes this very serious moment to freak out his nephews with a pair of gorilla gloves that he literally just has sitting next to him like was he expecting the gorilla to escape does Donald have psychic abilities Huey Dewey and Louie totally W up Donald by dressing up in a gorilla suit which looks identical to the actual gorilla we're never told how they got the costume maybe the gloves Donald had were a part of it I really don't think so I have no idea but the important thing is they get revenge on their Uncle naturally the actual gorilla shows up soon after leading to a mixup where Donald slowly realizes that he's not looking at his nephews in a gorilla costume the guy on the radio says to look the gorilla straight in the eye which is actually the opposite of what you should do in this situation and it does not work out Donal and his nephews then try to sneak around the house before the gorilla finds Donald at a game of cat and mouse ensues finally the radio announcer says tear gas will work on the gorilla oh well thanks we didn't think about that a tear gas that's easy I'm sure I have it lie around here some what what they have tear gas now obviously this is like a joke you know they just happen to have tear gas so and naturally both Donald and the gorilla get hit with the gas and cry together as the short ends those of you familiar with this short may have seen it originally the same way I did late at night on vault Disney during a rerun of Disney's Halloween treat a special Halloween episode of the Walt Disney show previously called Disney's wonderful world that originally aired on CBS on October 30th 1982 and it was later featured in the very similar a Disney Halloween the short is a remake of sorts of the 1930 Mickey and mini short the gorilla mystery which has a very similar premise this time the escaped gorilla is named beo a character that would return in 1933's Mickey's mechanical man and the pet store this 1930 short was probably influenced by the 1930 film The Gorilla which was a remake of the 1927 silent mystery film of the same name directed by Alfred santel and based on the play by Ralph Spence which was itself a parody of plays such as the bat and the cat and the canary the gorilla which concerns a relatively small group of people in a spooky old house where spooky stuff is going on with a creepy gorilla stalking the Halls that ends up being a dude in a suit was one example of the old darkh house genre of films popular throughout the 1920s and 30s in these films a group of strangers would often have to spend the night in some spooky old location usually on a dark and stormy night while a killer or creature runs loose through the building many details of the 1927 gorilla were lost to time as Prince of the film would seemingly vanish and the film itself would fall into OB urity until 2024 that is when a print was discovered in the collection of the chinatea de Milano a private film archive in Milan Italy and was screened for the first time in almost 100 years at the 2024 San Francisco Silent Film Festival however given the timeline the Mickey and mini cartoon may have been more influenced by the 1930 version of the gorilla also a lost film which has still yet to be rediscovered darald duck and the gorilla was directed by one of the legendary Disney Studios duck men jack King also working on the story were fellow duck men Carl barks and Jack Hannah along with Bill Berg Nick George Jesse Marsh Frank tashlin Roy Williams and Bill deat to while the story is reminiscent of Carl Bark's Christmas on be Mountain comic which would be published 3 years later it's not clear who was really in charge here and the short feels somewhat directionless and frag Ed animator Jack Hannah may have seen some untapped potential in the short as he would later direct 1950s lying around which in some ways is a better execution of the same basic idea the identity of the voice actor playing the voice on the radio has never been revealed and remains a sort of minor mystery in the history of Disney Animation the character's constant refrain that is all Breen Ridge is a reference to the then CBS radio show calling all cars in which Jesse rosenquist an actual Los Angeles police dispatcher would sign off from his calls with that is all rosenquist as much as I love Donald I have to admit that for me the gorilla mystery is a funnier and even spookier short than the Donald short but it simply can't match the Nostalgia I get from Donald and the gorilla something about it is seared into my brain I love watching it every Halloween time to get that proper mood going and I highly recommend it to you if you're looking for a spooky cartoon this Halloween season Donald Duck and the gorilla Stars James McDonald as Ajax the gorilla and Clarence Nash as Donald and huy Dewey and Louie the short was never re-released in theaters and unfortunately it's not on Disney plus though it is available on the Walt Disney Treasures the chronological Donald Volume 2 DVD set and is also included in Mickey's House of Villains on DVD Disney's Halloween treat and a Disney Halloween are all so not on Disney plus technically all of the segments of the specials can be found separately but I really wish Disney would just release the full specials even if they have to re-edit the things lying around can be found on the Walt Disney Treasures the chronological Donald volume 3 and 1927's the gorilla has yet to be released to home video but hopefully a streaming version is coming soon you can find the 1939 version on tub well happy Halloween I know it's not Halloween yet but it's October as far as I'm concerned that's the whole month hope you guys are having a good time I love this cartoon I love Donald Duck and I just thought you know why not do it um I'll probably do a commentary for it uh when I launch my patreon which I intend to do um you know pretty soon I'm not exactly sure when when I when I'm about to I will give a schedule I'll announce it like hey patreon whatever and uh hopefully some people will be interested uh I will have on that a podcast which I'm not going to put on YouTube and like I said I will have commentaries for shorts and stuff and uh probably I will put some videos on there that I won't put on here just because I figured you know get get me in trouble put it like that but um so I know that one was a little shorter but you know I I just didn't want to waste time as I as I often do I try to streamline these things so hopefully it wasn't uh wasn't too short for you guys hopefully you you found that entertaining I will see you guys next time Park Nars woo