Poster

Donald's Lucky Day

A Donald Duck Cartoon

Release Date : January 13, 1939

Running Time : 8:15

Synopsis

It's Friday the 13th, and Donald has to avoid any number of bad luck omens in order to deliver an ominously ticking package.

Characters

Donald Duck
Cat (unnamed)

Credits

Director
Jack King
Animation
Sandy Strother
Ed Love
Jack Hannah
Johnny Cannon
John McManus
Paul Allen
Al Eugster
Cornett Wood
Don Towsley
Dick Lundy
Ken Peterson
Story
Carl Barks
Jack Hannah
Harry Reeves

Video

United States
Donald's Scary Tales
Cartoon Classics : First Series : Volume 3 : Scary Tales
France
Donald Vedette de Television
Italy
La Storia de Paperino
Paperino e i Racconti Misteriosi

CED

United States
Cartoon Classics - Scary Tales

Laserdiscs

Donald Scary Tales / Halloween Haunts
Cartoon Classics : Scary Tales
Japan
This is Your Life Donald Duck
Scary Tales

DVD

United States
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : The Chronological Donald Volume 1
Germany
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : The Chronological Donald Volume 1
Italy
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : The Chronological Donald Volume 1
Sweden
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : The Chronological Donald Volume 1
United Kingdom
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : The Chronological Donald Volume 1

Television

The Ink and Paint Club: Episode 26: Classic Donald
Mickey's Mouse Tracks: Episode 13

Original Animator's Drafts


Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6

Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11

Technical Specification

Color Type: Technicolor
Animation Type: Standard animation
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1
Negative Format: 35mm
Print Format: 35mm
Cinematographic Process: Spherical
Original Language: English

Released by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Comments

From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project : You can probably imagine that a short titled Donald’s Lucky Day is going to turn out to be anything but for our favorite duck. You’d be right about that. But what’s really interesting about this short, the first of 1939, is that it is entirely different in mood and tone than any Disney short previously.

The 1930s are famous as a decade for the films that came out during those years. Not the least of these were the amazing film noir masterpieces. This short is not film noir – there is a clear hero in Donald – but the backgrounds, lighting and mood of the short are very much in that tradition.

It all begins with a pair of gangsters, putting together a bomb. But the choice was made to show these two only in shadow, and it was a good choice. The idea that you never see these guys’ faces makes them only scarier. It’s a dark opening for a Disney cartoon, and somewhat jarring. That’s a good thing, though, because it shows Disney pushing the boundaries of what was expected from them.

Donald comes into the picture as a messenger boy, tasked with delivering the bomb to the correct location by midnight. Again, an interesting choice here, as Donald’s bright primary colors are a sharp contrast to the dark, muted backgrounds. He is obviously the hero of the piece, just by the lighting and coloring. While others in this short are seen in shadow and half light, Donald is always bright and colorful.

As Donald leaves the hideout of the crooks, we quickly see what is meant by the title of the short. It turns out that today is Friday the 13th, so Donald has to look out for all kinds of bad luck. He dodges driving under a ladder, winces once he breaks a mirror, and then gets tangled up with a black cat in his path.

This is the part of the short that really shines, as you see Donald struggle with his own superstitions and the real threat of the black cat, all while juggling this bomb. There is humor balanced with adventure and atmosphere, in a way we really have not seen before in the Disney shorts.

In the end, when the bomb does explode and Donald is okay, it turns out it really is his lucky day. There’s great comedy coming before that, and a fantastic bit where Donald gets buried in fish only to attract a herd of cats. This short was a very pleasant surprise, because of the way the animators used all the different tools at their disposal to make a different short than I was used to. Great work and a definite new direction for Disney.

From Mac : Great review, Ryan. Interesting observations about the mood and choices of colour in this short.

I especially love how the opening titles begin with a bright happy tune (Feeling Lucky – a new Disney song!) so it's like "Yay! A Donald Duck cartoon" before a sudden shift to a much moodier piece as title card comes into view.

The backgrounds in this cartoon are just wonderful and I love how Donald is carefully coloured to match; being painted in slightly darker shades when he's in the shadows and becoming brighter in areas of light. The current vogue in modern Disney 2D animation is to add a slightly airbrushed shadow to to the edges of the characters, which to my eyes doesn't always look quite right. I think the technique used in cartoons like Donald's Lucky Day (which you might expect to look flatter) actually looks a lot better.

Another thing I like about this cartoon is that after all the build up and tension in this cartoon, Donald doesn't get mad. Normally if Donald ended up covered in fish bones he'd be furious with the cats that did it. However, after his narrow brush with death, even Donald can laugh off this minor misfortune!

From Ryan : This is definitely a classic Donald Duck short. The animation was nicely done, giving it an eerie look. I liked the scene where the cat and Donald are both on a board and Donald is about to fall into the ocean, lake,etc. The cat walks over and he tells him/her to go back, but as soon as the cat is too far back, Donald tells the cat to come back a little more. Another funny scene is at the end when the bomb (which was in the package the whole time) exploded after falling into the water. Dozens of fish came flying right out and landing on the dock all over Donald. Soon several cats come over to chow down.
From Baruch Weiss : This sure is a classic Donald short! I especially enjoy the song Donald sings at the beginning. I also enjoy the ending where fish comes flying and several cats come and start to chow down and Donald just laughs it off; kind of out of character for him because that's usually what Mickey Mouse would do. The only other time I can think of when he did this was in the 1940 cartoon Donald's Dog Laundry!

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