Poster

Fall Out-Fall In

A Donald Duck Cartoon

Release Date : April 23, 1943

Running Time : 7:23

Synopsis

Donald experiences one of the joys of army life; the extended march with an overnight respite in an uncooperative pup tent.

Characters

Donald Duck

Credits

Director
Jack King

Video

United States
Cartoon Classics : Limited Gold Editions II : An Officer and a Duck
Germany
Alle Enten Fertig ... Los!
France
Donald Se Fache!
Italy
Vita da Paperi

Laserdiscs

United States
Cartoon Classics : Limited Gold Editions II : An Officer and a Duck
Japan
Goin' Quackers

DVD

United States
Disney Treasures : On the Front Lines
Disney Treasures : Wave 5 : The Chronological Donald Volume 2
Germany
Disney Treasures : Wave 5 : The Chronological Donald Volume 2

Television

The Ink and Paint Club: Episode 56: Wartime Disney

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 : More war shorts, as Donald’s Army adventures continue today in Fall Out, Fall In. The way that Disney tracked Donald’s progression through his days in the Armed Forces is really great. We’ve seen him go from the draft board to basic training and now into the field.

This short again does not use the quality that I feel makes Donald his best, which is the use of his temper. A different approach comes in this film, where instead the audience is made to feel sorry for Donald. It’s something that we’ve seen more and more in recent Donald shorts, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Here, it’s not too bad. The short starts with Donald marching through the countryside as an upbeat soldier, happy to be part of the team. Of course, as things progress, his enthusiasm wanes and he endures more and more pain. As a viewer, the sympathy for Donald grows and grows through the short. That’s very effectively done through the gags.

Gag work here is a bit more involved than other shorts in 1943 that we have seen. Compared to something like Private Pluto, which used the same gag over and over again, Fall Out, Fall In features some new gags as we go along. The running gag of Donald marking the miles off on the solider in front of him is great, but there’s many more.

The passing of the seasons as they march is quite good, seeing Donald go from freezing to death and covered in snow, then on to spring and summer, burning in the blazing sun. When they finally stop marching, it just gets worse for him, though.

There’s some great stuff when Donald’s trying to pitch his tent as well. He’s starving, but the commanding officer keeps having him put up his tent, stand at attention or do all sorts of things that keep him from getting the tent set up. Then, when he does, it just doesn’t stay up properly. The poor guy doesn’t even get to sleep, because the other soldiers snore in syncopated time!

Fall Out, Fall In isn’t perfect, that’s sure. The pacing feels a bit off to me, as the marching and other things seem to stretch a little too long, and the gags are nowhere near as rapid fire as we’ve seen in other Donald or Disney shorts. But it’s an improvement over Private Pluto and some of the other war shorts.

From Jerry Edwards : Donald suffers through the drudgery of the life of the soldier, including ridiculously long marches through all types of bad weather. A sequence where Donald wrestles with his tent while trying to pitch it is hilarious. When Donald finally falls asleep, he is continually awakened by other soldiers' noises - bugle, machine gun, and cannon snores. When dawn arrives with little sleep and he must get ready to march once again, Donald sleepily wraps his pack strap around a nearby tree as well as his pack, and stumbles along on the march - carrying along the tree.

Donald is rarely a sympathetic character in his cartoons, but you can't help but feel sorry for him in this one. The various gags are wonderfully done, and I'm sure the servicemen of that time got a special kick out of the cartoon.

From Ryan : This is one of my favorite Donald Duck shorts. This is similar to the short Donald's Tire Trouble in the fact that he has trouble with an inanimate object that doesn't seem to cooperate with him. Instead of dealing with a tire as he did in the other short, he's dealing with an uncooperating pup tent. I find this situation quite hilarious. The only problem is, poor Donald doesn't get any sleep.
From Baruch Weiss : I enjoyed the music in this cartoon, but it can make one feel sorry for poor Donald who has to keep marching through summer and winter, pitch his tent first before he can have supper (which he does not get, might I add, as his tent would not cooperate with him) and last, but not least, he does not get enough sleep!
From Jimmy Kielbasa : My favorite scene is sleeping with too much noises. The bugler kept trumpeting, the drummer's feet thumped on his drum, the soldier shot the machine gun, and the soldier blasted the cannon when they snored.

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