From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project : Alright, I am back! And what better way to return to regular blogging than with Donald Duck being angry. It’s like warm comfort food. Seeing Donald at his angriest is like seeing sunshine on Opening Day for baseball…it just makes you feel that all is right with the world.

In this case, it’s Donald as a gift wrapper in The Clock Watcher. You really don’t have to say much more than that to realize that this is going to be good stuff. Donald works well in these “everyman” situations, where he can express the frustrations we all have in our jobs. Donald releases his anger, where the rest of us make quiet grumbling noises and let it go.

Adding to the fun this time is a device that was used with Donald in Der Fuehrer’s Face, the World War II era cartoon. In that short, a speaker tube was pointed at Donald while he worked on an assembly line, barking orders from the Fuehrer. This time, it’s the same idea, but the orders are coming from the corporate overlords at Royal Brothers, asking him to work harder.

Donald is far from the model employee, as you’d imagine. His wrapping techniques consist of mashing things until they fit in the boxes, no matter if they break or not. Needless to say he’s not the most dutiful employee, either. Multiple times during the short he tries to take a break and eat a huge spread. Considering it’s a 7 minute short, that’s a pretty impressive display of loafing.

There’s some fun diversions here, such as Donald tangling with a jack-in-the-box. Unlike other shorts, the jack in the box doesn’t take on the characteristics of a human to fight with Donald. Instead, it is Donald’s own actions that cause the issues. It’s a fun moment when Donald ends up in the toy’s clothes.

Having had to be away from the blog for so long, span class="italics">The Clock Watcher was a great way to slip back into the swing of things. It’s a classic Donald Duck short, with Donald the way he was meant to be.

From Ryan : I enjoy this Donald Duck short quite a bit. It shows how well Donald can take orders from a loudspeaker. One fun gag I enjoy is when Donald takes a trombone and tries to fit it in a box. It is too large, so he shapes it into a French horn. One part that was rather unusual for a Disney short was where Donald sees a sexually attractive female model and his face turns into that of a Tex Avery-type of wolf.

From Baruch Weiss : Like Ryan I liked this short quite a bit as well. However it's been a long time since I've seen it and I did not see Donald's face turn into a Tex Avery type of wolf. I believe throughout most of the cartoon he does not talk. The last time I saw this short was on "Donald's Quack Attack." For some reason Disney does not play their shorts on TV anymore and I wonder why.

From Trae Robinson : This is my favorite Donald Duck cartoon. Donald works in a huge store and he goofs instead of working. I wonder why Donald is all by himself in this cartoon. It's kind of like Early To Bed, Chef Donald and Donald's Tire Trouble where Donald is the only character.

From Matthew Cooper : I first saw parts of this short on a small Disney Christmas Special on television, when I was young. It was not till my mom and dad bought me "The Chronological Donald, Volume II" that I saw the full cartoon. Anyway, this short is full of nice gags like the one where Donald is to wrap a football and ring and he puts the ring in the football box and then deflates the football when it wont fit in the ring box, or when he's wrapping a rocking chair and gets stuck in the wrap, with his head and arms sticking out. Best of all is the end gag, where Donald is trying to squeeze a jack-in-the-box into its box, and finally gets in contact with it, ending up in the jack's clothes while the jack is wearing his!

From Abigail Watson : This cartoon was so funny! I loved the part where Donald sprays the perfume into the loudspeaker (it was called "Come Hither # 5"), and then there's the part where it smells the coffee, and then sneezes the coffee all over Donald! Plus, I love where Donald puts the ring in the football box and then deflates the football so it'll fit in the ring box. That, in itself, was pretty funny as well! I give this short a 10 out of 10!

From Bryan Hensley : This short wasn't supposed to be about Christmastime, but it was featured in A Disney Christmas Gift in the 80's and volume 8 of Disney's Classic Cartoon Favorites collection. Donald tries wrapping presents in his own unique ways, and watches the clock, and still goofs off by having a "brunch break" without permission. He sure had lots of trouble wrapping the Jack-in-the-box, even with the loudspeaker being a chatterbox. By the time the short ends, Donald and the Jack-in-the-box's clothes switch, and Donald thought it was quitting-time for him. But he had to still had to wrap more presents. Donald sure gave the guy behind the loudspeaker everything he had. The fight ended up destroying the loudspeaker! That reminds me of what happened to Mother Mallard in the 1941 short Chef Donald! I hope you folks enjoy this short, whether it's meant for Christmas or not.

Poster

The Clock Watcher

A Donald Duck Cartoon

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Released by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

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