The Riveter

"A Donald Duck Cartoon"

Release Date March 15, 1940

Running Time 7:33

Synopsis

Donald lands a job working high steel as a riveter for construction foreman Pete.

Characters

Donald Duck

Pete

Credits

Director : Dick Lundy

Animation

Jack Campbell

Ed Love

Al Eugster

Jack Campbell

Videos

United States

Cartoon Classics : Limited Gold Editions : Donald

Germany

Donald Duck Geht in die Luft

Italy

Paperino

Laserdiscs

Japan

Donald Duck : A Star is Born

Donald : Limited Gold Edition

DVD

United States

Disney Treasures : The Chronological Donald Volume 1 : (1934-1941)

Television

The Ink and Paint Club : #11 : The Many Lives of Pegleg Pete

Mickey's Mouse Tracks : Episode 63

Technical Specifications

Color Type : Technicolor

Animation type : Standard

Sound mix : Mono

Aspect ration : 1.37 : 1

Negative format : 35mm

Print format : 35mm

Cinematographic process : Spherical

Original language : English

Released by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Comments

From Jerry Edwards : I consider this similar to the 1933 Building a Building in several ways. Then it was Mickey and Minnie dealing with Pete, now it's Donald. The short starts by showing how tough Pete is when he throws a large worker through a construction fence as Pete fires him. When Donald applies for the job, you know he's going to be in real trouble. Donald has trouble with heights, the riveting gun, and Pete. Pete chases him throughout the construction site, causing the building to collapse. Donald runs away while Pete is trapped in cement, holding a water hose like a statue. One of the best Donald/Pete conflicts for me. A lot of action and gags. A short that still makes me laugh - a rarity for me in the 40s/50s Disney shorts.

From Ryan : This is definitely one of my favorite Donald Duck shorts. In fact, I watch it quite often. After Pete throws a construction worker through the fence, Donald walks by singing "Heigh Ho." It was quite funny seeing Donald as a construction worker. I personally don't think that he would make a very good one. He's afraid of heights (like so many of us, including myself, so he's not alone) and he gets nervous by the sounds of a drill. This causes him to tear up Pete's cigar while he is lighting it. I really liked the part at the end where after Pete chases Donald, he falls into a vat of plaster, which makes him look like a fountain of a famous Greek/Roman emperor (possibly Julius Caesar.)

From Christian : I noticed the picture you have with Pete looking angrily at Donald contains a blooper. Pete's nose isn't colored in. It's counted as part of his mouth!

From Baruch Weiss : Just by looking at the title card of this short we can tell that Donald's working at a construction site and wants to quit. In fact, unlike his other cartoons ( "Bellboy Donald" and "Old Sequoia") he wasn't fired; he just decided on his own that he would rather quit the job, but I'm sure Pete would have fired him if it weren't for the fact that he fell in the drying plaster. Anyway funny short, I laughed at the part where Donald was trying to figure out how to work the "screwy contraption" and then ruins Petes map, nails down on a dog as he's painting causing him to look like he shrunk or something and then on a fat pig (literally speaking, but wasn't he shown at the begining being fired? Perhaps it was his twin brother or something). I also laughed at the part where Pete yells at Donald, in a New York accent, to "Give him some service", after which Donald tries to give him some "Steaming hot Cofee", but due to all of the noise the coffee spills all over Pete. Once in high school I accidentally spilled coffee on my teacher's shirt and boy was he upset!

Gallery

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