June 2, 1944 – The Donald Duck Short Commando Duck is Released to Theaters
“Contacted enemy, washed out same. Donald Duck.”
On June 2, 1944, the Donald Duck short film Commando Duck was released to theaters. The short contains several stereotypes of Japanese soldiers, as was common in this time period while the United States was embroiled in war. The short was directed by Jack King.
The short begins with Donald receiving his orders to parachute out of a plane into a forest, where he has to watch out for snipers and alligators to reach his objective and wipe out the enemy. He is then warned that he must complete this mission at all costs, and with trembling knees, parachutes out of plane. His chute gets caught on two tree branches and, thinking he’s safe, unhooks his belt only to find that he is falling several hundred feet into an alligator infested river. Luckily, he is able to save himself and end up on dry land, but with an emergency raft as his only supply.
Donald falls down a waterfall after being shot at by Japanese snipers
Several Japanese snipers are lying in wait on the side of the river, and point their guns at Donald as he passes by in the raft. They fire, but Donald mistakenly believes them to be mosquitoes, until he catches bullets in his helmet. He quickly flees, only to find that a waterfall is nearby, and nearly falls down the falls before roping a rock; the rope is shot by a sniper, and Donald is sent sailing down the falls. Fortunately, the raft saves his life, but fills with so much water that it nearly crushes him. The raft continues to expand with the water, and Donald continues to try and outrun it, as well as remove anything sharp from its path. It gets punctured by a log, and Donald had to outrun water and massive boulders. The boulders, however, send Donald flying into the air and, along with the water, crash into the enemy base, destroying it.
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