Ward Kimball-Escalation Film
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PZBtWNxlQs

Not for the squeamish. Be advised. ;) SOme brief nudity.
This film protests the LBJ'S escalation of the Vietnam War.
Ward Kimball made this back in 1968.


SEE IT BEFORE YouTube possibly pulls it!

Wow, not sure what all to make of it, but that was an awesome find.

Cool!

I thought it was interesting, I wonder how much room Disney allowed its employees to do this. Obviously this was a couple years after Walt's time.

I'm going to be talking about this short (a little) on the Disney & WWII podcast. It's fascinating to compare the differences between Escalation and the earlier propaganda shorts that WK worked on for Disney.

Well, that was very interesting. I think I may have seen that before, but i can't for the life of me imagine where.

I liked it. Very cool.
I had heard about it before but hadn't seen it until now.
A simple piece that packs a punch.
:)

It got me wondering how Ward would feel today? An unanswereable question, but it gave me pause.

Anyway, a great find and thanks for posting it before youtube takes it down.

Wowsa. I've managed to see two Kimball propaganda films in two days.

Very interesting piece-- and I guess I'm not too surprised that an animator made the connection between pinocchio nose and pinocchio (cuckoo noise).

Y'know, I'd be interested to hear your feedback on the first cartoon, and any others you might have seen over the weekend.

(winking smilie goes here)

3 if you count the pacifist message of Ferdiand the Bull.

And of the 3, I'd say this one was the most compelling.

See, I saw the Pinocchio connection, yet I also saw his nose as a phallus, "turned on" by supposed patriotism. The end was not only a symbol of war, a cannon of sorts, but also... you know... "release."

Then again, I might just be a perv.

I still don't know what to make of it. My desensitized eyes don't get excited over a little nudity.

And yeah, I saw me some moovies, Podman...

Not just you, I definitely read that aspect in as well.

So did I.

I will need to rewatch Ferdinand tonight.

Oh, there is no question that's what the film was saying. I just enjoyed that they used Pinocchio to express that.

A little trivia - Escalation was the only independent short made by any of the nine old men. Ward must have been very passionate about the subject. According to the OP on youtube, WK's family released this in light of the current events in the Iraq war.

Okay, so, this discussion appears to be about three films, Ferdinand, Escalation, and some mysterious other short. Any hints on what that other one is?

I remember reading (a long time ago) about a short called Mickey Mouse in Vietnam. Anyone here seen or know anything about it?

Academy Award winner: Der Fuehrer's Face

YouTube link with Leonard Maltin's intro.

Wait, I take that back, doesn't look like Kimball was involved with Der Fuherer's. Perhaps Ferdinand was the second one that LSPE was talking about afterall.

Kimball actually was involved in several commercial Disney "propaganda" shorts, namely: The Spirit of '43, Education for Death, Victory Through Air Power, and Reason and Emotion. He was also most certainly involved in the production of many other wartime cartoons. I'll talk about them in the next Mousepod.

No, I guess I had thought Kimball was involved with Fuehrer's Face. I'm wrong! Just saw two Kimball anti-war films. (And another non-Kimball one. Donald in Nazi gear freaked me out in a big way.)

What about "Reason and Emotion"?

I think they were referring to the Academy Award winning Disney shorts. But as far as Ward being involved with Reason and Emotion, you are correct (see my post above). Reason and Emotion is a pretty neat cartoon - but most people who remember it from TV won't even remember the blatant WWII references, because they were removed in 1962! A fellow podcaster did a neat comparison of the original script to the '62 edit here. It's worth a perusal.

That's a very interesting comparision. Thanks for the link.

I did some more research on this and found this as well.
Here This also has a short Ward Kimball interview. It didn't have the film two days ago.


I look forward to the podcast about the War and the Disney studios, that should be interesting.

TicTocDragon - thanks for the link.

In case anyone here is interested, Didier (the guy who you are linking to) has put together a series of books called "Walt's People" that feature long-form interviews with many interesting Disney folks. The fourth book was just released - big thumbs up from me.

(and yes, he'll be a guest on the MousePod soon)

Now that is will be a highlight episode!