I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is a VERY unusual Disney cartoon because it's apparently accidentally slipped into the public domain and can be downloaded for free from archive.org. It's especially surprising because it's one of the better Donald Duck cartoons.Huey, Dewey and Louie want to buy a gift for Uncle Donald for his birthday. They decide to buy him a box of cigars but need money. So, they go to Donald to collect payment for all the chores they've been doing. He pays them but then insists they put it in the piggy bank. Later, they sneak the money. Donald finds out...and finds out they bought a box of cigars. He stupidly thinks the boys are smoking and instead of asking about the cigars, he decides to punish them by making them smoke them. Later, he discovers why they bought them and he feels like a total jerk.My guess is that the smoking theme is why Disney didn't renew the copyright on this one. Kids buying cigars and smoking them, while a great plot for 1949, became unacceptable in the more health-conscious 60s and 70s and especially today. Still, I think the film is well worth seeing as it's unusually sweet and poignant for a Donald Duck cartoon.

It's Donald's birthday, and his nephews are planning to buy him a box of 'fine cigars,' only $2.98. Frantically, they begin to do all sorts of chores and present Donald with a bill of sales, totaling the required amount. Donald agrees to pay them, but their plan is halted when he insists they put that money into a singing bank ('Take my advice, do what I say, save a little money for a rainy day'). The boys then plot and scheme to get the money out, further infuriating Donald as to what they are planning to use it for. When he spots them leaving a nearby cigar store with a box, he becomes angry. cornering them in their clubhouse, he forces them to smoke the entire box, thinking that they're the ones who the box is for. It's only after he's spent all the cigars and the boys are passed out, that he finds a card left in the box- "To Uncle Donald. Happy Birthday! -Huey, Dewey and Louie."One of several good cartoons depicting Donald and his nephews, though here they are not as much the rapscallions of other cartoons, such as 'Truant Officer Donald.' Their scheme of good intentions going awry is reflected in several other shorts of the time, such as 'Lucky Number.'Personally, I've always felt that Clarence Nash's voice for Donald gave the duck a very 'sorrowful' sound. When Donald reads the Birthday card and the real reason his nephews wanted to buy the cigars, it almost feels a bit touching to me.

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.In order to ensure DONALD'S HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Huey, Dewey & Louie must first scheme a way to get the money to buy a gift.This is very much a routine Donald versus the Nephews cartoon, but it's pleasant enough. It is in this film that we learn that Donald's birthday is March 13th. Notice that Louie's name is misspelled `Luey' on the birthday card. Clarence Nash provided the voices for the entire Duck clan.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a storm of naysayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

It is March 13 and it is Donald's birthday. The nephews want to by him a box of cigars but they don't have any money. They work for it so Donald will give them money, but they are not allowed to spend it right away. When Donald is sleeping they try to get the money. This short is a little boring and there are no real laughs in it. Compared to most others it is pretty bad. 5/10.