Absolutely the worst movie.

A lot of fun.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is a short film I show in my classes, not to explain how Hitler made good his boast that it needn't matter if people crossed over to join his movement as their children already belonged to him, but using a contemporary source to analyse its origin, purpose, value and limitations. Unlike what other commentators here have stated, the cartoon does not show all Germans as evil, but how they have to be moulded to follow the Nazi ideology. My main issue that I would ask you to look at whilst watching it is the complete omission of anything to do with the Jews. The fear the British and (more so given they were not directly attacked by Germany) American Governments did not want its people to think they were fighting for Jews. But here no mention is made of Reichskristallnacht or the clear systematic persecution of Jews that had been covered in world newspapers since Hitler's assumption of power in 1933. Synagogues have been replaced with churches, toras with Bibles, stars of David with crucifixes. Whilst understandable given the mentality at the time it was made, it is glaring and a bit concerning that none has apparently seen fit to make this connection here. www.tracesofevil.blogspot.com

Like many other animations from the 40s, this is a true reflection of what seems to be a lost art of deco animation. I love the time period, and its a shame that many of today's animations, or cartoons, don't seem to have the heart that these old cartoons did. As far as the content, yes it's evil, yes it's Nazi, blah blah, and no, I'm not as shocked as many who view this seem to be. Frankly, I get tired of the automated, conditioned response we're taught to have in this country. "The holocaust was bad." "Nazism was evil." "The terrorists we're Saudis" "Liberals hate America" "Republicans are Jesus freaks" It's all the same crap, do you let people think for you? If this we're truly Armageddon, then you'd be f_cked, as would most Americans, because they would be waiting for someone to tell them what to do, and how to think.

While most of Disney's cartoons are funny, this one was quite serious. It tells of how a boy named Hans is abducted into the Nazi way of life starting from kindergarten when he learns the familiar story of Sleeping Beauty only he learns the Nazi version of it where the wicked witch is democracy and Sleeping Beauty is German. I bet you can probably guess who the prince is. Later Hans is taught that the weak don't deserve to live and that Germans are the master race. I think Walt Disney depicts the evils of Nazism quite well in this short. The outside world was probably quite shocked about this when they saw it. An innocent child being brought up to be a Nazi who says nothing but what others want him to say, to think only the way others want him to think, and to do only what others want him to do. To top it all off, having to support Der Fueher (Hitler) and dying in battle just for him. Isn't that pathetic? The narrator says "By now Hans has completed his education. His education for death!" He was right about that too. This is quite a touching story and I think that everyone should get the chance to see it. Unfortunately this short is not "politically correct" enough to be aired on the Disney Channel or Toon Disney. I hope that one day Disney will show these rare cartoons on TV. You're probably wondering where I saw this cartoon. Well, I own a video of rare Disney shorts that I got from a collector.

Is this the scariest Disney wartime cartoon? Of the very few I've seen, it is.The tone of most of the cartoon is pretty grim. How many others can you name that prominently feature a book-burning?A boy is born to a German family. Much of the film is in German (!) -- high quality German too, by the way -- with English voice-over. A name must be chosen for the boy, once the parents have proven their Aryan ancestry, naturally. The chosen name can't be on the proscribed list, those Old Testament prophets so offensive to Aryans.There is a comic interlude where Germany's saviour, Hitler in silver armour, rescues Germany from the evil witch, Democracy. Germany is personified by an unusually stout Brünnhilde from Wagner's Ring cycle, who sings the words "Heil Hitler" to the tune of the Valkyries' cries of "Heiaha" from Act III of "Die Walküre". This is an opportunity as well to parody that famous Nazi painting -- by whom I don't recall -- of Der Führer wearing a glorious suit of shining steel as did the chivalric heroes of yore. (The one where Hitler looks like an extra from Boorman's "Excalibur".)We see the boy being indoctrinated into cruelty by his teacher at school. Then the boy happens to fall sick. That's not allowed in Nazi Germany; a German "soldat" does not get sick. That scene is very well animated. It reminded me of the endearing Darling family in "Peter Pan" (1953), not coincidentally directed by Clyde Geronimi too.Eventually the boy does become a "soldat", one of a long line of interchangeable soldier faces, much like the row of gleaming boots in "Battleship Potemkin".The soldiers march neatly in line over the brow of the hill, where they perform their final designated service to the Führer, by turning into a row of crosses.Nothing terribly funny about this one, folks. For that, you'd need Donald Duck remakng Charlie Chaplin in "Der Fuehrer's Face" (1943).