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| Donald Gets Drafted | |
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| Distributed by | RKO |
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| Release date(s) |  May 1, 1942 |
| Running time | 9 minutes |
| Language | English |
Donald Gets Drafted is a Walt Disney cartoon starring Donald Duck. It was released on May 1, 1942 by RKO Radio Pictures.
Plot
The short opens up on the draft card of Donald Duck, dated March 24, 1941 showing that his middle name is Fauntleroy. While walking to the draft board, Donald passes along several recruiting posters advertising "How great the army is". The posters show events that occur in the song, for example, in the song, the singer says "You used to have to walk a mile for beans, now they bring them to you" with a poster of a waiter bringing a soldier in a bathrobe a two course breakfast on a tray. Enticed especially for the Army Air Corps, featuring attractive women and the promise of escorting them around, Donald decides that he "wants to fly". Entering the Draft Board office number 13, Donald walks up to the recruiter, hands him his slip and says, "Hello General, I want to be a flier." Donald then proceeds to make aircraft engine noises with this mouth with outstretched wings. Donald eagerly wants to fly, wanting to skip the physical examination.
After knocking on the door, a hand grabs Donald by the neck and wrenches him inside the room. Doctors rapidly shove Donald around while asking questions. Finally, Donald is thrown onto an examination table and a doctor takes his pulse, which is a xylophone melody. He is then shoved to another doctor who listens to Donald's heart with a stethoscope. The heart rhythm is a brief excerpt of "You're in the Army Now". A third doctor grabs Donald and checks his ear. Two lights shine out of Donald's nostrils and the Doctor proclaims "Hmmm...nothing here". A fourth doctor sticks a tongue depressor in Donald's mouth and tries, to no avail, to make Donald say "Ah". Donald simply chokes. After being diagnosed with flat feet, Donald is shown a red card by the doctor who asks the color. As the color is spelled on the card, Donald simply reads the card. The same occurs with green, with the doctor saying the color. The second time however, Donald says blue, but doctor says "close enough".
An alarm clock, with very loud ticking, is held up to Donald's ear. The doctor asks if Donald can hear it and Donald wearily nods. Donald is then stripped naked for measurements. After being measured, an over-sized shirt is thrown on Donald with a small hat. The first hat is swapped with a larger hat and a pail of water is splashed on Donald to make the wool shrink. Then, Donald has the letters "O.K" stamped on his rear end, ending the physical. In many wartime cartoons, the protagonist has either "O.K" or "4F" stamped, signifying army material status.
Once Donald becomes inducted into the army, the camera shot opens up on airplanes, presumably C-47's with Donald gazing up at them, wishing he was in one of the planes while marching in formation. As Donald gets distracted, Sergeant Black Pete, the company Sergeant, orders Donald to get back in line, as Donald was falling behind. After halting, Donald continues to march, unaware that the rest of the company is keeping up the rhythm of "Left, Left, Left Right Left". Black Pete yells halt once more, this time Donald hears and stops. Embarrassed, Donald looks up at Black Pete and says, "Hiya, Sarge".
The sergeant makes Donald turn about face, to which Donald has trouble accomplishing. Placing his feet the wrong way and spinning too quickly, Donald rips Black Pete's tie in two with his bayonet. Black Pete does not become angry, only examining his tie and turns to face Donald face-to-face. Turning away from Donald, the sergeant dismisses the company, except for Donald, who is promised "special training". When Pete asks for Donald to shift his rifle to his left shoulder, the bayonet rips off the brim of his campaign hat. Black Pete then asks Donald to present arms, which Donald fails to do twice: the first error being that he switches his hat for his rifle; the second error being Donald, through some maneuver, gets the remainder of his hat atop the bayonet, which rips and falls down over Donald's face.
Black Pete lets out a shrill whine and then calms down, then commanding Donald to commence a forward march. Donald, through another miracle, plants the bayonet in the ground and becomes wedged between the shoulder strap. Then for the left command, Donald fits the rifle through his sleeves with only the butt of the rifle and bayonet exposed. Black Pete sighs in pain, saying to Donald, "You're hopeless". Black Pete then bats Donald away and, due to the rifle still being in Donald's shirt, causes Donald to be planted in the ground. Pete then spins Donald around, which dislodges Donald. Donald gets angry, picks himself up and shouts, "Phooey on you Sarge, I Quit!" Black Pete whirls around, taking off his shirt and hat, revealing a pair of brass knuckles and challenging Donald. Donald backs down and Black Pete, in the name of learning discipline, makes Donald stand perfectly still over an ant hill, not moving a muscle.
However, ants start to come out of the hill, causing Donald to scratch at them, which Black Pete interprets as intentional moving and calls Donald back to Attention. This occurs several times. As swarms move up on Donald, his tails picks them off, eventually becoming a windshield wiper. One ant manages to get on Donald's bill, and explores around. Despite Donald's best efforts to dislodge the ant, nothing works.
Finally Donald snapped. Running around to get off the ants, Donald starts firing his gun. Black Pete thinks that Donald is firing at him, but that is not the case. Running up a tree, not after getting shot several times in the rear, Black Pete pokes his head out of the bushes and blows his whistle to have Donald stop firing. However, each time Black Pete blows the whistle, a bullet whizzes by the same spot.
The scene fades out to Donald on KP duty, peeling and slicing potatoes, with "The Army's not the Army Anymore" playing in the background. Donald peels the skin off of one potato completely and holds it up, spelling out "Phooey". After discarding the peel, Donald returns to peeling, while the shot zooms out to show an entire room filled to the brim with potatoes.
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