Rating: 
Summary: Great addition to the Treasures line
Review: On the Front Lines was the last set I viewed in the Treasures series from Wave 4, and I must admit that it is some great stuff. I am not much for history, but I do like viewing history programs. Now that Disney has released this material from their vaults, the general public can now enjoy these wonderful programs. I for one had only seen 2 of the programs on here; Out of the Frying Pan... and Education for Death. Those are both excellent pieces, and I am glad to own dvd quality copies of these, but that is only a mere fraction of what this set has to offer.Disc 1 is divided into 3 parts: entertainment/propaganda, education, and from the vaults.Some of my favorites were the entertainment shorts with Donald Duck and Pete as the Sargeant. Many of these were to persuade Americans to do their part in the war effort by paying income taxes and buying war bonds. There is even an interesting short from Canada in which the Seven Dwarfs promote war bonds.The education shorts include material on things such as disease, cleanliness, protecting against mosquitos and the importance of corn. Those can be boring but they are vital to this set and I am glad they are here. In the From the Vaults section, there are excellent shorts, ranging from comical to serious. Education for Death is a grim short that depicts the typical German child growing up while being brainwashed with the ideas of the Nazi party.I'd seen that before but it never looked better than it does now. I also really enjoyed Reason and Emotion, which explains that a balance of reason and emotion is required to maintain rationality.And my favorite part of the set was Der Fuehrer's Face, in which Donald dreams he is in Naziland under the rule of Hitler. I really enjoyed disc 1, the sound and picture was great, and I loved how the dvd menus were set up. Disc 2 is comprised mostly of the full-length feature Victory Through Air Power. In this feature the importance of air power in winning the war is stressed. It is a blend of good animation with explanation by Major Seversky of why and how air power is important in winning the war on sea and land, and offers great visualizations to get his point across. This feature is hard to sit through and can get old quick, but if you take a break like I did then you will probably better appreciate what it's all about. Along with the feature are 4 Methods of Flush Riveting, Stop that Tank! and a training film montage. 4 Methods is absolutely an educational film and I found this to be the only boring part of the dvd. Stop that Tank! was great, and its purpose was to demonstrate the anti-tank rifle. It explains the mechanism behind the weapons, how to clean them, and is accompanied by good animation.You even get to see Hitler blown away in a tank. Who can't appreciate that? And finally was the training film montage. These are short introductions by Leonard Maltin on various training films for such things as adapting to different weather conditions. These arent shown in their entirety, but honestly I don't think that matters. Aside from these programs, you get the following extras:
"Victory Through Air Power" Trailer
On the Set of "Victory through Air Power"
Production Art Galleries
"Victory Through Air Power" Art Galleries
"A Conversation with Roy Disney"
"A Conversation with Joe Grant"
"A Conversation with John Hench" This is some of Disney's strangest work, yet some of the most interesting. It was a lot of fun seeing wartime propaganda and seeing how it influenced the public back then. This is a strong release and I highly recommend it to any dvd collection, whether you are a history buff or not. My 5 favorite parts were Der Fuehrer's Face, Homeland Defense(involving Donald's nephews), The Old Army Game, Stop that Tank!, and Commando Duck. But I digress from the point: I think there is something cool on here for everyone to enjoy. But parents be warned: some material should be viewed first before children see it. One such thing is a Donald short where he believes he has lost his legs, so he points a gun at his head as if to end it all. The one bad thing about this set is the Maltin intros to some of the shorts in which he "puts them into perspective for today's audience".It seems rediculous but it is the only way we get to see these uncut in such a politically correct world. Better to have that than not have this set at all. So I hope I helped persuade you to buy this set. It is a great piece of our history, and for 24 bucks it really is a steal. One more thing though, be prepared for about 7 hours of viewing, preferably not all at once.
Rating:
Summary: AN ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE SET!!!
Review: Several years ago Warner Bros. came out with "Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime cartoons" a great editon of WWII themed shorts. Now Disney checks in with this great 2 DVD set of their own wartime toons. In all you get 32 cartoon shorts from the golden era of animation, an intro by Leondard Maltin, and many great extra features. Among the great shorts are: "Donald gets Drafted" Donald does his patriotic duty when he recieves his draft notice and enlists in the army. The first of Donald's "Army" pictures follows him though his induction medical exam and boot camp "Private Pluto" Pluto is in the infantry guarding a pillbox from saboteurs. "Commando Duck" Donald is given a wartime assignment to wipe out a Japanese airfield. "Home Defense" Donald mans his listening post while his three nephews wait in readiness to attack the enemy. But chaos breaks out when the enemy turns out to be nothing more than a wandering bee. "How to be a Sailor" A history of sailing through the ages; from a prehistoric Goofy using a log, through the Age of Sail ("iron men, wooden ships") and on to modern times. "the Old Army Game" The old shell game gets a new face as Donald stays off-base past "Taps" and has to try to sneak back in with out alerting Pete. Just great WWII era stuff. Includes interviews with Roy Disney and others. Kudos to Disney for putting out this great material.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!!!!
Review: Thank you Disney for releasing this series of spectacular videos. It is nothing short of brilliant. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for having the guts to release it in such a sensitive time for USA. There is still hope for a proper release of Song of the South, another masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: DIFFICULT BUT CREATIVE ERA FOR DISNEY
Review: The years that the probable contents were released, as well as some info on the various works. FILMS 1943
VICTORY THROUGH AIR POWER - This film was basically propaganda with some entertainment and some powerful animation. Mainly championed Major Seversky's 1942 book of the same title with the theory that long-range air power could defeat the WWII enemies. The scene of an American eagle attacking the Japanese octopus is very powerful, moving animation. ENTERTAINMENT/PROPAGANDA SHORTS 1942
DONALD GETS DRAFTED-always enjoyed the idea of Donald reporting to the draft board in his sailor suit.
THE ARMY MASCOT-Pluto schemes to take over the job of a mascot goat, with hilarious results.
THE VANISHING PRIVATE-Donald goes crazy with invisible paint, leading to war with his sergeant Pete, with a perfect, funny ending.
SKY TROOPER-Donald wants to be a pilot, and his sergeant Pete gives him more than Donald bargained for. 1943
DER FUEHRER'S FACE-the famous and infamous cartoon in which Donald dreams he is in Naziland where he is forced to work in a munitions plant.
EDUCATION FOR DEATH-very strong propaganda about Germany's totalitarian state which turns an innocent young boy into a robotic soldier.
PRIVATE PLUTO-Pluto has a war with the chipmunks in guarding the area.
FALL OUT - FALL IN-Donald experiences some of the trials of Army life, such as super-long hikes.
REASON AND EMOTION-entertainment and propaganda used in a story about reason and emotion working together for the war effort, enjoyable animation.
VICTORY VEHICLES-Goofy shows off alternate transportation due to the wartime rubber and gasoline shortage, settling on the pogo stick.
THE OLD ARMY GAME-Sergeant Pete catches Donald sneaking back into base after a late night on the town, leads to a merry chase.
HOME DEFENSE-Donald's nephews conflict with Donald after he sleeps during his duty of watching for enemy attack.
CHICKEN LITTLE-The classic "the sky is falling" story, originally planned to have more wartime references. 1944
HOW TO BE A SAILOR-Goofy's story of the history of sailors, ending with him using himself as a torpedo to sink Japanese ships.
COMMANDO DUCK-Donald is sent on a suicide mission to wipe out an entire Japanese air base, with hilarious results. EDUCATIONAL SHORTS * = Created for Canada to sell their war bonds. ** = CIAA films (Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs) created to combat the German Nazy influence that was widespread in Latin American in the early 1940s. 1941
THE THRIFTY PIG * - animation from Three Little Pigs cartoon adapted, with the Big Bad Wolf wearing a Nazi hat and armband.
THE SEVEN WISE DWARFS * - animation from Snow White adapted to show dwarfs buying war bonds. 1942
DONALD'S DECISION * - uses animation from 1938 Donald Duck cartoons "Donald's Better Self" and "Self Control" to convince Donald to buy war bonds.
ALL TOGETHER * - uses animation from several sources, including The Band Concert (1935) and Mickey's Amateurs (1937) to show several Disney characters in a parade to sell war bonds.
THE NEW SPIRIT - Donald is encouraged to pay his income tax to help the war effort.
FOOD WILL WIN THE WAR - Stresses the importance of farmers to the war effort. Includes the Three Little Pigs leading a long line of pigs.
OUT OF THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRING LINE - Minnie & Pluto star in an effort to show how important it was for housewives to save kitchen fats and greases for the war effort. 1943
THE GRAIN THAT BUILT A HEMISPHERE ** - Tells the history of corn and its importance to the world.
THE SPIRIT OF '43 - Donald Duck resists Nazi propaganda and pays his taxes to support the war effort.
WHE WINGED SCOURGE ** - The Seven Dwarfs point out ways to defeat the malaria-carrying mosquito.
DEFENSE AGAINST INVASION ** - Shows the human body's ability to fight off germs through vaccination. 1945
CLEANLINESS BRINGS HEALTH ** - The difference between the Clean Family that is happy and healthy and the Careless Family that is unhappy and unhealthy.
WHAT IS DISEASE ** - Shows what causes disease and how to protect against disease. 1946
PLANNING FOR GOOD EATING ** - Careless Charlie is used to teach a family about good dietary habits. TRAINING FILMS 1942
FOUR METHODS OF FLUSH RIVETING - basic animation for education purposes
STOP THAT TANK (BOYS ANTI-TANK RIFLE) - a great deal of live action but fun, enjoyable animation of Hitler being blown to Hell by the rifle 1942-1945?
TRAINING FILM MONTAGE - A selection of scenes from various training films, I assume. There are a few war-related entertainment shorts not listed here - one or more might be added to this collection instead of what is listed above. 1943
DONALD'S TIRE TROUBLE - most likely short. Donald has continual trouble with flat tires due to the wartime shortage of rubber.
PLUTO AND THE ARMADILLO - small connection to the wartime. Short releated to the Latin Armerica trip and the Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros films developed from that trip. 1944
THE PELICAN AND THE SNIPE - same info as for Pluto and the Armadillo. 1945
DOG WATCH - Pluto is a watchdog for a Navy ship. The war years were a demanding time for the Disney Company. Most of their meager resources were devoted to the war effort. But this era contained a great deal of creative effort that might not have existed if not for the war. I have seen most of these war works, and I consider them fascinating and among the best of all of Disney's work. I much look forward to owning them on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: More than you'd expect
Review: This 2-disc set starts off with several entertainment shorts, dating from the early years of the war. Donald Duck and Pluto are the stars here, and the material offers a reflection of the nation's obsessions during that era. The discs, narrated by film critic Leonard Maltin, then progress into more serious subjects, including educational and propaganda pieces produced for the U.S. and Canada. A long-lost feature film, "Victory through Air Power," fills the majority of disc 2. If you have any interest at all in World War II or popular cultural history, you should find this collection fascinating. You'll also find considerably more material than advertised. The packaging, liner notes, and Amazon all give an approximate running time of 210 minutes; however, not including bonus materials, the main features appear to take up 3 and a half hours on each disc. More like 7 hours total. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and Entertaining as well as Educational
Review: This collection has been the most aniticpated set for hardcore Disney fans and cartoon historians alike. Collecting all of Disney's war time cartoons into one set was just a great idea and a real gem to own. I watched the entire collection in one day with friends of mine and I showed it to some students I teach at school who were just dumbfounded that people did this with cartoons during the second world war.
An excellent set with many bonus features including Leonard maltin who comes on to explain the background of many of these animated shorts.
I recommend this to everyone, not as a baby sitter for young children, but as an entertaining and educational look at America's history in animation and WW2.
Rating:
Summary: Very rare collection:
Review: This collection of Disney cartoons produced during WW2 to help the war effort. The thing that makes this cartoon collection so unique and special is that most all of the cartoons have not been released or shown on tv ever! These rare cartoons have spent the last half of the century being banned and censored and left to rot in the vaults. I'm glad that Disney finally released these cartoons on a DVD collections, and I suggest anyone interested in animation buy this, since they wont be around for long. The most notable cartoon on here is the famous "Der Fuerers Face" staring Donald Duck. This academy award winning cartoon stars Donald living the life as a factory worker in Nazi Germany. This one cartoon is the most famous of all Disney's blacklisted cartoons and is a real tresuare for anyone to finaly see after all these years. The anti-nazi humor can be a bit risque for nowadays (some jokes might be considered racist and unusual for a Donald Duck cartoon) but these cartoons stand up well as a capsule for the time at which they were made.
Rating: 
Summary: Shut your bearded pie-hole Leonard!
Review: This is a great set, the only annoyance is that you have to sit through Leonard Maltin's justifications for Disney cartoons such as the classic "Der Fuehrer's Face". The morons in Disney's political correctness department who made the decision to put this droning, banal nonsense in front of each cartoon and to set up the DVD so you *CAN'T* fast forward through it should be beaten. So in order to watch "Der Fuehrer's Face" or "Education for Death" you have to listen to Maltin tell you that "Gee, during World War II we were in a war and goshdarnit, people were just less sensitive back then and ethnically stereotyped people, especially their enemies", which aside from insulting your intelligence is obnoxious and faintly nauseating.
Other than the nauseating dose of political correctness the set is fantastic, Disney really does a good job in taking care of the film stock of their older cartoons, colors on the DVD are vivid and clear and there aren't any scratches on the transfer. Sound is clear, although sometimes it's hard to tell as who can understand Donald Duck?
If you're buying this for kids you might want to watch out, depending upon how able your kids are to handle adult themes, aside from the content of the propaganda features there's also a hilarious scene where Donald thinks that he's lost his legs and is shown putting a pistol to his head to end it all, which some kids, raised on blander fare such as "The Little Mermaid" might have difficulty dealing with.
Rating:
Summary: A history lesson, and a propoganda lesson...ruined by Maltin
Review: This is a tremendous set of films, a true reminder that not everything one reads or views can be taken at face value. Propoganda, while it exists today, was very blatant back in the days of World War II. These cartoons are a fine example of just that.
Yes, some are very entertaining, while others are downright scary. But they are a product of their time, and any intelligent person will view them from that perspective.
But, of course, the always-PC Leonard Maltin thinks that the public isn't that intelligent, so he is there throughout both discs, inserting his comments...usually insipid, but also often insulting....pointing out "offensive" points in the cartoons which in actuality are merely a reflection of the time in which they were made. He seems to think he is the only one who understands this perspective, and he has to explain it to what he must conclude is a brain-dead viewer.
The WORST PART about the Leonard Maltin comments? Unlike his blurbs on "Mickey Mouse in Black and White", they can't be skipped!!!! YUP...THAT'S RIGHT....THEY CAN'T BE SKIPPED. The fast forward button doesn't work, and neither does the chapter button. One is stuck listening to him blather, until the program finally appears. (A little communist propoganda plot of his own going on?)
Guess it's a fine time to go use the bathroom....or perhaps upchuck from seeing Maltin again and again.
Five stars for the cartoons.....the transfers are as good as can be expected for cartoons of this age. And, I reluctantly recommend this package, because it is the only way you are going to seem these VERY important films.
Just keep the barf bag handy for when you get your fill of Maltin's idiotic nonsense.
Rating:
Summary: Great piece of history, but...
Review: This is my first "Disney Treasures" DVD. Since I grew up with Disney's cartoons (I'm 29), I want my daughter to see the beautiful classic Disney cartoons of the 30's, 40's and 50's. Those are the classics; they are timeless. It is delightful to see a piece of history, but while they must have been funny and entertaining at the time, today they are not. They show a darker side of Disney. I was a bit disturbed to see these cartoons with my daughter, especially when Donald Duck was about to commit suicide with a gun on his head in one of the shorts. It was disturbing to see "Education for Death" and "Little chicken", but I know the intention at the time was for propaganda. I'm sure it served its function and since I love WWII history and I'm a Disney fan, I give this piece of work four stars.
One thing about the Disney classics of the Treasure series, is that they transcend time, in other words, they don't show a specific time period, but unlike the rest of the series, "On the Front Lines" do: the WWII era. And because it is not apt for my daughter to watch, I take away one star.
In all, I recommend this DVD for Cartoon Disney Collectors, or WWII enthusiasts, but be warned, it is not really amusing and I really don't think is apt for young children.
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