Donalds Reifenpanne (Short 1943)

Donalds Reifenpanne: Directed by Dick Lundy. With Clarence Nash. Donald drives too fast and blows out a tire. Of course, with this clown, changing it is not a simple operation. First he has to fight the jack, then the heavily patched inner tube, then the adhesive on the patch, then the pump, then the hassle of putting the tire back together. Finally, he’s all done, and … well, let’s just say he’s not going anywhere too quickly.

“In later cartoons Donald would have flesh-and-blood antagonists; here he has nothing to fight, nothing to get mad at, but a punctured tyre. In the 1930s his efforts to repair it would have made up roughly one-third of a larger Mickey/Donald/Goofy enterprise; here, itu0026#39;s the whole show. This is one aspect of Donaldu0026#39;s routine reduced to its minimal essence. Never before, and never again, would he be required to do so much with so little. He carries it off magnificently.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOne of Donaldu0026#39;s trademarks is that, although heu0026#39;s always talking, we have to strain to understand a single word he says (I love the way Clarence Nash lapses into comprehensibility and out again as the occasion requires), which makes him an excellent silent comedian, and this is inspired silent comedy. I donu0026#39;t know how many times youu0026#39;d have to watch it before it ceased altogether to be funny, and even then it would have a kind of beauty.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eReleased early in January 1943 and probably made the previous year, one aspect of the visual style has dated – Disneyu0026#39;s effects department cannot, at this stage, make Donaldu0026#39;s car blur as it should as it zooms through the countryside. This means that approximately ten seconds of footage are less than perfect. Thatu0026#39;s about all.”