Underplayed Gems

The New Spirit (1942)

The New Spirit poster
Directed by
Ben Sharpsteen, Wilfred Jackson
Genre
propaganda film
Country
United States
Runtime
8 min
Rated
NR
Rating
5.8 of 10 from 29 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like this

How it feels

This short animated film features Donald Duck as he learns about the new income tax process. The goal is to encourage Americans to pay their taxes to support the war effort.

patrioticupbeatearnestinstructionallivelyoptimisticwhimsicalsimple

What happens

The New Spirit is a 1942 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and released by the War Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry. The cartoon, which stars Donald Duck, was the first film created as part of Walt Disney's World War II propaganda production. It was commissioned by Henry Morgenthau Jr., then Secretary of the Treasury, to encourage American citizens to pay their income tax in support of the war effort. The film was directed by Wilfred Jackson and Ben Sharpsteen, and features Clarence Nash as the voice of Donald, Fred Shields as the radio announcer, and Cliff Edwards singing the theme song. The New Spirit was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary at the 15th Academy Awards, an honor it shared with 24 other films. The following year, Disney released The Spirit of '43 which had a similar purpose and reused many of the scenes from The New Spirit. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.