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Mickey Mouse in Vietnam

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Short Subject
Short Subject, without soundtrack
Directed byWhitney Lee Savage
Produced byMilton Glaser
Color processBlack and white
Production
companies
Max Cats and Whittesey Sledge Studios
Release date
  • 1969 (1969)
Running time
1 minute
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Short Subject (commonly known as Mickey Mouse in Vietnam) is a 1969 16 mm anti-war underground animated short film. The director was Whitney Lee Savage (father of Adam Savage)[1] and the producer and head designer was Milton Glaser, who produced it independently with a total running time of one minute.[2] The short was not endorsed by The Walt Disney Company.

The short has the satirical theme of Mickey Mouse volunteering for military service, and getting killed within moments of arriving in Vietnam to fight in the Vietnam War.

The short was considered lost media until 2013 when a YouTube user uploaded the full short, albeit with replaced music; the full short with its original music was uploaded in 2018. As it doesn't have a copyright notice, it is in the public domain. However, its sounds, which are taken from other sources, are under copyright.

Plot

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Mickey Mouse is seen walking happily until he sees a sign reading "Join the Army and See the World" before walking offscreen and coming back with a helmet and gun. He then travels by boat to Vietnam during the war. However, moments after, while walking in the grass, he is shot in the head by an enemy. The short ends with Mickey lying dead on the ground, his smile turning slowly into a frown while blood pours from the bullet wound.

Production

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The short was produced under the auspices of a studio named Max Cats and Whittesey Sledge Studios. According to Glaser, it was meant for the Angry Arts Festival which, according to him, was "a kind of protest event, inviting artists to produce something to represent their concerns about the war in Vietnam and a desire to end it". Mickey Mouse was chosen due to being a symbol of innocence.[3][4]

Reception and legacy

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The film received an award from the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 1970.[5] According to Glaser it was positively received from the audience.[3][4]

Conservation status

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The film was erroneously thought to be lost for many years. It was shown under its French title Mickey au Vietnam or Mickey Mouse au Vietnam at the Festival Côté court de Pantin in France in 1998[6] and 2003.[7] In both cases, the copy came from the French distributor ISKRA.[8] The Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal, Canada, used its own copy in 2004.[9]

On April 22, 2013, YouTube user abadhiggins uploaded the video.[10][11][12][13] Five years later, on July 31, 2018, the full short was uploaded by another YouTube user CDCB2 on a distorted VHS print which is low-faded; this version includes the opening and closing titles, the SMPTE Universal countdown film leader, and a Telecine Compact Video Systems servants entrance Disney segment VHS slide, both of which were absent in the 2013 upload, as well the audio track, which, until then, was assumed to be completely lost. The music prominently used in the soundtrack is The Gonk by Herbert Chappell.[14]

The film was included as part of the 2022 Disney+ documentary Mickey: The Story of a Mouse.[15][16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Doctorow, Cory (23 June 2013). "Mickey Mouse in Vietnam". Boing Boing. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  2. ^ John Grant, Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters: from Mickey Mouse to Hercules, 3rd Edition, p. 31
  3. ^ a b Metzger, Richard (October 1, 2017). "Mickey Mouse in Vietnam". Dangerous Minds. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Solway, Carl (July 19, 2013). "A Rare 1968 Anti-War Short "Mickey Mouse In Vietnam" Has Resurfaced Online". Carl Solway Gallery. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  5. ^ Filmmakers Newsletter, vol. 4, p. 55 (1970).
  6. ^ Côté-court Archived 2020-10-22 at the Wayback Machine, 1998, p. 40
  7. ^ Côté court Archived 2020-10-22 at the Wayback Machine, 2003, p. 64
  8. ^ ISKRA.
  9. ^ "Mickey Mouse au Viêt-nam (Short Subject)". La revue de la Cinémathèque (in French). No. 77. Montréal: Cinémathèque québécoise. 2003–2004.
  10. ^ "Mickey Mouse In Vietnam: Anti-War Animation By Milton Glaser Shows Character's Sad Demise", Huffington Post, June 24, 2013.
  11. ^ David Haglund, "Watch the Long Lost Anti-War Short 'Mickey Mouse in Vietnam'", Slate, June 21, 2013.
  12. ^ Gabriel Grand, "When Mickey Mouse fought in Vietnam", Salon, June 23, 2013.
  13. ^ "The Bootleg Files: Mickey Mouse in Vietnam", Film Threat, June 28, 2013.
  14. ^ Mickey Mouse in Vietnam (ORIGINAL 1968 SOUNDTRACK!!!), 31 July 2018, retrieved 2023-05-27
  15. ^ Taylor, Drew (2022-03-16). "'Mickey' Documentary Director Was Shocked Disney Let This Stay in the Doc". The Wrap. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  16. ^ Spry, Jeff (14 November 2022). "Jeff Malmberg Dives Down the Mouse Hole for 'Mickey: The Story of a Mouse'". www.animationmagazine.net. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
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