The Vanishing Private (1942)

Director:

Jack King

Writer:

Carl Barks

Release Date:

25 September 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Comedy | Short

Plot:

Private Donald Duck gets into trouble when he performs his camouflage painting duty too well with experimental paint that makes anything painted invisible.

Plot Keywords:

Paint | Camouflage | Duck | Invisibility Paint | Anthropomorphic Animal

Cast

Billy Bletcher	...	Sgt. Pete (voice) (uncredited)
Clarence Nash	...	Donald Duck (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Jack King

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Carl Barks

Produced by
Walt Disney	....	producer

Original Music by
Oliver Wallace

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jack Atwood	....	assistant director

Animation Department
Paul Allen	....	animator
Bill Herwig	....	layout artist
Hal King	....	animator
Ed Love	....	animator
Charles A. Nichols	....	animator
Wolfgang Reitherman	....	animator
Art Scott	....	animator
Bill Tytla	....	animator
Judge Whitaker	....	animator

Production Companies

• Walt Disney Productions

Distributors

• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• RKO Radio Pictures
• Walt Disney Home Video (19??) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

7 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (Certificate #7709) | Argentina:Atp

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

Donald sings (among other popular army ditties) "The Army's Not the Army Any More" from his first war picture "Donald Gets Drafted (1942).

Goofs:

Continuity: The gun Donald is painting is at least 30 feet long at the beginning, but after it is painted invisible it appears to have shrunk considerably, as Pete only walks a few steps from the base to look into its mouth and blow Donald out the other end.

Quotes:

Sgt. Pete:Good morning, General. Did you see a little guy that you can't see?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Ink & Paint Club: The Unseen Disney (#1.31)" (1997)

The Duck Triumphant

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

Some highly experimental invisible paint allows Donald to wreck revenge upon bullying Sergeant Pete.

THE VANISHING PRIVATE is a fine example of a wartime Duck cartoon - fast and very funny. With both Donald & Pete as members of the U. S. Army it is amazing that the Allies managed to win the War. Clarence Nash provides the Duck with his unique voice.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.