Victory Through Air Power (1943)

Directors:

James Algar
Clyde Geronimi
(more)

Writers:

Alexander de Seversky (book)
Perce Pearce (story)
(more)

Release Date:

17 July 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Animation | History | War

Tagline:

There's a Thrill in the Air!

Plot:

An animated documentary promoting of the soundness of strategic aerial bombing in World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Propaganda | Eagle | Battle Of Britain | Submarine | Aircraft Carrier

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Alexander de Seversky	...	Himself (as Major Alexander P. de Seversky)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Art Baker	...	Narrator (voice)
Billy Mitchell	...	Himself (archive footage)

Directed by
James Algar		(sequence director: animation)
Clyde Geronimi		(sequence director: animation)
Jack Kinney		(sequence director: animation)
H.C. Potter		(scenes with Major Seversky)

Writing credits
Alexander de Seversky		(book "Victory Through Air Power") (as Maj. Alexander P. Seversky)
Perce Pearce		(story direction)
T. Hee		(story adaptation) &
Erdman Penner		(story adaptation) &
William Cottrell		(story adaptation) &
James Bodrero		(story adaptation) (as Jim Bodrero) &
Vernon Stallings		(story adaptation) (as George Stallings)

Produced by
Walt Disney	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Edward H. Plumb		(as Edward Plumb)
Paul J. Smith
Oliver Wallace

Cinematography by
Ray Rennahan		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Jack Dennis

Art Direction by
Richard Irvine

Set Decoration by
William Kiernan		(interior decoration)

Production Management
Daniel Keefe	....	production manager (as Dan Keefe)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jack Bruner	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Lou Debney	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Lloyd Richardson	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Tom Codrick	....	art direction: animation
Don DaGradi	....	art direction: animation (as Donald Da Gradi)
Cliff Devirian	....	art direction: animation
Don Griffith	....	art direction: animation
Bill Herwig	....	art direction: animation
Karl Karpé	....	art direction: animation
Charles Philippi	....	art direction: animation
Elmer Plummer	....	art direction: animation
Herbert Ryman	....	art direction: animation
Glenn Scott	....	art direction: animation (as Glen Scott)
Marc Davis	....	story sketches (uncredited)

Sound Department
Lodge Cunningham	....	sound recordist
C.O. Slyfield	....	sound recordist

Animation Department
Edwin Aardal	....	animator (as Ed Aardal)
Dick Anthony	....	background artist
Jack Boyd	....	animator (as Carleton Boyd)
Nino Carbe	....	background artist
Claude Coats	....	background artist
Al Dempster	....	background artist
Hugh Fraser	....	animator
David Hand	....	animation supervisor
Ray Huffine	....	background artist
Ollie Johnston	....	animator (as Oliver M. Johnston Jr.)
Bill Justice	....	animator
Ward Kimball	....	animator
John Lounsbery	....	animator
John McManus	....	animator
Joshua Meador	....	animator (as Josh Meador)
George Rowley	....	animator
John Sibley	....	animator
Joe Stahley	....	background artist
Norman Tate	....	animator (as Norm Tate)
Harvey Toombs	....	animator
Bill Tytla	....	animator
Marvin Woodward	....	animator
Marc Davis	....	character designer (uncredited)
Rae McSpadden	....	ink and paint artist (uncredited)

Music Department
Sidney Fine	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Frederick Stark	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Clifford Vaughan	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Walt Disney	....	presenter
Natalie Kalmus	....	color director
Morgan Padelford	....	associate color director

Thanks
Billy Mitchell	....	dedicatee

Production Companies

• Walt Disney Pictures

Distributors

• United Artists (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U (1943) | Sweden:(Banned) (1944)

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

All of Alexander de Seversky's live-action monologue sequences were filmed on the Disney backlot late at night to avoid noise pollution from the nearby Lockheed aircraft factory.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The film claims the German's used air power to break through the Maginot line to conquer France. In reality, the German forces avoided directly engaging the Line and instead completely circumvented it.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Billy Mitchell:Today, a war is very different than the last European war was. Now air power is the dominant feature of military operations. Air power can fly directly to the vital centers of an opposing state and neutralize them. It can destroy the cities, it can wreck the aqueducts, it can knock out the lines of communication, it can destroy the food supplies, and make the people helpless to resist.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

America the Beautiful

Disney produces something rather plane.

Part animated look at the history of flight and part lecture on the importance of developing long-range aeroplanes to help win the war, Victory Through Air Power is a very strange propaganda piece from Walt Disney. However, it was also quite a prescient and important one and deserves to be seen by anyone interested in the history of the studio or historically interested in acts of war.

Based on the book by Alexander de Seversky, the film does have a few animated sequences (and quickly illustrates numerous ideas and potential scenarios) but it's predominantly an interesting talk given by the author of the book on his theories and how the rules of the battlefield have been changing since the development of flying machines. Looking at strategies and the lessons from history, it's hard to argue with a lot of what he says.

As is usually the case, a number of writers and directors worked together to create the final product. As you would expect, it's not half as entertaining as many of the other Disney outings from the 1940s but it makes up for that with such a high curiosity factor that it remains enjoyable from start to finish (about 70 minutes max).

RKO may have refused to carry the movie, seeing no profit in it, but we can be glad that Disney then went to United Artists to get the film a theatrical release. It was never going to be a moneymaker but it certainly seems to have impressed important people of the time, most notably Winston Churchill who then urged Franklin D. Roosevelt to watch the film, which led to Roosevelt finally committing to a full air campaign against Germany.

Which means that maybe, just maybe, this oft-overlooked Disney film helped the right people to win WWII. No mean feat.