Polar Trappers (1938) User Reviews

Fun with Donald and Goofy

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 20 December 2015]

Disney short with Donald Duck and Goofy as animal trappers in Antarctica ("We don't know why we catch them but we bring them back alive," Goofy sings). This is the first cartoon where Donald and Goofy appear together without Mickey. Most of the cartoon deals with Donald trying to catch a penguin because he's tired of eating beans. Meanwhile Goofy is trying (and failing) to capture a walrus. Lots of funny gags in this one. The "march of the penguins" is the highlight. The animation is wonderful, particularly those gorgeous colors. The music is very lively and cheerful. The voice work from Pinto Colvig and Clarence Nash is flawless. Disney was a cut above anyone else in animation in the 1930s and cartoons like this one are prime examples of why.

Hungry as Duck

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 6/10 · 9 July 2005]

Donald and Goofy are up in the arctic circle for some reason (or it could be antarctic) and are hunting walruses and penguin respectively, as they are both tired of eating beans. While I have no problem with a dog eating a walrus doesn't anyone else find it weird that I duck would eat a penguin? Or 'roast chicken' as Donald calls it. What's to stop Goofy from eating him with that logic?

Anyway neither of them succeed, as usual. But Goofy ends up in an ice cavern. flattened by icicles and Donald attempts to march a zillion penguins to their deaths but lets a little baby get in his way and bring about the inevitable doom.

Fun nonetheless.

A semi-funny Donald and Goofy cartoon.

[OllieSuave-007 · 7/10 · 24 April 2017]

This is a semi-funny cartoon from Disney, featuring Donald and Goofy in the polar ice-caps. Goofy is having troubles with this bait as a walrus stole his fish bucket and Donald is trying to make a meal out of penguins by disguising as one and luring a parade of them back to his camp.

There are some funny moments here and there in the cartoon; I especially liked the part where Goofy is trying not to let the icicles fall on him. The "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" song that Donald plays to lure the penguins to follow him is pretty catchy - a song you would love to tap your toes to.

Not a bad Donald and Goofy cartoon.

Grade B-

Bring em Back Alive, Unless You're Tired of Beans

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 3 February 2019]

We have two plots here. Goofy is trying to trap arctic creatures to bring back to a zoo. So his efforts are benign. The problem is that many of these creatures have no interest in being captured. Most of Goofy's problems happen in a cave whose ceiling is filled with icicles. Donald Duck has been up there for a long time, living on beans, so when he spots some cute penguins, he thinks he has found dinner. Hi efforts are to no avail.

Fun Short

[Michael_Elliott · 22 December 2015]

Polar Trappers (1938)

*** (out of 4)

Goofy and Donald Duck are trappers in Antarctica who are a tad bit hungry. In order to get some food in their bellies, Donald decides to dress up as a penguin in hopes to catch one or more. While this is going on Goofy gets into a battle with a walrus. This animated short isn't a great film by any stretch of the imagination but it's got the typical high quality that you'd come to expect from Disney during this period. The highlight of the film is without question the scene where Donald dresses up as a penguin and joins a line of them in hopes of scoring dinner. There was another great scene where Donald fantasies about a cooked penguin yet calls it a chicken while the animated drawing is a cooked turkey.

The often inarticulate, tongue-tied, gibberish-spouting . . .

[pixrox1 · 6/10 · 31 January 2022]

. . . Donald Duck gives an Army of Penguins their marching orders 16 days after Morgan Freeman's first birthday. It's lucky for the Dizzy animators that these "tuxedo birds" are so compliant, strutting their stuff with at least as much military precision here as they'd later muster for Mr. Freeman. Meanwhile, Goofy in a walrus suit--singing, no less--strikes up more horror than even TUSK (2014).

Works absolutely beautifully in every way

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 19 July 2012]

Maybe Polar Trappers is not quite one of Disney's very best, however it is a cartoon that I am very fond of. The idea is simple, but is effective in that. Also as much as I do like Mickey, when the trio were together or individually I always found Goofy and especially Donald funnier characters. Goofy and Donald are here as a duo, when you discover that before watching it just screams of comedy gold. And it is exactly that, although like with other cartoons with just the duo I find Donald to be the stronger character(I just love the gag where he dresses up in a black tuxedo to impersonate a penguin and manages to fool a female penguin) Goofy is just as likable and his big gag with the icicle-covered cave was just as inspired. It isn't all funny though, Donald fooling the penguins in Pied Piper-style is exceedingly cute and the finale is one of those crash-landing action-packed ones. The animation is full of colour and smoothness, and the music especially in the penguin impersonation gag and the march of the penguins really helps to enhance the action. The sound effects are also well-incorporated, with the best being that of the baby penguin's tears evolving into the snowball. In conclusion, a great cartoon that works beautifully. 10/10 Bethany Cox

They Bring 'Em Back Alive

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 27 July 2003]

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

POLAR TRAPPERS Donald & Goofy are hunting for wildlife to bring back to civilization...

Here is a very funny little film from Disney's Golden Age. The Goof's hunt for a walrus is humorous, but hungry Donald's interaction with a colony of penguins he hopes to eat is hilarious. 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.