This film, created in Britain with a view toward influencing American sentiment in the months before Pearl Harbor, uses animation in a then unusual way, that is, a serious subject. The earlier Hugh Harmon cartoon "Peace On Earth" (MGM 1939) would seem to be in some part inspiration for this, but here we see not only rotoscoped soldiers and battle scenes, but offers for the first time a comic animated Hitler with a broad Katzenjammer accent (by Mel Blanc). Adolf would be kicked around in many cartoons to come, but this is probably the only cartoon with a negative (though tepid) Josef Stalin caricature. He is seen congratulating Hitler at the time of their pact to carve up Poland. When Hitler departs, Joe asides a gesture to his pet black bear of a slice across the throat. That both men conspired to divvy up Poland goes unaddressed in all other wartime films.
3 Reviews
Broken Series
boblipton7 April 2014
This is the second of two "This Changing World" animated current events shorts released by Columbia Picture. It was produced first, but the second, HOW WAR CAME, was released first. Six had been contracted for, but were never made.
This one covers the events from the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938 through the conquest of Poland in 1939. It follows the standard Western view of the time about the Herman-Russian pact of 1939, noting that Stalin wanted bases in the Baltic States which the British negotiator, Admiral Drax, refused. In actual fact, papers released later indicate that Drax was sent with the intention of not coming to an agreement.
Although this series was not considered successful enough to continue, it looks pretty much like a template for Disney's VICTORY THROUGH AIR POWER: even though the style of illustration looks more like Fleischer.
This one covers the events from the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938 through the conquest of Poland in 1939. It follows the standard Western view of the time about the Herman-Russian pact of 1939, noting that Stalin wanted bases in the Baltic States which the British negotiator, Admiral Drax, refused. In actual fact, papers released later indicate that Drax was sent with the intention of not coming to an agreement.
Although this series was not considered successful enough to continue, it looks pretty much like a template for Disney's VICTORY THROUGH AIR POWER: even though the style of illustration looks more like Fleischer.
Broken Treaties was the second, and final, animated short in This Changing World series
tonyvmonte-5497314 March 2024
This was the second, and last, in Paul Fennell's series of animated shorts in This Changing World banner. This one shows Adolf Hitler (voiced here by Mel Blanc) making deals with people like Russia's Josef Stalin who is seen with a bear which represents his country. The narrator tells of all the deals Hitler made that he later broke promises on. Adolf was depicted in the previous short in the series called How War Came but he's more showcased here. The countries he takes over is depicted with that Nazi symbol appearing on them. All this happened before the U. S. eventually entered World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Fascinating time capsule piece.
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