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Walt Disney's Victory Through Air Power, the 1943 James Algar & Clyde Geronimi Walt Disney World War II (WWII) animated animation cartoon military airplane aviation propaganda movie promoting aerial bombing ("There's a thrill in the air!"; "A super movie quiz about... The stirring story of air power... from Kitty Hawk to victory!"; "Daring! Great! Graphic! Disney! Gripping! Different!"; "Daring! Different! Disney!"; "From the book by Alexander P. De Seversky"; "Based on the Book-of-Month sensation by Major De Seversky"; the movie was advocating the importance of having a strong Air Force, because Germany had already made theirs formidable, and Disney felt that the Allies could only win through having superior air power) featuring Major Alexander de Seversky, Art Baker (the narrator), and Billy Mitchell (the famous general who foresaw World War II, but was court-martialed for speaking his own mind, in archival footage). Major Alexander de Seversky had just written a best-selling book saying that modern wars could only be fought through the use of long range bombing, and this movie was very much in support of that view. It begins with a history of aviation, starting at Kitty Hawk and then moves to the then-present day, and says that the only way to effectively beat the Nazis was through the use of long range missile bombing. It calls America the "Arsenal of Democracy" and that because America was thousands of miles away from where the war was being fought, the only way to win would be with long range missiles. It describes very controversial methods of waging war, such as blowing up a dam to flood the enemy, using bombs that would cause earthquakes, etc. (controversial, because they would surely kill a huge number of civilians). Those "bombs that cause earthquakes" might certainly have been a metaphor for atomic bombs, which were in fact used just two years later, but against Japan, and not against Germany. It is certainly a very unusual cartoon for Disney, especially because it begins in a lighthearted comical tone, and later becomes incredibly downbeat! Part of the cartoon shows Major Alexander de Seversky talking directly to the audience.
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Important Added Info: Note that we have only previously auctioned two examples of this pressbook, and the last one was 8 years ago, when it sold for $1,650!

Note that pressbooks were prepared prior to a movie being released. Often, changes would be made in a movie advertising campaign (billing of actors, different images, etc.), and the theaters would print up special supplements that they would send out with the pressbooks that had already been printed. These supplements are very rare, far more rare than the pressbooks themselves! Some pressbooks would have no supplements, some would have one, and some would have several. Also note that we have provided an image of the front and back covers of this pressbook, and of course, the winner of this auction will receive the entire single pressbook we are auctioning (plus any supplements or heralds described above)! Also note that this pressbook is complete and uncut! Given that theater owners received pressbooks partly in order to create their newspaper advertising, and quite frequently cut them up for that purpose, it is rare to find a pressbook that IS complete and uncut!

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