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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 this item is in eMoviePoster.com's special "all animation" auction! The idea for this auction began when we were consigned a remarkable collection of original 1940s Walt Disney pressbooks, mini lobby cards, and standees (and almost all of those are extremely rare ones that are hardly ever auctioned, and they almost all are in really nice condition). Once we knew we had those items, we contacted all our past consignors, and asked them to consign to this very special auction, and they REALLY came through, consigning a wonderful assortment of cartoon movie paper of all sorts. Buying from this special auction gives you an incredibly rare opportunity to obtain some of the finest cartoon animation movie paper we have ever seen, and all of them will have new owners when these auctions close, because all start at $1 with no reserve. Many of these items will likely not be auctioned again for many years to come!

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