The Dognapper

The Dognapper is a 1934 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. The cartoon stars Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck as police officers who chase Pegleg Pete after he dognaps Fifi, Minnie Mouse's pet Pekingese. The film was directed by David Hand and features the voices of Clarence Nash as Mickey and Donald and Billy Bletcher as Pete.[3] It was the 70th Mickey Mouse short film to be released, and the eighth of that year.[4] This was the first and only time that Mickey was voiced by Nash; Walt was in Europe at the time and was unavailable to record his lines for Mickey, thus, Nash took over.[5]

For the 2013 film, see The Dognapper (2013 film).
The Dognapper
Directed byDavid Hand[1]
Produced byWalt Disney
StarringClarence Nash
Billy Bletcher
Music byFrank Churchill
Animation byJohnny Cannon
Clyde Geronimi
Hardie Gramatky
Dick Lundy
Bill Roberts
Bob Wickersham
Marvin Woodward
Color processBlack-and-white
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • November 17, 1934 (1934-11-17)
(USA)[2]
Running time
8 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Dognapper was Donald's third film and was the first adventure story to feature both Mickey and Donald. This was the second of only three B&W cartoons to feature Donald Duck (the other two being Orphan's Benefit and Mickey's Service Station). Because the color of Donald's feet doesn't show in black and white, his feet were black in these cartoons.

Plot
Mickey and Donald

The plot is introduced in newspaper headlines that Fifi, Minnie Mouse's pekingese, has been dognapped, along with a description of the suspect, Peg Leg Pete. A radio transmission detailing the suspect's get-away car is heard by police officer Mickey Mouse and his sidekick Donald Duck. The pair soon see Peg Leg Pete speed by in the car and they chase after him, Mickey driving a motorcycle and Donald riding in a sidecar. Despite Pete's evasive maneuvers he is unable to escape from Mickey and Donald, and they eventually follow him to his hideout in an abandoned sawmill.

Inside, Pete chains Fifi to the wall and grabs a submachine gun. Mickey and Donald follow Pete into the sawmill and hold him at gunpoint. The film is filled with various gags showing the two law men as bumbling and incompetent, yet at every turn they are able to stay ahead of Pete, but not capture him.

Finally, while Mickey and Donald are standing on a log, Pete activates a circular saw positioned to cut the log. Mickey and Donald run to stay ahead of the blade, but eventually the end of the log comes and the saw blade shakes loose and spins out of control. The blade proves a threat for all three of the characters, but eventually Pete gets his peg leg caught in the blade's arbor hole and brings it to a stop. Mickey and Donald restrain him with a corset, and they march Pete off to jail, accompanied by the instrumental "The Girl I Left Behind" with the now-free Fifi angrily barking at him.

Release history

See also

References
  1. Smith, Dave (1996). "Dognapper, The". Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Hyperion. pp. 143. ISBN 0-7868-8149-6.
  2. Kaufman, J.B.; Gerstein, David (2018). Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History. Cologne: Taschen. ISBN 978-3-8365-5284-4.
  3. The Dognapper at The Encyclopedia of Animated Disney Shorts
  4. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 108–109. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  5. "The Dognapper". The Internet Animation Database.
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