''Short Subject'' (commonly known as ''Mickey Mouse in Vietnam'') is a
16 mm underground animated short film. The director was Whitney Lee Savage (father of
Adam Savage
Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American special effects designer and fabricator, actor, educator, and television personality and producer, best known as the former co-host (with Jamie Hyneman) of the Discovery Channel televisi ...
, of ''
MythBusters
''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internatio ...
'' fame); the producer and head designer was
Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer. His most notable designs include the I Love New York logo, a 1966 poster for Bob Dylan, and the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University and Brooklyn Brewery. In 1954 ...
. It was produced independently in 1969 and has a total running time of one minute.
Plot
Mickey Mouse is seen walking happily until he sees a sign reading "Join the Army and See the World"; he then walks offscreen and comes back with a helmet and gun; he arrives at
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
during
the war via a cruise ship; however, moments after, while walking in the grass, he is shot in the head by an enemy. The short ends with Mickey lying dead on the ground, his smile turning slowly into a frown.
Production
The short was produced under the auspices of a studio named Max Cats and Whittesey Sledge Studios. According to Glaser, it was meant for the Angry Arts Festival which, according to him, was "a kind of protest event, inviting artists to produce something to represent their
concerns about the war in Vietnam and a desire to end it"; Mickey Mouse was chosen due to being a symbol of innocence.
Reception
The film received an award from the
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, founded in 1954, is one of the oldest short film festivals in the world. Held in Oberhausen, it is one of the major international platforms for the short form. The festival holds an International C ...
in 1970. According to Glaser it was positively received from the audience.
Conservation status
The film was erroneously thought to be lost for many years. It was shown under its French title ''Mickey au Vietnam'' or ''Mickey Mouse au Vietnam'' at the
Festival Côté court de Pantin in France in 1998 and 2003. In both cases, the copy came from the French distributor ISKRA. The
Cinémathèque québécoise
The Cinémathèque québécoise is a film conservatory in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its purpose is to preserve, document, film and television footage and related documents and artifacts for future use by the public. The Cinémathèque's collectio ...
in Montreal, Canada, used its own copy in 2004.
On April 22, 2013,
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
user abadhiggins uploaded the video.
"The Bootleg Files: Mickey Mouse in Vietnam"
''Film Threat
''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...
'', June 28, 2013. Five years later, on July 31, 2018, the full short was uploaded by another YouTube user CDCB2 on a distorted VHS print which is low-faded; this version includes the opening and closing titles, the SMPTE Universal countdown film leader, and a Telecine Compact Video Systems servants entrance Disney segment VHS slide, both of which were absent in the 2013 upload, as well the audio track, which, until then, was assumed to be completely lost. The music prominently used in the soundtrack is ''The Gonk'' by Herbert Chappell
Herbert Reginald Chappell (18 March 1934 – 20 October 2019) was a British conductor, composer and film-maker, best known for his television scores.
Education and early career
Born in Bristol, Herbert Chappell's first musical training was as a ch ...
, which was popularized by George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero (; February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer, editor and actor. His ''Night of the Living Dead'' series of films about an imagined zombie apocalypse began with the 1968 film of the ...
's horror film '' Dawn of the Dead''.
See also
* ''Bambi Meets Godzilla
''Bambi Meets Godzilla'' is a 1969 black-and-white animated short student film created entirely by Marv Newland. Less than two minutes long, the film is a classic of animation; it was listed #38 in the book ''The 50 Greatest Cartoons'' (1994).
...
''
* ''Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown
''Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown'' is a 1986 American animated short fan film directed and animated by Jim Reardon, who would later become director and storyboard consultant for ''The Simpsons'' and one of the co-writers of the Oscar-winning 2 ...
''
* '' Escalation''
* Rediscovered film
References
External links
*
Buzzfeed article with video
Disney Cartoons That Aren't Disney Cartoons
An article about the representation of war in cartoons in the U.S., mentioning the existence of ''Mickey Mouse in Vietnam''
*
{{Mickey Mouse cartoons
1969 films
1969 animated films
1969 short films
1960s American animated films
1960s animated short films
American parody films
Disney parodies
American satirical films
American political satire films
American black-and-white films
American animated comedy films
Anti-war films about the Vietnam War
Vietnam War films
Films set in Vietnam
Mickey Mouse short films
Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War
1960s rediscovered films
Rediscovered American films
American adult animated films
1960s English-language films