''War Dogs'' is a 1943 American one-reel

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

animated cartoon directed by

William Hanna William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of ''Tom and Jerry'' as well as the voice actor for the two title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the ani ...

and

Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian im ...

. Released with the film '' Best Foot Forward'' by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

, its main theme is

war dog Dogs in warfare have a very long history starting in ancient times. From being trained in combat, to their use as scouts, sentries, messengers, mercy dogs, and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern military ...

s training that is shown with one yellow dim-witted dog.

Plot

The cartoon is a mockumentary about the secret canine war unit "The WOOFss day regime. The camera shows many war dogs (including Spike from Tom & Jerry (voiced by

Billy Bletcher William Bletcher (September 24, 1894 – January 5, 1979) was an American actor. He was known for voice roles for various classic animated characters, most notably Pete in Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse short films and the Big Bad Wolf in Disney' ...

) and the St. Bernard (from ''

Puttin' on the Dog This is a complete list of the 164 shorts in the ''Tom and Jerry'' series produced and released between 1940 and 2014. Of these, 162 are theatrical shorts, one is a made-for-TV short, and one is a 2-minute sketch shown as part of a telethon. ...

'') sleeping and doing laughable things. The camera concentrates on one yellow dog, Private Smiley, sleeping in its tent and dreaming about chasing a

caricatured A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

Japanese

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

. Then, it wakes up and marks the fourth Japanese beaten in his slumber. Then, the trumpet rings a signal to gather up, and all dogs expect the yellow one run on signal. The yellow dog sleeps so soundly that a man douses it with water. Then the roll is called. All dogs except the yellow one bark to roll call. Then, the commander orders a yellow dog to march and then to do various commands with funny effort. Then, the yellow dog sits in cabinet trying to distinguish the military things and not-military things again with funny efforts. At one moment, frame with

pin-up girl A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model whose mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously glamour models, fashion models ...

appears and dog gazes on it even when next frame is shown by moving the border of it. When a frame with

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

is shown, the dog tears apart the frames with anger and makes inscription "BUY BONDS" from frame remains. Then message delivery training is depicted. The yellow dog carries a

letter Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

and tiny dog carries a

P.S. PostScript (PS) is a page description language in the electronic publishing and desktop publishing realm. It is a dynamically typed, concatenative programming language. It was created at Adobe Systems by John Warnock, Charles Geschke, Doug B ...

message (a size

gag A gag is usually an item or device designed to prevent speech, often as a restraint device to stop the subject from calling for help and keep its wearer silent. This is usually done by blocking the mouth, partially or completely, or attempting ...

). Later the yellow dog builds a

tent A tent () is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over, attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using gu ...

(even with a fire hydrant!) within a time limit. Looks like all is done, but when dog pulls one non-connected thread, all tent dismantles back. Then, we see how yellow dog tries to ski and drive

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

, both unsuccessful. Then, we look at the

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

training. Dog don't wants to jump from the aircraft, but when he sees

bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...

thrown away in the air by man, he jumps to bone, but without parachute bag. Dog understands that he is in air, but it's too late, and dog crashes. Dog lies in hospital with fractures and next to him lies....broken bone. Then, dog puts on the helmet and tests what impact its head will bear with helmet. The dog bears even 500

newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

hammer impact, but falls shortly after taking it. Dog then must distinguish the real

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

from the soldiers

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...

d as trees. He almost

piss Piss is a profanity, swear word. Piss(es) or pissing may refer to: * Urine, a liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys and excreted through the urethra ** Urination, the ejection of urine to the outside of the body * Piss (alb ...

es on one of camouflaged soldiers, but they quickly go out from dog. Dog realizes that he is on real battlefield, and explores the battlefield by holding on rolling tank hidden under him. Dog hides in straw, but he doesn't know that he is hidden in

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

cloaked in straw. The anti-aircraft gun shoots the dog into general headquarters's tents, and the tents fall one by one like dominoes. Then, camera shows us that dog is

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...

ed for its deeds and sitting in jail-like kennel, but the dog sleeps happily.

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0036513, War Dogs 1943 films 1943 animated films 1943 short films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short films American World War II propaganda shorts World War II films made in wartime Animated films about dogs Short films directed by William Hanna Short films directed by Joseph Barbera 1940s American animated films 1940s animated short films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films scored by Scott Bradley Films about war dogs Films produced by Fred Quimby Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio short films