Apparently based on the 1927 World War 1 feature film "Wings," this knee-slapping hoot features the legendary silent Disney character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the older brother of Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny.
Basically, war is declared and the animals go off to "do their bit" for their country. Oswald, seeking the love and admiration of his rabbit girlfriend, takes up arms to impress her. Some really interesting animation with a slew of animals marching into a small building in their regular clothes and coming out in guns and uniforms, and a cannon whose barrel emerges to darken up the screen. The real guffaw-inducer for me is during the skyfight where the enemy airplanes start slapping each other with their wings (a gag I saw repeated in a Popeye cartoon about a decade later).
Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks (as well as Friz Freling and some of the future creators of the Looney Tunes) really show their stuff here and the Oswalds, unlike most silent animation, are still funny and interesting after 80 years.
Basically, war is declared and the animals go off to "do their bit" for their country. Oswald, seeking the love and admiration of his rabbit girlfriend, takes up arms to impress her. Some really interesting animation with a slew of animals marching into a small building in their regular clothes and coming out in guns and uniforms, and a cannon whose barrel emerges to darken up the screen. The real guffaw-inducer for me is during the skyfight where the enemy airplanes start slapping each other with their wings (a gag I saw repeated in a Popeye cartoon about a decade later).
Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks (as well as Friz Freling and some of the future creators of the Looney Tunes) really show their stuff here and the Oswalds, unlike most silent animation, are still funny and interesting after 80 years.