dbdumonteil This propaganda short directed by Clyde Geronimi for Walt Disney productions remains very impressive today.If it has been made for children,they must have had bad dreams in the night.It begins with a curious treatment of "sleeping beauty" (which was transferred to the screen in 1959) :a beautiful prince (guess who) kills the wicked witch (democracy) ,wakes the princess (Germany) from her slumber and breaks the spell.Then at school you are taught that ,like in the nature,only the strong survives .When you are a young man,your only role is to become a strong soldier ,to be just a part of a machine .In the last pictures,the soldiers look like robots marching on to war.This cartoon is not legend:it is fact .Just have a look at a sequence of one of Leni Riefenstahl's movies .

Ravenswing ... this is a short which shouldn't remain buried.One of the few animations of the time genuinely done film noir, it was both effective propaganda and had the advantage of being largely true -- that *was* the Germany the Nazis were attempting to mold, as William Shirer and many another researcher proved from their own secret records. From the opening montage of a blood red and somewhat blurry swastika on a black background, to torchlight parades, to the final chilling violin pizzicato, the animation was skilled and the pacing excellent. It even softpedals cogent points, not belaboring the audience with them: the narrator's voice softens and drops to a barely audible level as he discusses the "unfit" that are "taken away ... and never seen again." However, I do disagree with the notion that the movie should be censored in any way, never mind by keeping it from children. I do not think young children are *too* young to learn there is evil in the world, and that it ought to be opposed. That was the point of Educated For Death; today's youth aren't any more incapable of learning that than they were in 1943.8/10.

cygnata A rare cartoon that I agree should definitely be shown to history and psychology classes, perhaps even current events.I've shown this cartoon to friends on occasion, to discuss it with them, and they usually find it fascinating. It's disturbing, true, but sometimes, such things need to be examined and understood.First a bit of trivia: On the right hand side of the Verboten list, look at the top name. "Winston", for old Winston Churchill. Joseph (as in Stalin) and Franklin (Roosevelt) also appear.I, keep remembering the image of Hans marching, growing older, then finally becoming a nameless cross. It's hard to not look away for a moment after the end, and think on all those lives wasted, who could have been caring, empathetic individuals if not taught such filth. In many similar ways are psychopaths created "by accident." The lack of loving parental care, the constant humiliation, the feeling that the strong must rule.Contrary to most of the reviews I've seen so far on it, I do not believe that Hans just suddenly begins to hate the rabbit. The teacher's intent, and the result of the humiliation, and the empathic replies of the other boys, saying that cowards must die, is for Hans to see himself as the rabbit for a brief moment. He MUST prove himself to be a fox, strong and not to be trifled with, or he fears he will find himself dead or worse because he showed weakness.In short, Hans learns that lambs must become lions, or else be devoured. True hatred comes in time.All in all, I feel sorry for those children who were molded by this process. Even though the regime didn't last long enough for children molded from birth to grow up fully affected with it, enough were affected to hold onto some of those ideals. Case in point being the fact that Neo-Nazism started soon after the war, and sadly, still thrives today.I hope people who watch this film come away having learned something, about how insidious such propaganda and brainwashing can be.

Shawn Watson In this dark Disney short (directed by the same guy who did Lady and the Tramp and Peter Pan) we see a young German couple take their newborn baby to be registered as one of 'Hitler's Children'. They have to prove their ethnic origin all the way back to their great-grandparents to authenticate the child's pure Aryan blood. One of Hitler's biggest mistakes is the fact that blue eyes/blonde hair is a recessive gene and is 3 out of 4 times dominated by dark eyes/hair. The parents must choose a name for the child but can only take what is not already chosen from 'the list'. They choose Hans, which ends up being okay. Soon the child is in school and is taught warped versions of typical values. Hans is told of a fox hunting a rabbit. He takes sympathy on the poor rabbit and is ridiculed and tormented by his teacher and classmates. The lesson of 'only the strong survive' is brutally hammered into him.And when Hans gets sick his parents are warned to cease all 'mollycoddling' and he better get well quickly. Hitler's children do no get sick and those who do are taken away and never heard from again. More and more evil lesson and hailing the Fuehrer follow. Soon Hans is a grown man, marching in line with all the other soldiers. Neither of them are individuals. They are robots believing what Hitler wants them to believe. Doing what Hitler wants them to do. Saying what Hitler wants them to say. None of them know joy, happiness or laughter. And soon Hans is dead. Sympathy is felt for the child within who died a long time ago. It's alarming when you consider that this may feel far-fetched yet in today's society we are still reared and duped by lying world leaders. We still believe nonsense we read in tabloids and fear and xenophobia still overpower common sense.A very chilling cartoon.