Edgar Allan Pooh . . . prior to the German Invasion of Poland, which "officially" kicked off World War Two for most of the planet (except China, which already had been occupied by Hitler's Japanese buddies). Warner warned the normal people of America of the Coming Storm with feature films such as THE CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY. Even though Adolf had made no secret of his plans to eradicate the World's Jews, the American Rich People's Party members controlling the U.S. Congress, along with the nation's equivalent of Today's Fox "News" (led by Radio Ranter Father Charles Edward Coughlin, a.k.a. "Hitler's Priest," of Royal Oak, MI) had intimidated most of Hollywood's Jewish Movie Moguls to be "appeasers." Historians consider MGM's 1939 animated short PEACE OF EARTH to be the zenith of the U.S. Appeasement Movement. It's the cartoon equivalent of Rodney King asking Hitler, "Can't we all just get along?" In PEACE ON EARTH, the Jews are labeled as The Vegetarians, warring against the Nazi Meat-Eaters forces. This scenario shows the deranged hypocrisy of the Tinseltown Appeasers' thinking. As History proved, Nazis versus Jews was NOT a "fair and balanced" fight. Furthermore, humans would have and will survive any imaginable Good War, emerging from the shelters of Amazon Rain Forests and the Inuit Far North once the gun smoke clears.

Julia Arsenault (ja_kitty_71) This is an excellent Christmas cartoon (another favorite holiday), and also a great way of showing what nuclear war can do mankind. I absolutely hated war, and I hope nuclear war never happens. There is a 1955 remake cartoon called "Good Will to Men." But I love this short better. I think I had remember watching "Peace on Earth" a long time ago. But it had kind of slipped my mind, until I have watched it on T.C.M's "Cartoon Alley" last December, for they were showing Christmas cartoons at the time. When I have first watched this short, I know it certainly lives up to the old saying: "Peace on Earth, and Good will towards Men." And if I had to choose which is better : this short or the other one; it would be this short.

MartinHafer I was amazed when PEACE ON EARTH began, as its animation was simply beautiful--much more than most Harmon-Ising pictures for MGM. You can really tell that the animation department pulled out all the stops to make this film--with amazingly lovely snow scenes and characters that really showed a ton of effort to construct.The overall message to this short, ironically, is anti-war. During the 1930s there were many anti-war films and this would be one of the last. That's because the hopes and dreams of a peaceful world were dashed with the onset of WWII in September, 1939. Just a few years later, some of the very same animators that made this film were making propaganda films to bolster the US efforts once we entered this global war! The problem with this message is that it does come off as very heavy-handed and preachy. While in 1939 many loved the anti-war message, within a short time the film was to seem quaint and incredibly over-idealistic thanks to the ferocity of the war and the new nuclear age. Overall, it's lovely to look at but horribly dated and preachy--though I do admit it had a very strange ending that made it more tolerable.

Robert Reynolds This cartoon is one of the finest produced by MGM and hasn't really lost it's impact even after sixty years. Given that the shadows of WWII lurked during its preparation, the thoughts of those involved in its preparation are fairly obvious. Although I understand why The Ugly Duckling won the Oscar (it's a beautifully crafted short and deserved recognition), I wish that this one had won or at least tied. MGM did a reprise on this one in the 1950s called, "Good Will To Men" that was good and well worth seeing, but this one is better. The Cartoon Network runs this one and it's also in print. Well worth your time. Early use of roto-scoping (live footage fimed and then animated) is excellent. Profoundly recommended. Anyone who argues animation isn't an art-form should see this!