Donald's Snow Fight (1942) User Reviews

One of the best

[rbverhoef · 9/10 · 19 July 2004]

In 'Donald's Snow Fight' it has snowed and Donald decides to go sledding. His nephews are already outside making a snowman. Donald wants to have a little fun and destroys the snowman. Of course the nephews want their revenge. A cold war, literally, is what we get to see. The nephews make their own castle, Donald a war ship.

This must be one of the best Donald Duck-cartoons, or Disney-cartoons in general, that I have seen. It is funny from start to finish and the terrible things the nephews and Donald do to each other are perfect for a cartoon. With many good gags, many great laughs, it is hard to find a better Disney-cartoon!

The Best Donald Short?

[ayric · 9/10 · 21 April 2002]

This is a true classic among Disney's Donald shorts. It includes a sadistic but utterly hilarious snow fight (more like war) between Donald and his nephews. In my opinion, the nephews usually bring these films to another level, and this is certainly no exception. Donald's Snow Fight is warfare depicted as entertaining and harmless. As long as it is in a cartoon, that is quite OK.

Rating: 9/10

Donald vs. Nephews.

[OllieSuave-007 · 8/10 · 26 June 2016]

This is another funny Donald vs. Nephews cartoon where they engage in a snowball fight, warfare style, after Donald destroys his nephews' snowman.

From Donald's ice ship to Huey, Duey and Louie's ice fort, it's one hilarious snowball war you've ever seen. Donald looked like he gets the upper hand at first, tossing snowballs to his nephews like they were bowling pins, but, he soon gets more than he bargained for when the trio pelts him with mouse traps and melts his ship. Then, they dance around humming a mysterious native tune, holding around bow and arrows.

I hate seeing Donald always losing out in the end, but he did start the fight, and this was one of the funniest Donald vs. Nephews cartoons I've seen.

Grade B+

Hilarious Donald Duck short!

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 25 June 2009]

I don't think it is quite as good as the stunning Flowers and Trees, but this is a truly funny Donald Duck short. The animation is excellent, as usual in a Silly Symphony, and I will say I love them to death. Donald's Snow Fight is also outstandingly scored with no weak moments. Donald duck is voiced marvellously by Clarence "Ducky" Nash, who had a very distinctive voice that was perfect for the character, and he also voiced the three nephews Huey, Douey and Louie, so it was a one man show. The short is full of hilarious bits, my favourite being when Donald dresses up in that over-sized overcoat and starts singing Jingle Bells. After he sees his nephews building a snowman he decides to ruin the fun and gets thwarted, causing a war between him and them, leading to hilarious consequences. I was kind of sad when Donald was frozen in the ice, but that isn't really a criticism. I loved this short, so I'll give it a 10/10 for entertainment value. Bethany Cox.

Overall, it's a nice Donald Duck's cartoon

[Atreyu_II · 10/10 · 15 December 2007]

I've always liked cartoons with Donald Duck and his nephews. His nephews are smart and funny, while Donald Duck's often explosive temper makes him hilarious.

This short has some nice artwork (much better than in "On Ice") and it also happens to be entertaining and very amusing.

More than Winter's time, it's Christmas time on this one and Donald Duck is happy to see snow. It's funny to see his beak frozen from the cold. It's also funny to see Donald Duck with an overcoat and a sled and singing "Jingle Bells". In the meantime, his nephews are building a snowman and singing "For he's a jolly good fellow". Donald can't resist and destroys their snowman with his sled, laughing out loud. That's when more funny moments come.

The funniest gag on this one is when Donald's nephews build a snowman on a rock and yell "It's Uncle Donald!" to fool him. When Donald crashes against it is a real scream! The effect is bombastic: with the violent shock, all of the fur from his overcoat shake off, except one. For the temperamental duck, this means war.

Other funny gags include snow falling on Donald making him look like a rhino in a cage and to see his nephews with the shape of bowling pins.

The ending, however, is unfair for Donald Duck because he gets frozen. His nephews were mean by doing this to him.

But, overall, this is a nice and enjoyable animated short with the comical Donald Duck.

Mr. Duck Presses His Luck

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 30 May 2003]

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

DONALD'S SNOW FIGHT begins when he destroys his Nephews' snowman - and quickly escalates into the Duck's wintry Waterloo.

Huey, Dewey & Louie once again completely trounce their belligerent Uncle in this amusing little film. This cartoon was released during America's first full year of involvement in World War Two - there may be some hidden symbolism in the story of innocent forces beating a bully. Clarence Nash provides the entire Duck clan with their unique voices.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work will always pay off.

A perfect Donald Duck cartoon for the Christmas Holidays

[ja_kitty_71 · 10/10 · 17 February 2008]

This is one of my favorite Donald Duck cartoons, and it's perfect for the holidays or anytime of the year.

I loved it when Huey, Dewey, and Louie sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" while building a snowman. But I thought it was kind of mean when Donald wrecked it with his sled. Another scene I like is the whole snow fight scene. I thought it was very, very funny when Donald's icy bombshell split the boys' flag pole into three parts, and those parts started spanking them on the fannies. One more thing I like in this cartoon is when Donald's beak turns frosty blue from the cold winter wind.

So anyway, this is one of my favorite Donald Duck cartoons with Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

Donald vs. the Nephews in the snow

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 10 September 2015]

It is a bit odd to see that this Walt Disney 7-minute cartoon was released in April as it has winter and cold written all over it. Donald and the three Nephews are having a heavy battle in the snow in this one here and it clearly shows on several occasions that this was made almost 75 years ago, during the days of World War II. However, I don't think that's bad. It's always interesting to see serious war-related references in playful cartoons and it is certainly an art to include them credibly and Jack King certainly did in this one. It shows that he is among the finest Disney cartoon directors. There were several other funny references like Donald as a rhinoceros or the Nephews as bowling pins. A funny little short film. Recommended.

How Donald Duck lost the snow fight to his 3 nephews

[crosswalkx · 10/10 · 27 November 2018]

I have watched this cartoon and I find it funny how he loses to his 3 nephews. Donald Duck opens the door and the cold air freezes his beak blue, he gets his overcoat but it doesn't protect his exposed feathery bottom.

Donald Duck sings Jingle Bells song and then sees Huey, Dewey, Louie building a snowman, Donald Duck crashes his sled into the snowman and his 3 nephews wear the snowman's arms, head and body which I found very funny. They get revenge by tricking Donald into crashing his sled on a rock which shed his fur coat. Donald Duck takes off the fur coat which doesn't make sense because it was very cold for Donald to begin with. Donald Duck chases them, we see a young couple on the bench wish I knew who they were. Then the 3 nephews close the gate on Donald and he bounces backwards and crashes into the tree and it turns him into a snow rhino. Donald gets angry and declares war on his nephews.

Then Donald on his ice ship throws snowballs and hits all 3 nephews turning them helplessly into bowling pins, which he bowls them over, he uses an ice missile which splits their flagpole in 3 parts which spanks his 3 nephews feathery bottoms, why aren't they wearing pants.

The nephews strike back hard first they bombard Donald with snow bombs with mousetraps. It hits his head and his feathery bottom. He gets 5 mousetraps on him, first on his beak and 2 hands and on his tail. I feel sorry for Donald getting his hands and tail hurt by mousetraps but it looked very funny when it was on his beak. The nephews hit Donald's head with a snowball and he sneezes.

Finally his nephews fire arrows with hot coals and melts his ice ship. Having nowhere to run Donald falls to his death in the icy pond and he freezes to death and is trapped in ice and turned into frozen statue of the native version of Donald Duck sitting above the palm tree. His 3 nephews dances around Donald.

I feel sorry for Donald Duck especially his fur coat getting shed, and having mousetraps hurting Donald's tail feathers and hands, and falling in the pond being trapped in a prison of ice. I also feel sorry that his 3 nephews got attacked by a bowling ball and getting their bottoms spanked. I would like to see a sequel to this short to see if Donald's nephews do decide to free him from the prison of ice. As this cartoon ended in a cliffhanger which I want to see resolved.

If I'm not mistaken, the always litigious . . .

[pixrox1 · 7/10 · 3 April 2022]

. . . Dizzy gang once sued Maryann Webster, claiming that all of the words in her dictionary had been individually copyrighted for the next 5,000 years by its own mob of lawyers. However, when the shoe is on the other foot, Dizzy's silence is wooden. DONALD'S SNOW FIGHT is a case in point. Obviously cribbed from the earlier Russian feature BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN, Snow Fight follows its predecessor's plot in virtual lock-step. More of a shot-for-shot remake than Gus' second coming of PSYCHO, Snow Fight touches all the bases, from the battleship to the mutiny to the baby carriage knocking down ten pins on the stairs. I guess that they figure what's sauce for the duck seasons ducklings as well.

Why Donald why

[ragpap93 · 8/10 · 8 November 2016]

Why Donald why. Why did you have to provoke your nephews. Anyway I'm glad you did it. It is very unfortunate that your sorrows are hilarious but it is what it is. Aired during WW II. May seem a little inappropriate but a good hearty laugh would keep the moral up for such hard times. Donald is covered in furry coats to protect himself from the cold but his backside is exposed. in reality he should have died of hypothermia. But when in animation. Some funny innovative stuff. Walt and his animation crew tried helping in their own way during the war. From training video in 'Stop That Tank' to suggestions of how the war could be won in 'Victory through Air Power' to Anti Nazi propaganda to just pure entertainment with or without a war theme

Non-Stop Laughs and Action

[Michael_Elliott · 17 December 2011]

Donald's Snow Fight (1942)

**** (out of 4)

Terrific short has Donald going out to have some fun in the snow when he notices Huey, Dewey and Louie building a snowman. Always the trouble maker, Donald knocks down the snowman and it's an all out battle between the two sides. DONALD'S SNOW FIGHT has been entertaining people for over six decades now and you have to say that it will continue doing so. This is without question one of the best animated shorts ever made. Not only do you get several very funny moments but what really stuck out to me this time is how imaginative the animation is. There's one scene where Donald knocks the three down and they turn into bowling pins so he grabs a snowball and turns it into a bowling ball. There's another scene where the boys shoot some fire arrows at the place Donald is staying and it melts the snow down into a skull-like shape. Of course, there's plenty of hilarious moments as the 7-minutes are action packed with one great sequence after another. There's a certain pleasure that comes from watching this older Disney shorts and by viewing this one it's clear that they were at the top of their game.

He Started It!

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 5 July 2019]

Instead of having fun in the snow, Donald feels the need to destroy the snowman his nephews have built. It escalates into some fierce attacks by the band of brothers on their nasty uncle. It is non stop. If there's a criticism it would be the sheer cruelty engaged in. Still, it's quite a hoot. Donald never seems to learn.

Donald's Snow Fight is one hilarious Donald Duck winter cartoon

[tavm · 10/10 · 9 December 2008]

This is another classic Walt Disney cartoon, this time starring Donald Duck and his nephews-Huey, Dewey, and Louie, that I first saw on "The Wonderful World of Disney" on Christmas Day in 1977 in the all-animated episode "From All of Us to All of You". Here with the first day of snow, the duck in the sailor suit puts on his overcoat and slides down hill on his sled wreaking his nephews' snowman on the way. Those boys wow revenge by having their next one looking like their uncle which gives Donald a big surprise when he knocks it down! Two of my favorite gags here comes when the big duck becomes a rhinoceros when snow falls on him and when the nephews become bowling pins which the uncle knocks down with a snow bowling ball. Quite as hilarious then as now with Donald, as always, getting his comeuppance. So for that, I highly recommend Donald's Snow Fight.

The Best Donald Short Out There!

[Nemo_24 · 8/10 · 13 July 2019]

As a fan of Donald Duck, I would easily put this as my favorite Donald short/film. The short was able to capture the iconic personality of Donald, creating a humorous exchange between him and his nephews. Several of the scenes from "Donald's Snow Fight" will make you laugh even if you've seen it 100 times before. Between the snowball fight and Donald's sled, this short is well worth the watch!