Today we take a look at two obscure but important shorts released by Columbia in 1941 – a two-part set labeled This Changing World. These are two subjects were designed to bring the U.S. public up-to-speed with what was happening in Europe and summarize the events that were leading to World War II.
Completely forgotten is how progressive these “historical narratives” were for animation at he time. Disney’s Snow White (1937) advanced realism and fine art in Hollywood animation in the 1930s, and Hugh Harman had used such realism for a serious message in Peace on Earth (1939) – but Paul Fennell was attempting to use animation in a new role, by mass-communicating serious subject matter.
This was before the Army began recruiting animators to do the same thing, before the Fleischers made realistic Superman shorts, before Disney produced Victory Through Air Power (1943). Though This Changing World didn’t change the world of animation, I believe it influenced much of what was to come.
There is confusion about the origins of these films. In 1940, Ub Iwerks had completed his last Color Rhapsody cartoon for Columbia Pictures. He turned the keys to his independent studio (Cartoon Films Limited) to producer Lawson Harris and animator Paul Fennell who were determined to make a go of it. Their first order of business was completing a final cartoon (The Carpenters – see below) to fulfill Iwerks previous contract with Screen Gems.
A new deal between Columbia and Cartoon Films Ltd. was reported in Oct. 1940, for a new series of historical animated shorts featuring radio commentator Raymond Gram Swing. Swing was a respected print reporter and well-known radio journalist who was a leading voice against the growing Nazi threat during the 1930s.
Though the first short was produced in 1940 (announced for a Nov. 5th release by Film Daily), and apparently six shorts were commissioned, only two were made and released in late 1941. In January 1941, Daily Variety announced that the Fennell-Swing shorts were to be the first subjects released in three-color Dunningcolor (an early rival of Technicolor). Here are a few other news reports from Motion Picture Daily:
Motion Picture Daily – January 29, 1941
Raymond Gram Swing, the WOR-Mutual commentator, is making a series of shorts which Cartoon Films, Ltd., is producing and Columbia Pictures will release when they are completed. Swing will write his own scripts discussing, as he does on the air, some military or political aspects of the present war. Color cartoons will illustrate the talks. No release date has been set. Swing recently completed a year-end summary for RKO Pathe News.
Motion Picture Daily -Tuesday, February 11, 1941
FIRST of a projected series of 6 one-reel animated subjects on the war, with script and commentary by Raymond Gram Swing, has been completed and will be released shortly by Columbia, according to Lawson Harris, president of Cartoon Films, Ltd. Six of the films, in the series titled “This Changing World,” are scheduled for release this season. All are in color.
For unknown reasons only two parts of this series were released in 1941. Even stranger, they seem to have been released in reverse order. The speculation is that the shorts were already a dated by the time they were ready for release. The first short produced was apparently How War Came (though that title doesn’t appear on screen). This film is designated “Volume 1, Chapter 1” and ends with a tag noting that another of these shorts “will be shown in this theatre soon”. Released a month before Pearl Harbor – it’s a strong overview of the situation.
Film Daily Trade Review – Monday, December 15, 1941
“How War Came”
(Raymond Gram Swing Historical)
(Columbia)
The popular radio commentator, Raymond Gram Swing, undertakes to explain the beginnings of the war. For this explanation, Swing sketches the background of events which precedes the outbreak in 1939. His points are emphasized by interesting, color animations. Although the reel has no reference to the U. S. declaration of war, it is extremely timely and should be effective now. Running time, 8 mins. Release: Nov. 7, 1941.
Yes, that’s Mel Blanc as the voice of Hitler (though he sounds a bit “Rochester”-like) and Stalin in these shorts. Here is the second one – though it was the first one in distribution, Broken Treaties. I believe the films were released in reverse order only because the subject of Hitler’s actions detailed in the Broken Treaties was more timely in mid-1941.
Film Daily Trade Review – Wednesday September 10, 1941
“Broken Treaties”
(Historical Reels)
(Columbia)
The “broken treaties” dealt with are those of Adolf Hitler and though the subject could hardly be considered new, it is given unique presentation. Utilizing cartoon sketching, the short reviews the Nazi conquests and Hitler pledges, which were never fulfilled. Raymond Gram Swing is the narrator. In color. Running time, 8 mins. Release, Aug. 1, 1941.
Long forgotten today due to their dated nature, The This Changing World films were seen and noted in their day – How War Came was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cartoon Short in 1941. Why the series was cut short is unknown – perhaps the concept of an animated “current events” series was too time consuming to be practical – but I believe these were the template for Disney’s Victory Through Air Power, numerous propaganda and training films made by the Army and the very idea that animation could be used in other ways than just for laughs.
(Special Thanks to Don Yowp for research assistance – and to the Asifa-Hollywood Archive for access to these rare prints)
As a bonus: here is The Carpenters – with its original titles – released March 14th 1941. Mel Blanc provides the voices of Clancy and Mr. Teewilliger.
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and Blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of CalArts in Valencia, UCLA in Westwood and Woodbury University in Burbank – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [
It’s no Gran’pop Monkey.
All of these are awesome!
“The Carpenters” is a spiritual cousin to the George Gordon “Ol’ Doc Donkey” MGM cartoons. Some peculiar but fascinating side-dishes from animation history!
Jerry:
All of them are fascinating to watch,and Mel’s voice work is up to his usual excellent standards.i probably have said this before,but I find the Columbia shorts (at least the majortiy that I’ve seen) rather entertaining. It’s too bad that they aren’t as well known or well liked as Warners,MGM and the rest
Some of the scoring on all of these cartoons sound as if they could have been done by Scott Bradley, but I guess that scorings for cartoons, around the period of World War II got brassier and jazzy at just about every cartoon studio that was still active in productions for theaters. And, boy, was Mel Blanc ever a busy man in 1941, working for the three big studios and doing good work there. In “THE CARPENTER”, the voice of the boss is similar to Sylvester.
I remember working with Paul Fennell at Filmation in the late 1970’s. He was a very nice and modest man who was a thorough professional. I’m glad he’s getting some much deserved recognition here. Thanks!
Hey Rich,
Just out of curiosity, I have to ask: Was Paul Fennell among the culprits who came up with the idea for that abomination known as “Daffy And Porky Meet The Groovy Ghoulies” (or was that before the time Fennell arrived at Filmation)?
This is amazing, I’ve never heard of these shorts before. Yet there is something that is bothering me why are the Screen Gems cartoons unknown or unreleased on DVD ? The “this changing world” shorts are very important in understanding how animation worked during the second world war. They do call for some fact checking though as i have studied WW2 in college and the information regarding Mussolini invading Ethiopia was new to me.
You’d think 16mm dupe prints of these two shorts would’ve found their way around film collector’s for years. It does seem like something they could play in a WWII class in the same way Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” series did.
Excellent discoveries, Jerry! These are definitely worth putting on DVD and Blu-Ray.
That Dunningcolor is quite “s-dunning”. Far superior to Cinecolor and its imitations of that period. The dark blueish cast adds to the wartime “noir” look. I think BROKEN TREATIES deserved the Oscar nomination over the other. These days, the Poland invasion is always glossed over in the history books as simply the “cause” for the war but with little further input. There is also a nice cynical take on Stalin… shown impishly grinning at his “pet” bear when dealing with Hitler. After that sneaky counter-attack on the unconquered side of Poland, which was sssooooo downright dirty, it is obvious most Americans didn’t trust him any more than Hitler before Pearl Harbor. Of course, after Pearl Harbor… and after seeing how well the Soviets fought against the EX-truce-maker, Stalin suddenly became a temporary hero of sorts (as in the lovable RUSSIAN RHAPSODY). The United States now needed the Soviets to help win the war.
The history, considering it was written in 1941, is pretty good. One of the interesting things about “Broken Treaties” was that it was released a handful of weeks after Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the USSR, started. That puts a very interesting spin on the cartoon Stalin’s gesture to his pet bear. There has been a great deal of debate in recent years as to whether the USSR was planning some kind of a first strike on Germany in 1942 or 1943.
I wonder if further episodes would have dealt with the USSR’s invasion of Finland, the invasions of Scandanavia, the Low Countries, and Greece (in 1940-1941), and the Battle of Britain.
Also, this does remind me (as I think was stated) of the animation used in “Peace on Earth.”
Very good find, and a reason to check this site constantly. Now, to the Carpenters!
Thanks for posting these. I’ve wanted to see them for a while now. Too bad Columbia’s animation isn’t more widely available.
Two extraordinary films! The Hitler and Stalin sequences in “Broken Treaties” seem out of place, too “cartoony” for the ultra-realistic documentary animation that surrounds them; and frankly, hearing Mel Blanc only makes matters worse. Columbia deserves credit for promoting the series as a sort of animated “March of Time,” as these were in no way typical cartoons. As for Clarence Wheeler’s music, his work was always excellent (and underrated,) whether with Hugh Harman, George Pal, Walter Lantz, or here. (Don Miller’s book “B-Movies” also tips its hat to Wheeler’s scores for 40’s PRC feature films.)
This is great stuff. I’ve wanted to see How War Came and Broken Treaties for a long time. And it was good to see The Carpenters with original titles. Clarence Wheeler’s music on that one reminds me of his work on Rockabye Point for Walter Lantz.
That leaves just 8 Oscar-nominated animations unreleased
2 from Columbia/Screen Gems and 1 each Terrytoons, Disney, Pathe, Brandon Films, Manfredo Manfredi, Filmfair Communications
Thanks for showing some great examples of early creative animation techniques. I remember seeing these at my father Paul J Fennell’s studio on La Cienega back in the late 50’s. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marines and a good choice to handle these kinds of projects not to mention also being a highly skilled artist, and film director. He mentioned being most proud of the work he did during WW11 on the Allied invasion but because it was all of top secret classification he could never actually tell anyone about it. Dad always laughed at this dilemma. He was a larger than life father with an insatiable curiosity and a love of drawing, the arts and also the art and business. Dad enjoyed talking shop with his old art buddy Ed Benedict right up to his final exit stage right.
My father, Paul Fennell, showed ‘Broken Treaties” to the family after dinner one night in the early fifties (ten years after it was made) and I still remember the amazing graphics and sounds of that film. The artistic genius involved in creating the shocking realism shown in both films combined with the immediacy of the appalling subject matter was something never done before. Academy award or not – the two films were a breakthrough moment in motion picture/animation history. Equivalent to the development of CGI in todays movie making I believe. But dad always had this in him – he was a person of many talents – an artist of consummate skill and creativity (a pencil portrait he did at 11 years of age was worthy of Loomis, truly); a wordsmith capable of great salespeak and a writer of the most prosaic of business letters; a voracious reader of philosophy and history and a consummate student of all aspects of film. He always told me that in order to be the best you just have to work a little bit more than every one else. I believe he did that. Me – not a chance. Ha Ha.