Walt Disney's animation/live action hybrid feature Victory Through Air Power is unabashed, and undeniably entertaining, wartime propaganda. At the time the film was made, Disney was fascinated with the theories of Major Alexander de Seversky, a proponent of strategic long-range bombing. Since America's military leaders did not altogether subscribe to Seversky's "revolutionary" notions, Disney hoped to win their support with this 65-minute film. Beginning with a semicomic animated history of aviation, the film then segues into a retelling of Seversky's accomplishments, with the Major himself appearing to explain key points of his theories. Switching back to animation, the finale shows Seversky's "dream air force" in action, scientifically bombing enemy war factories and supply lines and thereby incapactitating their power to make war. Released by United Artists rather than Disney's usual conduit RKO, Victory Through Air Power served its purpose both in terms of the War Effort and in terms of enlightening the civilians in the audience. It has not been seen theatrically since, though portions of the animated sequences have popped up on Disney's various TV anthology series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
liked it.
Victory Through Air Power is the least seen of feature-length films from Disney's classic era, though individual portions have made their way into other Disney productions. The film is a live-action/animated propaganda film advocating the uses of strategic bombing in warfare -- an issue at the forefront of national discussion in 1943. The animation sequences are well-executed and entertaining, though the viewer needs at least some appreciation of the film's historical context. Today, Victory Through Air Power is primarily of interest to historians and film researchers. It is a good example of an overtly propagandistic film from the World War II era, and of how
Walt Disney was far more involved in U.S. politics than most of the public realized. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide