This cartoon was directed by Jack Hannah. At this time there were three main directors for Disney short cartoons. These directors were Jack Kinney, Charles Nicholas, and Jack Hannah. While they directed for other characters as well, each had a character they can be more associated with then others. Jack Kinney worked heavily with Goofy, Charles Nicholas worked most with Pluto and Jack Hannah was associated with Donald Duck. Jack Kinney and Jack Hannah were very important directors who signaled a huge change in the style of Disney shorts. As Warner Brothers and MGM were now making the most popular cartoon shorts (just as Disney made the most popular of the 1930's) Kinney and Hannah were able to add this new fast paced chaotic cartoon style of humor, while still having the cartoons remain pure Disney, something very evident in this film.
Two more characters Jack Hannah grew to be associated with are Chip and Dale. Though these two had first appeared in a 1943 Clyde Geronimi directed cartoon called Private Pluto, most of their films were directed by Hannah. This began with the duo's second cartoon short released 3 years later called Squatter's Rights. Though this cartoon paired the two with Mickey and Pluto, the next year Hannah would team them with Donald in Chip an' Dale. The three characters worked perfectly together, and Hannah would make more films where he pit Donald against Chip and Dale, Toy Tinkers being one of them.
The cartoon begins as Donald unknowingly chops down Chip and Dale's home for his Christmas tree. As they follow Donald in they see Donald enjoying some nuts. Chip and Dale sneak into Donald's house to get some nuts for themselves. This leads to a slapstick battle between the three using toys under the Christmas tree.
This cartoon is laugh out loud funny. The slapstick is spot on and timed perfectly. Every joke works and they are all very funny. The humor is also displayed perfectly through the great character animation one should expect form a Disney cartoon. While Disney cartoons are often called sweet and cute in contrast to the hilarious antics at studios like Warner Brothers and MGM, the Disney studio could make slapstick cartoons as great as the rest of them (this is not an insult to Warner Brothers and MGM as I love there cartoons a lot as well). This stands as one of Disney's funniest shorts (a joke involving a telephone never fails to make me laugh out loud).
The animators on this film were Bob Carlson, Volus Jones and Bill Justice. All three of them worked on many Jack Hannah shorts. Bill Justice and Bob Carson also animated on various Disney animated features as well, such as Peter Pan, Bambi, Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, Fantasia and Pinocchio. However Volus Jones only worked on shorts.
-Michael J. Ruhland
Resources Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041978/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
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