Spare the Rod (1954 film)

Spare the Rod is a 1954 American animated short film directed by Jack Hannah and produced by Walt Disney, featuring Donald Duck.[1] In the short film, while Donald is doing yard work, his nephews are playing games instead of doing their chores. He is going to punish them, but the "voice of child psychology" convinces him to play along instead. This works well when they chop the wood to burn him at the stake. Meanwhile, however, a trio of Pygmy cannibals that escaped from the circus are out to do the very same thing to Donald with a cauldron of water...

Spare the Rod (1954 film)
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJack Hannah
Produced byWalt Disney
Story byRoy Williams
Nick George
StarringClarence Nash
Bill Thompson
Pinto Colvig
Music byOliver Wallace
Animation byVolus Jones
William Justice
George Kreisl
Bob Carlson
Dan MacManus (effects)
Layouts byYale Gracey
Backgrounds byHoward Dunn
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • January 15, 1954 (1954-01-15)
Running time
6:57
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Synopsis

Donald has the same old problem dealing with his three troublesome nephews, and is torn between using psychology or losing his temper.

Plot

Donald is doing his yard work and expecting his nephews - they keep sneaking off to play their pretend game, "Indians on the warpath." Then, he used his typical strong arm tactics to send his nephews to do their chores. Later, a little shoulder professor called, "child psychologist" convinces Donald to join in the games, using the game for the nephews' chores. Complicating matters are the cannibals, who have escaped from a circus. They spot Donald and think he would make great duck stew. But, Donald mistakes the cannibals for his nephews playing games and plays along until his real nephews play with him, realizing the other three are real cannibals. His nephews take off in fear while the cannibals try to cook Donald, who is praying for his life to be spared until one of the cannibals bites Donald to "taste" him. Donald loses his temper and takes the cannibal out to the woodshed. Then, the cannibals escape out of Donald's place. While Donald staring at his nephews, he taunted them back to chop their wood for the second time. Ashamed of Donald listening to the "child psychologist", he takes him to the woodshed as well.

Censorship

Because Spare the Rod depicted offensive racial stereotypes of blacks via the appearances of the pygmy cannibals, all scenes depicting the cannibals are deleted when shown on television. The censored version of the short is rendered very short, since its runtime has been greatly reduced from 6 minutes (not counting credits) to 2 1/2 minutes.

Near the end, some versions have edited scenes due to Donald cursing after a cannibal bit his foot.

The fully restored version is available on the DVD's uncut version of Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume Four.

Cast

Releases

References
  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 74–76. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  2. Hischak, Thomas S. (2011). Disney Voice Actors: A Biographical Dictionary. McFarland & Company. p. 262. ISBN 978-0786462711. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
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