There’s just something about Donald Duck, isn’t there? Most of the cartoons of his that I know at all well are him being just terrible to someone. It’s his nephews or Chip ‘n’ Dale or random ants or something. On rare occasion, he’s justified, but it’s much more likely that he’s not. I don’t know what the deal is with that; I honestly think it’s funnier when life is just mistreating him in a way that he didn’t set off and he’s losing it at basic things. But I suppose that’s why, when it comes to shorts, I’m considerably more into Warners than Disney.

In this one, Chip ‘n’ Dale (the official Disney designation for the pair) are peacefully living in a small pine tree, which Donald of course cuts down to use as his Christmas tree. They follow it, and him, home, and they decide Donald’s house is clearly much better than a tree. For one thing, he’s got a ton of nuts and candy, which they are perfectly willing to liberate for their own devices. Soon, it’s all-out war between Donald and the chipmunks.

When Mickey discovered, in a not too dissimilar short, that there were chipmunks in his cabin, he gently cared for them, to Pluto’s dismay and disgust. No such care for Donald. He’s not concerned with having stolen their home. It matters far more to him that they are now trying to steal from him, and he’s not having it. You could arguably make a pretty decent paper out of the reactionary politics of Donald Duck, but I don’t intend to write it here.

It’s weird, though, that this is clearly a Christmas short. It isn’t even just that the taking of the tree is the catalyst for everything else that happens in the cartoon. Before the fight between Donald and the chipmunks escalates into literal war, there’s a minute or two of cute little goings-on with Christmas decorations and presents. Heck, one of the ways Donald instigates trouble is by giving Dale a regular walnut and Chip a large (fake) walnut to set them to fighting with one another. While dressed as Santa Claus.

Just to add to the weirdness, the short concludes with the chipmunks, and a toy soldier, acting out the painting The Spirit of ’76 for some reason. Which is not notably a Christmas painting. I’m unable to figure out what film this cartoon originally accompanied at the box office, but I’m unable to think of a one that wouldn’t cause a certain tonal whiplash.

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