Last week we posted a video which Disney created counting down all fifty of their animated films in celebration of the release of Tangled and our very own Justine Smith posted an article of her five favorite Disney animated features. However what should be noted is that Tangled is actually Disney’s 51st animated feature. The missing film in the video is the 70 minute long animated documentary Victory Through Air Power, promoting of the soundness of strategic aerial bombing in World War II.
It may not by a fairy tale nor a narrative feature but it is still an interesting look at the history of a major film studio. Adapted from a book by Alexander P. de Seversky, this 1943 picture is the most unusual feature film Walt Disney ever made. a film meant to send a message rather than entertain. It has not been seen theatrically since, though portions of the animated sequences have popped up on Disney’s various TV anthology series. The studio finally released the film in 2004 after 60 years of keeping it locked in their vault. Here’s a clip: