Toy Tinkers
8 /10 1 Votes
Duration Language English | Director Jack Hannah Country United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date December 16, 1949 (1949-12-16)(USA) Similar Winter Storage, Up a Tree (1955 film), The Clock Watcher | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Toy Tinkers is an animated short film produced in Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released to theaters on December 16, 1949 by RKO Radio Pictures. Set during Christmas time, the film shows Chip 'n' Dale trying to steal nuts from Donald Duck's home using toy weapons. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1950 but ultimately lost to Warner Bros'. For Scent-imental Reasons, a Pepé Le Pew Looney Tunes (re-issued as Blue Ribbon Merrie Melodies) film directed by Chuck Jones.
Contents
Toy Tinkers was directed by Jack Hannah and features original and adapted music by Paul J. Smith which includes the song "Jingle Bells" and Schubert's Marche Militaire. The voice cast includes Clarence Nash as Donald and Jimmy MacDonald and Dessie Flynn as Chip and Dale respectively.
It was later reissued as "Christmas Capers," and 16mm prints of this version still exist.
Plot
Chip and Dale's curiosity leads them into Donald's house after they see him chop down their home to use as a Christmas tree. They follow Donald and their tree they see nuts and candy through a window and decide to try to take them. They slip in through the mail slot and load the nuts into a toy truck.
But Donald sees them stealing the nuts and uses the toys to foil them. When Chip and Dale catch on, Donald next dresses as Father Christmas and gives Chip a much larger present than Dale making him jealous and start fighting with Chip. The plan initially works and Donald traps and crashes the chipmunks in a toy paddy wagon. Donald then loads a pop gun with nuts and the chipmunks retaliate.
At last the confrontation escalates into full out combat. Donald sets up a fort of presents on one side of the living room while Chip and Dale bombard him from across the room with a toy cannon. Dale covertly sneaks a Candlestick telephone into Donald's fort which Chip uses to transmit direct cannon fire.
After the chipmunks have neutralized Donald's means to resist, they march back to their tree, and in a scene reminiscent of The Spirit of '76, employ the help of the mechanical toys to transport the hoard of nuts.
Adaptations
A comic book adaptation of the short was published in Walt Disney's Christmas Parade #2, printed by Dell Comics in 1950. This adaptation was titled "Christmas Fray" and "Such a Clatter" in reprints.