Donald’s Lucky Day (1939)

Donald’s Lucky Day Review

Donald’s Lucky Day is a 1939 animated short film from the Donald Duck series. It is a pretty strong flick.

On Friday the 13th, Donald runs into several unlucky obstacles while delivering a package, which contains a bomb. The bulk of this cartoon consists of Donald having to deal with this very annoying black cat. The plank sequence was definitely quite long, but it still worked because it was superbly executed in great timing and memorable gags. The ending was amusing and Donald’s sounds that he made to the cat were hilarious.

Donald’s Lucky Day is also gorgeously animated. The silhouette animation at the beginning made for such a strong noirish atmosphere while the rest of it was polished and with muted colors that fitted its darker setting so deftly. The pacing is still too slow, but the movie remained engaging due to strong gags and a great usage of Donald’s scared and neurotic personality.

Donald’s Lucky Day is one of the best Donald Duck shorts released up until this period. It’s slow, but very funny, gorgeously animated and uniquely noirish.

My Rating – 4.2