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Walt Disney's Victory Through Air Power, the 1943 James Algar & Clyde Geronimi Walt Disney World War II (WWII) animated animation cartoon military airplane aviation propaganda movie promoting aerial bombing ("There's a thrill in the air!"; "A super movie quiz about... The stirring story of air power... from Kitty Hawk to victory!"; "Daring! Great! Graphic! Disney! Gripping! Different!"; "Daring! Different! Disney!"; "From the book by Alexander P. De Seversky"; "Based on the Book-of-Month sensation by Major De Seversky"; the movie was advocating the importance of having a strong Air Force, because Germany had already made theirs formidable, and Disney felt that the Allies could only win through having superior air power) featuring Major Alexander de Seversky, Art Baker (the narrator), and Billy Mitchell (the famous general who foresaw World War II, but was court-martialed for speaking his own mind, in archival footage). Major Alexander de Seversky had just written a best-selling book saying that modern wars could only be fought through the use of long range bombing, and this movie was very much in support of that view. It begins with a history of aviation, starting at Kitty Hawk and then moves to the then-present day, and says that the only way to effectively beat the Nazis was through the use of long range missile bombing. It calls America the "Arsenal of Democracy" and that because America was thousands of miles away from where the war was being fought, the only way to win would be with long range missiles. It describes very controversial methods of waging war, such as blowing up a dam to flood the enemy, using bombs that would cause earthquakes, etc. (controversial, because they would surely kill a huge number of civilians). Those "bombs that cause earthquakes" might certainly have been a metaphor for atomic bombs, which were in fact used just two years later, but against Japan, and not against Germany. It is certainly a very unusual cartoon for Disney, especially because it begins in a lighthearted comical tone, and later becomes incredibly downbeat! Part of the cartoon shows Major Alexander de Seversky talking directly to the audience.
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Important Added Info: We have previously auctioned a different example of this pressbook, but that one did not contain the really cool comic strip herald, the 4-page ad supplement, or the 10-page advertising section, and it still auctioned for $255! Note that this pressbook (along with 14 others) comes from the remarkable collection described below. The 15 pressbooks include ones from both Disney shorts and Disney features from the very late 1930s and the early 1940s. All of them are incredibly rare and are almost never offered for sale (to give you a sense of how incredibly rare they are, we at eMoviePoster.com have only previously auctioned three of them). More remarkably, all of the 15 are complete and uncut and most are in wonderful condition. It will surely be a long time before even a few of these are offered at auction again! Note that this item, along with many others, has a wonderful provenance! It comes from a remarkable collection of original 1940s Walt Disney pressbooks, mini lobby cards, and standees that just surfaced! Not only are all of these items extremely rare ones that are hardly ever auctioned, but they almost all are in really nice condition. The origin of these items is even more fascinating. Our consignor attended these movies as a young boy (he is currently over 80!), and a kindly theater owner gave him these items, and he has carefully preserved them all these many years, until now, when he has consigned them directly to us! We previously auctioned the original stills he had in our auction in May of 2016, and now we are auctioning the rest of his items. This is an incredibly rare opportunity to obtain some of the finest Disney pressbooks, mini lobby cards, and standees we have ever seen, and all of them will have new owners when these auctions close, because all start at $1 with no reserve. In addition to the items from this man's collection (saved from when it was a little boy over 70 years ago!), we also gathered together lots of other rare animation related movie paper items of all types, and together this is a wonderful offering of movie animation items! Many of these items will likely not be auctioned again for many years to come! Also note that this pressbook is complete and uncut! Given that theater owners purchased pressbooks partly in order to create their newspaper advertising, and quite frequently cut them up for that purpose, it is rare to find a pressbook that IS complete and uncut!

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