Feature1942·7m·5.8

The New Spirit

Animation

Animated documentary promoting timely filing and payment of Federal income taxes, demonstrated by Donald Duck's difficulties with his tax return.

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Cast

Clarence Nash

Donald Duck (voice) (uncredited)

Fred Shields

Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)

Cliff Edwards

(voice) (uncredited)

Details

Status
Released
Original language
English
Languages
English
Budget
Revenue
Age rating
Quality
4K UHD · HDR10 · Dolby Vision
Production
U.S. Department of TreasuryWalt Disney Productions

Crew

Director

Ben Sharpsteen

Writers

Joe Grant, Dick Huemer

Oliver Wallace

Original Music Composer

Gallery

Reviews

CinemaSerf

7/19/2025

6.0

I know that money isn’t what it was, but even in 1942 I’d have thought poor old “Donald” would be on more than $2,501 in an whole year! What does that matter? Well the slightly offbeat message for this wartime cartoon is “taxes against the axis”. Yep, it’s a rallying call for citizens of the USA to pay their income tax! With some rousing Yankee Doodle style cheerleading to start and some more traditional animations of the militarisation those dollars pay for at the end, this is a less frantic outing for the duck (who still sounds like Katharine Hepburn) and he does his bit to keep the payrolls of industry moving. The radio is quite a menacing looking gadget, like something from “Metropolis” (1927), but otherwise it’s all fairly standard stuff.