There are few companies in the world as protective of their intellectual property as Disney, and anyone who repurposes their material without consent is bound to get a swift call from their lawyers. And heck, even material that Disney themselves produced in the past that may have be seen as racially, culturally and socially distasteful today remains locked away in a vault (the most famous example being “Song Of The South,” a massive hit at the time for the studio that still remains without a home video edition). So it’s hardly any surprise that this unofficial anti-war short raised some eyebrows.
“Mickey Mouse In Vietnam” is a 1-minute, silent, black-and-white short put together by Lee Savage and Milton Glaser (aka the designer who came up with the iconic I ♥ NY logo) that features the popular cartoon character enlisting in the army, going overseas and winding up with a bullet in his head. Yeah, it’s clear why this pissed off Disney. And in fact, the story goes that they tried to destroy every copy they could get their hands on, with only a handful of prints said to exist/survive, in very select hands.
Well, thanks to the power of the interwebs, it is now available to see online….until Disney steps in again. Watch below, and a hat tip to Dangerous Minds.