This surely has to rank as one of the great "shorts" of all time. Released by MGM at the perfect time - in 1939, with the world poised on the brink of the Second World War - the cartoon portrays a family of squirrels living in an era after humanity has wiped itself out in war, as Grampa Squirrel (voices by Mel Blanc, who would of course become most famous as the voice of Bugs Bunny) attempts to explain to two babies on Christmas Eve why the Christmas song being sung says "peace on earth; goodwill to men." "What are men?" ask the babies, and Grampa Squirrel relates a story that should make all human beings squirm at our hypocrisy as he explains how humans killed each other off, and then relates the discovery by the animals who survived of a book that has a set of rules including "thou shalt not kill."

It's simplicity probably makes this all the more thought-provoking.

Yes, it is quite preachy. This is the story of what is left after humans are no longer on earth, due to their propensity for violence and war. A grandfather squirrel tells his little grandsquirrels about how all this came about. Since the cartoon was made in 1939, the war was raging in Europe but the U.S. Government was sitting back watching. Of course, two years later came Pearl Harbor. Certainly, such a presentation could be seen as unpatriotic but that's not fair. The fact of the matter is, no matter who is to blame, we have the ability to annihilate our species. Also, this is a cartoon, and the animals wear clothes and live in houses. They have the emotions and judgments of humans so are they really humans with fur. Also, though metaphorical, there are good guys and bad guys in the human race. A beautiful cartoon offering.

I was amazed when PEACE ON EARTH began, as its animation was simply beautiful--much more than most Harmon-Ising pictures for MGM. You can really tell that the animation department pulled out all the stops to make this film--with amazingly lovely snow scenes and characters that really showed a ton of effort to construct.

The overall message to this short, ironically, is anti-war. During the 1930s there were many anti-war films and this would be one of the last. That's because the hopes and dreams of a peaceful world were dashed with the onset of WWII in September, 1939. Just a few years later, some of the very same animators that made this film were making propaganda films to bolster the US efforts once we entered this global war! The problem with this message is that it does come off as very heavy-handed and preachy. While in 1939 many loved the anti-war message, within a short time the film was to seem quaint and incredibly over-idealistic thanks to the ferocity of the war and the new nuclear age. Overall, it's lovely to look at but horribly dated and preachy--though I do admit it had a very strange ending that made it more tolerable.