It's October 7th and Chip is working industriously to store enough acorns in the tree for the winter. Dale would rather sleep in his matchbox, but an angry kick from Chip gets him working furiously. But there's only so much they can do. Their tree is nearly out of acorns. Luckily, the two semi-intelligible chipmunks happen to see the half-unintelligible Donald Duck, a park ranger, planting acorns. They immediately set to steal his bag of the precious nuts. Donald soon realizes what they are up to, and sets out a box propped up with a stick. It's a crude trap, with an acorn as bait; but it's not too crude to fool Dale, who upsets it and traps Chip. Soon, Donald finds he can have fun instigating a fight between these two quarrelsome chipmunks, but he underestimates their friendship and their ability to work as a team against a common enemy: in this case, a bad-tempered duck.
Practical Effects
Hand-drawn mayhem that CGI still can't replicate.
Sound
Nash's Donald gibberish remains unmatched verbal chaos.
Director
Jack Hannah
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Jack Hannah directed 48 Donald Duck shorts and reportedly found the character easiest to write when furious.
This 1949 release captures peak post-war American anxiety about winter scarcity, disguised as rodent slapstick.
US
