Peace on Earth is a one-reel 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon short directed by Hugh Harman, about a post-apocalyptic world populated only by animals. Two young squirrels ask their grandfather on Christmas Eve who the “men” are in the lyric “Peace on Earth, good will to men.” The grandfather squirrel then tells them a rotoscoped history of the human race, focusing on the neverending wars men waged. Ultimately the wars do end, with the deaths of the last men on Earth, two soldiers shooting each other. Afterwards, the surviving animals discover a copy of the Bible in the ruins of a church. Inspired by the book’s teachings, they decide to rebuild a society dedicated to peace and nonviolence (using the helmets of soldiers to construct houses). The cartoon features an original song written to the tune of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”. According to Hugh Harman’s obituary in the New York Times and Ben Mankiewicz, host of Cartoon Alley, the cartoon was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. However, it is not listed in the official Nobel Prize nomination database. Mankiewicz also claimed that the cartoon was the first about a serious subject by a major studio. In 1994, it was voted #40 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. It was also nominated for the 1939 Academy Award for Short Subjects (Cartoons).
i was waiting for a bear or something to come in at the end and tear up the little village, killing all the squirrels….peace on earth my ass!
yeah it is Christmas cartoon, yeah send a message this was always one of my favorite Christmas cartoon ty for posting
I don’t really think of this as a Christmas cartoon… However, it has an amazing anti-war message.
I’m glad I found this, all I could remember were the animals looking at “Thou shalt not kill.”
This cartoon scared me as a kid, but I liked it just the same.
@Idysseus They did ban alot of music from being played on the radio and in the music store where I worked the day after 9/11. Bob Dylan being one of many, also rage against the machine was a band that we were no longer allowed to play. Alan Parson’s Project was released on 9/11 and the cover showed the twin towers in flames and an apple wrapped in barbed wire, we received stickers to cover up the picture 2 days after 9/11. POD was also released on 9/11.
The owl reading to the squirrel, “Thou shalt not kill”?
I don’t know I feel about this… It seems a bit corrupted…
wow 0 amazing what having been involved in two world wars, the second one still underway, will do to get artists to really push the envelope on messaging. Imagine if this had been played during the Xmas right after 911 — would it have been considered treasonous??
It’s difficult to believe this film is 71 years old, and the message hasn’t aged.
@illedelphian “silent” night? get it? no? just kidding i don’t know.
Merry Christmas
@sillygrl23 Me too, for me that was a very memorable thing.
@ewhitsma I didn’t get it as a kid either, and oddly enough, I never questioned it, I never thought ‘what is this about?’ or anything like that, I didn’t really get the whole concept with the war, but I did get, as I guess everybody got, the aftermath with the animals.
@georrgescu incredibil!mai sunt si romani cu gusturi bune!craciun fericit,prietene!
Merry Christmas From INDIA…
Merry christmas from Davao
Merry Christmas from New Zealand!!!!!
Does Grampa have a Irish accent?
@illedelphian merry melody?
whats the name of the xmas carttoon that only had music no voices?
Scripture out of context again “thou shall not kill his brother?” Meat eating people and vegetarians will never be brothers HA
this could of been a reality if WW1 kept going
Jesus will come back and stop WW3 good cartoon though.
Prophecy.
We can’t have peace on earth tragically because human beings are basically stupid. Oh sure we have incredible talents in all fields but sadly we are full of superstition, hate, lack of appreciation for the wonderful gifts of life most of us are granted at birth such as eyesight, arms, legs, our heart, brain,ears, mouth and the rest. We hate over skin colour for goodness sake! Skin that is that colour because of our source of life, the sun. Madness. We hate because we are egomaniacal.