Peace on Earth (1939)

“They fought and they fought, until there was only two of them left.”

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Most of the post-apocalyptic films we review on this site don’t involve fluffy carton squirrels. Today, the day after the end of the world (not), we add Peace on Earth, a MGM cartoon made in 1939, to our extensive collection of end of the world films on GeekvsGoth.com.

The end of the world – now with adorable baby animals.

Bombed-out churches, destroyed homes and ruined office buildings are home to the woodland critters of this post-Armageddon world. A Christmas film short, directed by Hugh Harman, features two baby squirrels in a crib visited by their grandfather. Adorable in their one-piece footie pajamas, they are told the story of “men.”

The grampy rodent, voiced by the immortal Mel Blanc (Strange Brew), tells the story of mankind’s final war – a war that wiped out every last trace of living, breathing human beings. According to Grandpa, men “walked on their hind legs, and they carried terrible-looking shootin’ irons with knives in the end of them.”

When last two human beings on earth kill one other, the world is left to the animals. Happening upon mankind’s “rule book” – we presume a bible – the creatures decide to create a new world based on peace, using soldier’s helmets as houses.

As I watched the gas-masked, helmeted last men on earth shoot one another from their respective fox holes, I was reminded of the ridiculous, disgraceful National Rifle Association press conference held on Friday, Dec. 21, a few hours before I screened this cartoon.

Wayne LaPierre, CEO and executive vice-president of the gun lobby said, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

Riiiight.

I got to see the natural consequence of that idiotic statement in technicolour thanks to Peace on Earth .  Bad guy or good guy, what you get with two powerful military weapons is two really dead guys.

Make no mistake, guns kill people. And people with powerful guns kill many, many people.

I hope our American friends see reason very soon.

And Peace on Earth this holiday season.

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9 minutes

Rated G for gun control now