Saturday, May 21, 2011

Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land (1959)

Obscurity factor: 3

This film chronicles the adventures of Donald Duck in the magical land of mathematics. While there he learns about the golden rectangle, pentagrams, circles and spheres and how these and other basic shapes make up the world around us and can be used in games and other pursuits. I first saw this film, as did many others in an elementary school assembly, and enjoyed it immensely - it was a much more fun way of learning mathematics.

I'm not sure if obscure is the word for it, as much as unseen. It's available on DVD and many people know and remember the film, but it's rarely seen today (unless they're still showing it in schools!). Above is part one of 3, uploaded to YouTube by pookzta.

Obscurity factor: 3 (well known, but rarely, if ever screened today, available on DVD)

5 comments:

  1. I remember seeing this in grade school! :D I'm gonna watch this tonight if I'm in a good area :)

    I also remember the Jiminy Cricket fire safety films they used to make us watch :p

    Thank you so much :)

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  2. I remember seeing this in elementary school along with Jimminy Cricket and the E-N-C-Y-L-O-P-E-D-I-A!

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  3. When they showed it in my school I think they showed the version with introductions by Ludwig Von Drake (that version aired as the premier episode of Disney's Wonderful World of Color in 1961, two years after this was released in 1959 and introduced Donald's uncle, Ludwig). I looked for that one, but couldn't find it. I always preferred Ludwig to Donald.

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  4. My high-school algebra teacher showed this to her freshman classes. I got a C anyway.

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  5. Yes, it didn't improve my math grades either, but it was a nice diversion!

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