Donald Applecore 1952

In this animated adventure, Donald Duck is depicted as a dedicated apple farmer who is busy harvesting his crop when he notices something troubling—his entire apple harvest has been eaten away by some mischievous creatures. He quickly discovers that Chip and Dale, the well-known chipmunks, are responsible as he catches them in the act of dumping eaten apple cores into his basket. Donald immediately captures Dale and confronts him about their behavior, demanding an explanation for the destruction of his crop.

Dale whispers something to Donald that seems to excite him, leading him to follow Dale up into a tree. However, this was a clever trick; Chip and Dale then dump a large pile of apple cores into Donald’s basket, mocking him as a tease. When Donald reaches into their hole trying to catch the chipmunks, he gets bitten severely, which makes him fall out of the tree in frustration.

Following this failed attempt, Donald tries a more aggressive approach by using his helicopter to fumigate the area around Chip and Dale’s hiding place. Despite his efforts, the resourceful chipmunks use gas masks and survive until the gas disperses. They then escalate their antics by hitting Donald in the face, further irritating him in a comical clash of mischief.

On the ground, Donald observes Chip and Dale rolling stolen apples into the trunk of their tree. Using the helicopter’s tail rotor as a makeshift saw, Donald cuts into the tree and uncovers a substantial stash of uneaten apples. After eating one himself, Donald takes revenge by tossing an apple core at Chip, mirroring the earlier “apple core/Baltimore” game. He then proceeds to store his collected apples in a silo, which results in chaos when Chip and Dale accidentally cause a massive landslide, spilling out all the apples.

The chaos escalates further when Donald, enraged, creates a dangerous chemical mixture in his helicopter’s spray hopper, laced with “atomic pills.” This bizarre and explosive concoction transforms the helicopter into a weapon capable of firing explosive charges. The final shot from this weapon results in bouncing an “atomic pill” into a chicken coop, where it is consumed by a hen. The subplot here reaches a climax as the egg produced from this hen begins to beep ominously, ultimately triggering a large nuclear explosion. The explosion is so powerful that it sends Donald flying all the way to China.

In the closing scene, which was later cut from some releases due to its racial insensitivity, an angry Chinese man is heard yelling at Donald. As Chip and Dale drop an apple core into a hole, the man loudly imitates the “apple core/Baltimore” gag with a heavy accent, which culminates in Donald being hit by a gong.

This animated tale is characterized by its zany humor, slapstick comedy, and exaggerated antics that showcase the classic rivalry and misadventures between Donald Duck and the mischievous chipmunks, Chip and Dale.