Episode #13 Melody Time
We circled back to cover Melody Time. This one is on Disney+, but we also own it on DVD. Our mother is a music teacher so has this one in her resources for a fun movie day for kids. There’s a lot of it she can’t show however, as you’ll see. Here’s our thoughts on this musical movie!
30 Word Disney Dash
Summary in 30 words or less:
Sleigh ride couples skating outing. Jazzy bumblebee flight. Johnny Appleseed and his angel. Little and Big Toot tugboats. Trees in season. Donald, Jose, Aracuan bird samba. Pecos Bill Cowboy story.
History & Fun Facts
This film was a 1948 release and is the 10th animated feature of Disney’s. It is similar to Make Mine Music and Fantasia previously in that it is a package film containing 7 segments. Each segment is a classic story set to music and animation.
The first segment is Once Upon a Wintertime, featuring Fances Langford singing a song about romantic couples on a December day. The couple go on a sleigh ride and ice skating date. Clips from this scene are later put to Jingle Bells in Disney’s Very Merry Christmas Songs Sing-a-longs. Segment two is Bumble Boogie. It features a bumblebee caught up in a “musical frenzy” with a jazz rendition of Flight of the Bumblebee. The next segment is the Legend of Johnny Appleseed told by Dennis Day narrating the story of John Chapman spreading apple trees and Christianity in the pioneer days. Segment four is the story of Little Toot, a tugboat that just wants to be like his father, but gets into trouble. The music is sung by the Andrews Sisters. The fifth segment is Trees, an adaptation of the poem of the same name by Joyce Kilmer. It's an animation of the changing of the seasons. The layout artist decided to use frosted cels and render the pastel images onto the cell to preserve the look of the original sketches. The cell was laminated and then photographed, resulting in a look that hadn’t been seen prior in animation. The next segment is Blame it on the Samba. In this segment we welcome back Donald Duck and Jose Carioca as we meet the Aracuan Bird and dance the samba. The final segment is Pecos Bill. It’s about a Texas hero who was raised by coyotes and became the best cowboy ever. The story features Roy Rogers, Bob Nolan, Trigger, and the Sons of the Pioneers telling the story to Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten in a live-action story. This is the longest piece of the entire film.
The songs were based around popular music and performers of the time. Melody Time is the last anthology feature made by Disney. These package features were produced and released during WWII as they were financially cheaper to make and meant to bring in profits in order to return to fairy tale feature film production. The shorts differ in style, but the unifying theme is songs from musicians of popular and folk music. This made it different from Fantasia, which was all classical music. This was also the last film the Andrew Sisters took part in and the last film to include Donald Duck and Jose Carioca until Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988. It was mildly successful, but didn’t meet the height of Fantasia. It took a while after its initial release to be sent to home media production with various pairings. At the time, critics were generally unfavorable but did “celebrate the global scope of Disney”. Later reviews are more mixed, praising its technical achievements over its faults. There was controversy surrounding the smoking in Pecos Bill and the part when Bill kisses Sue and his guns rise and fire, simulating ejaculation. Many of the scenes individually become more successful than the entire film. There are many references to Pecos Bill in the Frontierland of Magic Kingdom. In the World of Disney, there’s a mural with Jose Carioca on the ceiling with other characters.
Favorite Characters
Lily: Little Toot. He’s such a cute character and overcomes setbacks, proving to be capable of more than just causing trouble. The song that the Andrew Sisters sing about him is cute too. One of my favorite things is how at the very end he does a cute little butt shake.
Claire: The bunny couple in Once Upon a Winter Time. I enjoyed the bunny couple because they were cute. They imitated the human couple throughout the scene, which I enjoyed despite them having no dialogue. The animators did a good job because you still understood their emotions.
Favorite Scenes
Lily: Pecos Bill. I enjoyed this scene simply because of the Pecos Bill song. There were funny lines and rhymes in it that made me laugh. There were also cute explanations to how things were made due to things Pecos Bill did.
Claire: Little Toot. I enjoyed this scene the best because it was a story of a little character who got into trouble and had to figure out how to get himself out of the situation he was in. I also liked how there were different types of boat characters that played a part in the story, like the police boats.
Overall Thoughts
Lily: I thought this film was just okay. I enjoyed the music overall and the animation. Some of the stories I found more enjoyable than others. Part of me wished to see more classic Disney characters in the film, like how Donald or Goofy had been in past packaged films. I probably wouldn’t watch it again, but would watch it with someone if they hadn’t seen it before.
My 5 Star Rating in the Other Category: ** (2/5)
Claire: I liked all the segments of this film. It was the first package film that I found all the segments to be entertaining. I liked the Johnny Appleseed story because I’ve heard of that story before. I liked all the animation because they were eye-catching to watch and I liked all the music that accompanied each segment. I probably wouldn’t watch it again simply because I’ve seen it once, but I still liked it.
My 5 Star Rating in the Other Category: *** (3/5)
We hope you enjoyed our review of Melody Time. Have you seen this collection of tales? What was our favorite part? Until next time, happy viewing!
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