Year Released: 1948
Michael's Movie Grade:B+
History
Again, instead of doing one feature length animated story the Disney studio made a series of animated shorts put together to make a feature film. Again this was done mainly because of financial worries. Like it's sister film Make Mine Music, Melody Time focuses on the theme of music. Also like Make Mine Music, this film would be quite different from Fantasia, because of that film's financial failure and the negative reception it received from audiences and critics. Melody Time would again be closer to Disney's more traditional cartoon shorts, rather than to the experimentation of Fantasia. Even though the Bumble Boogie segment was considered for Fantasia. This film would also feature a wide range of different performers and music, and would even include the last film performance of The Andrew Sisters, who had worked previously on Disney's Make Mine Music, and appeared along side famous comedy team Abbott and Costello, under the direction of Arthur Lubin, (Abbott and Costello's first reoccurring director) in Buck Privates, In the Navy, and Hold That Ghost. Maxine Andrews remembered this film as a very happy experience, and considered Walt Disney to be a real gentleman. She also remembered seeing the storyboards for the films as two Disney songwriters (I don't know which ones since the song they performed seems to have been only written by Allie Wrubel) played the score, and Walt would explain the short to them.
This film would be very similar to Make Mine Music, with different types of music and cartoons being featured. Again like Make Mine Music different cartoons would be handled by different directors. These directors would all be regular Disney animation directors, they would include Clyde Geronimi (Little Toot, Blame It on the Samba, Pecos Bill), Wilfred Jackson (The Legend of Johnny Appleseed), Jack Kinney (Bumble Boogie), and Hamilton Luske (Once Upon a Wintertime, Trees). Each would bring their own style, and give much variety to these shorts.
This film features some quick live action in it. Because at this time Walt was getting more interested in making a fully live action film, with no animation, which he would complete two years after this film was released, he often experimented with live action at this time. He was nervous about going completely into live action because the Disney studio was known for animation and many critics and audiences felt he had gone too far from what Disney films were known for, when the studio did Fantasia and Bambi. A live action scene features Bobby Driscoll, and Launa Patten, Disney's first reoccurring child actors, and the first actors to have a contract with the Disney studio. Also in this quick live action scene appears Roy Rogers, Bob Nolan, and Sons of the Pioneers, all of whom would perform the song for the following cartoon. Also featured would be Roy Rogers' horse Trigger. Also in the Blame It on the Samba cartoon, Donald Duck along with his south of the border friends, José Carioca and the Aracuan Bird, interact with a live action Ethel Smith.
Melody Time did fairly well at the box office, and with critics. But many were wondering when they would see a full feature length animated story, but that was just two years in the future.
Review
Again since this film is just a series of shorts I will review each short individually, and give them each their own grade, along with the grade for the film as a whole near the top of this page.
Once Upon a Wintertime: Entertainingly little short is helped by great design work by Mary Blair. The story and the humor are nothing special, but they are nothing bad either. However the great stylized look of this segment has quite a charm to it, and the song is quite nice. Grade:C
Bumble Boogie: Very fun cartoon. Director Jack Kinney is a master at giving cartoons an addictive energy, and he does so very well here. The imagery is fantastic in this short as well. It is quite imaginative and fun to look at as well. The music has the same energy as the cartoon and the music and imagery fit together beautifully. Grade:A
Johnny Appleseed: Great piece of Americana, that only Disney could provide. This short is quite corny, but it has a spirit that fully overcomes that. Johnny is a quite likable character, the music is great, and the imagery is great. Although the story isn't perfect, it is still quite likable, and holds all this cartoons charms perfectly. Grade:A-
Little Toot: Fun if unexceptional short. The story is one we have seen a lot of before although it is handled well here, it has still been handled better elsewhere. The animation for this short is good, but not quite up to Disney standards.While the song is not the best song it fits the short well and the Andrew Sisters perform it great. Grade:C
Trees: Although this short has really beautiful imagery, the song doesn't work, and goes by much too fast to leave the impression it should. Singing the lyrics of Joyce KIlmer's poem to classical music just does not work. It honestly comes off as a bit pretentious. The idea simply is not as artistic as the filmmakers seemed to think it would be. However the imagery is really beautiful, with much of the same majesty that made Bambi work so well. Grade: C+
Blame it on the Samba: Fantastic short with great imagery, and great energy. This is just a beautifully constructed cartoon, and is full of fantastic imagination. Also the combination of animation and live action is beautifully achieved, and along with Disney's Three Caballeros, making up some of the best combinations between animation and live action, before Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The music has a great energy as well and compliments the cartoon perfectly/ Grade: A+
Pecos Bill: It probably is partly due to my love of country music that makes me love this short so much, but there is definitely more to it than that, mainly that this is a very funny cartoon. Every joke in here works, and the more unbelievable the more funny. This contains comic exaggerations at their best. The animation is very well done and compliments the jokes beautifully. Before the short starts though we have some beautiful animation of the desert, along with a great country song. This part is worthy of the best of Fantasia, and even a quite entertaining live action introduction. As a fan of country music I have to say the music we hear here is as great as the cartoon itself. Grade: A+
Film Credits
Directors:Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Jack Kinney
Writers: Winston Hibler, Erdman Penner, Harry Reeves, Homer Brightman, Ken Anderson, Ted Sears, Joe Rinaldi, William Cottrell, Art Scott, Jesse Marsh, Bob Moore, John Wallbridge.
Little Toot segment based off of a short story by Hardie Gramatky.
Voices: Buddy Clark (Master of Ceremonies), Dennis Day (Johnny Appleseed, Johnny's Angel, The Old Settler), Clarence Nash (Donald Duck), Pinto Colvig (Aracuan Bird)
Live Action Cast: Ethel Smith (Herself), Bob Nolan (Himself), Bobby Driscoll (Himself), Roy Rogers (Himself), Trigger, Luana Patten (Herself), The Sons of the Pioneers (Themselves)
Song Performers: Buddy Clark, Frances Langford, Freddy Martin and His Orchestra, Jack Fina, Dennis Day, The Andrews Sisters, Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians, Ethel Smith, The Dinning Sisters, Roy Rogers, Sons of the Pioneers
Producer: Walt Disney
Songwriters: George David Weiss, Bennie Benjamin, Bobby Worth, Ray Gilbert, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Jack Fina, Kim Gannon, Walter Kent, Allie Wrubel, Oscar Rasbach, Ernesto Nazareth, Eliot Daniel, Johnny Lange
Music: Eliot Daniel, Paul J. Smith
Cinematographer: Winton C. Hoch
Assistant Directors: Lou Debney, Mike Holoboff, Ted Sebern
Editors: Don Halliday, Thomas Scott
Effects Animators: George Rowley, Josh Meador, Jack Boyd, Dan MacManus
Special Effects: Ub Iwerks
Supervising Animators: Eric Larson, Ward Kimball, Milt Kahl, Ollie Johnston (as Oliver M. Johnston Jr)., John Lounsbery, Les Clark
Background Artists: Art Riley, Brice Mack, Ralph Hulett, Merle Cox, Dick Anthony
Layout Artists: Hugh Hennesy, Mac Stewart, Ken O'Connor, Lance Nolley, Al Zinnen, Bob Cormack, Don Griffith, Thor Putnam, Donald Da Gradi
Animators: Harvey Toombs, Marvin Woodward, Ed Aardal, Hal King, Cliff Norberg, Don Lusk, John Sibley, Rudy Larriva, Ken O'Brien, Bob Cannon, Judge Whitaker, Hal Ambro
Resources Used
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040580/?ref_=rvi_tt
http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon-characters/25-Melody-Time/#cartoon_writers
The Andrew Sisters: A Biography and Career Record by H. Arlo Nimmo
-Michael J. Ruhland
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