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After the release of Bambi in 1942, the Walt Disney studio was in a financial slump, in part because of the Second World War in Europe. For the next 8 years, Walt and his team made a series of "packaged features," which were basically individual collections or anthologies of animated shorts.
South of the Border
The first of these official compilations (between 1943 and 1949) came about by way of a trip to South America, in an effort to improve relations between the country and the United States. Saludos Amigos presents both live-action footage of Latin America (in terrific 16mm technicolor), as well as colorful and lively animated segments starring Goofy (as a gaucho, hilarious in slow-motion), Donald Duck (overseeing Lake Titicaca with a Llama over a suspension bridge), Pedro the anthropomorphic Chilean airplane (a precursor to Thomas the Tank Engine), and the charismatic Brazilian parrot Jose Carioca (the breakout star of the show).
The Three Caballeros (which followed in 1944) introduced Panchito the Mexican Charro Rooster, who, along with Jose Carioca, gives Donald Duck a birthday surprise with a colorful trip through Latin America, forming the iconic centerpiece trio in this cultural and geographical feast.
In their first attempt to combine live-action with animation since Mickey Mouse briefly interacted with conductor Leopold Stowkovski in Fantasia, said sequences in Caballeros aren't quite up to par, especially compared to the fully-hand-drawn segments. Both films do also have some questionable elements, including an infatuated Donald chasing live-action women onscreen (like Aurora Miranda). Hmm. Even Saludos Amigos has a few outdated depictions and stereotypes, and even a glimpse of Walt Disney behind the scenes--the same with Goofy--smoking a cigarette. Minor details, but some to keep in mind before going on these tours.
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| Donald Duck and the Aracuan Bird in Melody Time's "Blame It On the Samba" |
Let the Music Play
One of Walt Disney's biggest regrets was that he never got to continue his 1940 masterpiece, Fantasia. However, the closest he probably ever came in his lifetime was in the music anthologies made later in the decade. With Make Mine Music (1946) and Melody Time (1948), the artists and writers at the studio set various segments to classical and contemporary music--some, original; others, retelling children's storybooks (like Make Mine's "Peter and the Wolf") or historical legends (like Melody's Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill).
Other highlights include Melody's "Blame It On the Samba" (a reunion for Three Caballeros alums Donald Duck, José Carioca, and the Aracuan Bird) and "Bumble Boogie" (adapted from Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumble-Bee"); and Make Mine's "All the Cats Join In" (a nostalgic dance bit involving teenage adolescence), "Casey At the Bat" (a fast-paced slapstick comedy about a baseball player so full of himself until he loses), "After You're Gone" (about anthropomorphic musical instruments), and the grand finale "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing At the Met" (which speaks for itself). Even though it wouldn't be until the turn of the century that Fantasia would get an official follow-up, these two films stand as worthy companion pieces.
The same year as Make Mine Music, the studio released the live-action/animated hybrid, Song of the South. This adaptation of Joel Chandler Harris's "Uncle Remus" stories was considered a landmark at the time. But in spite of the memorable tune, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," and lead actor James Baskett winning an honorary Academy Award (groundbreaking for an actor of color at the time), this film remains Walt Disney's most controversial and ostracized, due to its reported caricatured portrayals of African-Americans and romaticising of slavery in the Deep South. (Similar things have been said about 1939's Gone With the Wind in recent years.) The animated segments (starring Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear) can be viewed on YouTube, as well as "Disney Sing-Along Songs" VHS tapes from the 1980s and 1990s. But the film, in its entirety, has never been released to the public since 1986 (save for bootlegged copies and distribution overseas), and reportedly won't be until this next decade.
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| (l-r) Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Donald Duck in Fun and Fancy Free's "Mickey and the Beanstalk" |
Two for One
The last group in this series of Disney films from the 1940s was comprised of two 30-minute shorts back-to-back. For 1947's Fun and Fancy Free, the ever-popular Jiminy Cricket presents two stories so different in genres but similar in themes and as literary adaptations. "Bongo" (told and sung by actress-singer Dinah Shore) follows a circus bear who escapes into the woods and falls head-over-heels for a female forest bear. The story is a romantic comedy full of broad slapstick humor, especially in the form of a bear-slapping jamboree.
For the second-half of this double-bill, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy deliver some of their best screen "performances" as poor farmers in an update of "Jack and the Beanstalk" (narrated by ventriloquist entertainer Edgar Bergen, with help from his famous dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd). In this variation, the dynamic trio have a fantastical encounter with magic beans and a happy-go-lucky, shape-shifting giant named Willie (voiced by Snow White's very own Sneezy, Billy Gilbert). This is a wonderful blend of story, color, animation, and live-action, with one clever meta gag thrown in for good measure. Both shorts collectively remind us to find the joy in life, in spite of the countless problems in the world.
And finally, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad paired Kenneth Graham's Victorian story, "The Wind in the Willows," and Washington Irving's Gothic novel, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". The former features humans and anthropomorphic animals, including an accountant badger, villainous weasels (later used in 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit), and the carefree and reckless Mr. Toad, whose selfish ways eventually become his downfall when he is framed for a crime. The colorful characters, impressive special effects for their time, and the climactic, frentic chase sequence are certainly the high points. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," on the other hand, starts out jolly and wonderful enough--until Ichabod Crane's terrifying climactic encounter with the Headless Horseman. This scene alone remains one of the scariest ever created by the Disney studio. That said, this double-feature will probably be more appealing to sophisticated adults than to children.
Ichabod and Mr. Toad was released the same year as the studio's live-action So Dear To My Heart, which featured hand-drawn animated segments and starred then-child actors Bobby Driscoll and Launa Patten (Disney regulars who also played the lead children in Song of the South and in the "Pecos Bill" segment of "Melody Time"). Patten also plays the little girl in the "Beanstalk" segment of Fun and Fancy Free, which, in turn, marked the last time that Walt Disney voiced Mickey Mouse--with the exception of The Mickey Mouse Club TV series in the 1950s, and archival recordings for the 2013 animated short, Get a Horse.
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| 1941's The Reluctant Dragon |
Bonus Feature
Although the 1941 release, The Reluctant Dragon, wasn't officially part of the above lineup, it still qualifies as its own "packaged feature." Humorist Robert Benchley made a visit to the Walt Disney studio in California to pitch an idea to the man himself, based on a children's book by Kenneth Graham. What he inadvertently (or, perhaps, intentionally) gets--from black-and-white to technicolor--is an exclusive tour of the animation studio, how the filmmaking processes works (including a sneak peak at the yet-to-be-released Bambi, as well as five other segments), and a special surprise.
Despite being an entertaining behind-the-scenes feature, The Reluctant Dragon was still criticized by numerous artists involved in the Writer's Strike that same year; many of these same people later formed the independent animation studio UPA (famous for their Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing-Boing cartoons). The hilarious-if-bizarre cartoon itself (about an eccentric fire-breathing creature and a kooky knight) was later released as part of the "Walt Disney Mini Classics" VHS series, paired with the 1950 short, "Morris the Midget Moose."
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WRITER'S NOTE: You can read this post's successor from 2020 here.
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