DATE Night: Melody Time

Make it pink! Make it blue!

You came back! I had a feeling you would. And it was so worth it, huh? I know you were probably a little bit annoyed that I would take you out for yet another night of music. They have been kind of hit-or-miss, but I pretty much feel like this time it was a hit. I told you that your patience would pay off. Still, I know we're both feeling a bit of package film fatigue, but there's only one more before we get back to one story per movie again. So let's dive into our tenth DATE Night! That means we've been at it now for two and a half months. Impressive, right? If I were the lesbian that my Lilith Fair musical tastes indicate, we would have reserved the U-Haul already!

The Background:

Yet another package film. If you need to be filled in on what that exactly means, please see Exhibit A, or B or C. If that doesn't give you enough background, then I certainly don't know how to help you. On its own, Melody Time was not abysmally received when it was initially released, but it seems that people were waiting for Disney to live up to the promise of those first five pictures and their patience was wearing a bit thin at this point. The studio had spent almost a decade making package films and live action/animated hybrids where the animation was seen as the star of the show (So Dear To My Heart, Song of the South). Folks were certainly chomping at the bit for another full-fledged animated feature in the tradition of the earlier films by this time.

The First Impression:

Once again, this is one of the films that I didn't watch in its entirety the first go-round. There are segments that I am familiar with for one reason or another, but this was the first time that I watched the entire movie in one sitting beginning to end.

The Art:

Mary Blair's amazing inspirational art for
"Wintertime". 

7/10. This would score highly in my book if for no other reason than it has Mary Blair's handprints all over it. "Once Upon a Wintertime" most closely represents her art, with very stylized figures against stylized backgrounds. It's like a piece of her work come to life and is absolutely one of my favorite pieces of Disney animation. It's interesting to contrast that with "Johnny Appleseed", where her influence is all over the backgrounds but the characters are much more in a traditional, rounded Disney style. She also returns to the Latin American milieu where she found her voice as an artist during the making of Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros in "Blame it on the Samba". In all, her bold lines, representational styling and powerful use of color really help to shape their unique look. A few favorite moments are when the characters literally turn blue with sadness and red with anger in "Wintertime", the gorgeous waterfall in "Johnny Appleseed", and the pastel jungle of "Samba", but to be honest, I'm hard pressed to pick favorite moments artistically here when they are all so strong.

Yup. Lots of trees in "Trees". 

Even outside of Mary Blair's work, there is much to admire here. "Bumble Boogie" recalls the frenzied, weird amazingness of the final minutes of The Three Caballeros and "Pink Elephants on Parade" with its saturated colors and psychedelic feel. "Trees" is an artistic tone poem, recalling a more stylized "The Old Mill". There is a stunning moment showing a gorgeous landscape that pulls back so that we see that we are actually looking at the landscape's reflection in a drop of water on a branch. The use of light is amazing. I must say, though, that I could live without the overt religious symbology at the end. It felt a bit out of place."Pecos Bill" also has some fantastic artwork throughout, but especially during the opening song. On the whole, there is a sense of experimentation and of continuing to push out the edges of what they have been able to do successfully before, which adds a sense of excitement to watching from moment to moment, waiting to see what they will come up with next.

The Story:

I'm unclear as to how I would order this in a bar.

6/10. Vast improvements here as well. Of course, this being a package film, they are pretty much not going to be able to solve the problem of giving the whole thing a sense of flow, but when each segment flows so well within itself, it's hard to quibble. There is a focus and clarity to the way each story is told, even when methods are varied. They take the forms of a musical ("Johnny Appleseed"), visual poem ("Trees"), campfire tall tale ("Pecos Bill"), hallucination ("Bumble Boogie"), storybook ("Little Toot"), memory ("Wintertime"), or alcohol-fueled party ("Samba"). Each commits to its method of conveyance and does it economically and well.

Mr. Not-Too-Creepy Mask.

Especially impressive in this area to me is "Johnny Appleseed", which manages to pack a whole life story in a traditional musical theatre format into a few minutes and do it more successfully that some two-plus hour debacles I've seen on Broadway recently. (Yes, Baby It's You. I just called you out. Deal with it.)

The opening moments of the film are charming, if not special, with paintbrushes creating our mask hosts before our eyes. (The fact that they could use animated masks and not make me want to turn the movie off immediately tells me that they were doing something right. Cuz masks are creepy, y'all. I hate them. And clowns.) The tiny bits or narration between the pieces is enough of a thread for me to follow where I am being taken to. I also like the fact that they nod to the classic convention of starting the story by opening a storybook when they begin the film by opening a book of music on a music stand. Nice touch.

The Characters:

Why so blue, fellas?
How bout I make you a drink?

6/10. A few of the characters are recycled for "Samba", but considering how well they work, it feels like running into old friends at a great party when you're meeting all these awesome new people too. It makes sense, being that the aracuan bird literally makes Donald and Jose a drink during the segment. Though none of the characters have entered the upper echelon of great Disney characters, they are all well done across the board. I must say, though, that I'm not all too fond of petulant Little Toot. He seems like an unsympathetic troublemaker to me. In fact, that is the only short that seems rather inert and derivative, with shades of Pedro from Saludos Amigos and Casey Jr. (with "Try. Do or die." replacing "I think I can.") in a rather predictable underdog narrative. The other characters, from the bee in "Bumble Boogie" to the charming humans and animals in "Wintertime" to the legendary Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill are both beautifully drawn and animated and dimensionally portrayed in short periods of time. I think that the reason they aren't as integral a part of Disney's canon is purely due to the fact that with only a few minutes to register in a little seen film, they are overlooked. All are worthy additions.

The Music:

Sing it, yummy cowboy.

6/10. Good stuff here! The Andrews Sisters are back for "Little Toot" and they are always a welcome addition. Ethel Smith is the sassiest organ player I've ever seen and the "Samba" is another fine use of Latin sounds. "Wintertime" is set to a lovely tune which has become a seasonal classic for me if for no one else. The jazzy arrangement of "Flight of the Bumblebee" is the driving force behind "Bumble Boogie". The musical setting of "Trees" is a bit boring but appropriately reverent for the feeling of the art. The music is "Pecos Bill" is evocative and works like gangbusters. Most impressive to me, though, is the music in "Johnny Appleseed", which is in the form of a mini-musical, with the songs not only beautifully integrated, but also catchy as all get-out. I had music from it stuck in my head for the whole day after I saw it. I also love the fact that each of these songs is in a different genre, which means that it comes much closer to the goal of being a more popular-music-leaning Fantasia than Make Mine Music did.

The Gay Scale:

Hot young Johnny.
Hot older Johnny.
Queersome Angel.

6/10. Finally they throw the gays a bone again! There are tiny gay touches here and there, like the rainbow of hammers hitting a piano strong in "Bumble Boogie" and Jose's insistence on dancing with Donald. (Why, oh, why won't he insist on dancing with me? That green bird was built to continually break my heart with his effortless sexiness.) There are also underdog narratives in "Little Toot" and "Pecos Bill", which features a young man who is abandoned by his real family and flourishes after he is embraced by a family of his own choosing. Plus Roy Rogers and his singing friends are all lookers. There's something about a man in a cowboy hat, ya know? The strongest gay interpretation for me, however, is "Johnny Appleseed", which is the story of a kind and non-violent man (who is quite a dish, by the way, and even more so when he is older confirmed bachelor with a beard) who makes a difference in the world without compromising his beliefs or trying to be someone that he is not. In being true to himself, he affects positive change. What a great message for a young gay person to hear. Plus, the angel who visits him is referenced as "mighty queersome" and the apple field turns pink when he arrives. There is a good chunk here for a queer audience.

The Bottom Line:

Yeah. Not the best posters for
these package films, huh?

6/10. I'm not gonna lie. I totes dig this movie. True to the 40's package film pattern, they faltered a bit once with Make Mine Music, learned from it, strengthened the formula, and came back with a far superior film in Melody Time. It's the same as what happened with Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. The art is more exciting. The storytelling within the segments is crisper. The music is more memorable. Whereas large chunks of Make Mine Music felt like a chore to make it through, Melody Time briskly flew by and my interest never waned. The film is an enjoyable diversion with segments that easily hold their own against any of the classic Disney shorts from this era. You can see that the artists who worked on this film were actively pushing their imaginations into new and/or far-out areas, saving this film from any strong sense of Disney resting on their laurels. This and The Three Caballeros are definitely at the top of the package film heap, though still not in the top tier of animated classics.

The Miscellanea:

During the package film years Disney produced many pieces based on classic American folk tales, legends and literature. Most of them inspired greatness in their artists, resulting in such classics as "Pecos Bill", "Johnny Appleseed", and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Many years later, in 2000, animator Mark Henn (Jasmine, Mulan, Tiana) directed a short based on the story of "John Henry". Apparently it was intended to accompany a re-release of Song of the South, but a small but mighty uproar stopped the release of both because they were seen as racially insensitive, which really chaps my behind. Contextualize Song of the South. Pretending it doesn't exist does no one any good. "John Henry", however, has nothing to contextualize or apologize for. It is a gorgeously done short which pays homage to Mary Blair, 101 Dalmations, Grandma Moses, African-American culture and folk arts such as quilting. I finally saw it for the first time not too long ago and was frankly stunned at how wonderful it was. Do yourself a favor and give it a whirl.

More censorship! Yay! Once again with the smoking. Because we all know that, starting in the late 90's, not only did people completely stop smoking, but a magical machine was able to go back into history and erase all tobacco use up until that point! So, really Disney was just mirroring that by editing their film output. Bah. Come on guys. Add the creepy "green-faced Pinocchio smoking is bad" warning at the beginning and trust parents to do their job in letting children know that nothing good comes from smoking. I just don't like the idea of us reaching back into the work of those in the past and diddling with it, no matter how seemingly insignificant. Slippery slope, y'all. They digitally erased Pecos Bill's cigarette and cut the bit at around the 2:00 mark where he rolls a cigarette with his tongue and lights it with a lightning bolt. (I guess I can see how children would want to mimic that. When I was young, I tried to light cigarettes with lightning bolts that I caught while riding a tornado all the time. Makes sense.)

There we have it! The upswing begins! I told you that you'd be rewarded for your patience. I know that you are ready for something different, so next week on our DATE Night I will be taking you on a bit of a wild ride (Mind out of the gutter. Nothing dirty. I'm a married man, remember.) with Mr. Toad (See? Not dirty). Then, if you're up for it, which I'm sure you will be, we'll go somewhere a bit creepy and maybe run into The Headless Horseman. It is almost Halloween, after all. We are a fifth of the way through all of Disney's animated classics, the Forties are coming to a close and the studio is about to enter into it's second golden age. Exciting stuff, y'all! Gird your loins!

DATE Night : Saludos Amigos

I know, I know! I'm such a great date! I took you to South America for our DATE Night and Saludos Amigos! Pretty awesomesauce, eh? Well don't thank me yet. I can't exactly say that this was the best ever. Let's shake a tailfeather (I'm looking at you, Joe Carioca, you sexy thing you) and see what's gone amiss south of the border.

The Background:

Don't mind me boys. Dance it up!

The fact that Bambi wasn't a rousing success left Disney in a sticky wicket during World War II. With key markets cut off and the general public not quite following them on their ambitious artistic quest, they had to find a way to keep afloat. Ingeniously, Walt accepted an offer from the government to go on a good will tour of South America, but on the condition that he would be allowed to bring a group of artists from the studio along with him. They would spend their time not just shaking hands, but creating films. The whole affair was underwritten, so even if the movies didn't ignite at the box office, making them was guaranteed to be a financially sound move and allowed his artists to stay creatively active and gainfully employed when the war and a strike at the studio back in the States could have shut him down. The film was well-recieved, both capitalizing on and helping to further the cultural exchange between the two continents.

The First Impression:

The Disney Project- Part 4: Saludos Amigos. An odd duck of a film. A lot of stock looking live footage (often with awkward accompanying audio tracks) cut with short cartoons and hijinks with characters like Goofy and Donald. I can't say I enjoyed it terribly, though Pedro the Plane is cute and Joe Carioca is one sexy bird!

January 31, 2010 at 10:37pm ·

The Art:

Pedro's parents.

5/10. The film is an odd hybrid of live action footage, that despite being remastered is still rather grainy, and animated sequences. The live portions look rather like a film reel they used to show in classrooms or vintage National Geographic. As far as animation, in essence we are talking about four shorts. Three of them are are on par with the shorts that Disney was doing at the time. One featured Donald, one Goofy and one a new character who was a plane named Pedro. They are fine if unspectacular. The Pedro section does have one really lovely shot that stood out of his parents waiting for him to come home with blues and grays blanketing the scene and spotlights cutting through the dark like wounds. There are also amusing shots of the plane flying over a large animated map and scaring the poor cows, who just can't seem to catch a break.

Oh, Mary Blair. You know how to make me
squeal with delight, dontcha?

The movie really kicks in artistically on the last segment, called "Aquarela do Brasil", which means "Watercolor of Brazil". It all starts with a hand using a watercolor paintbrush to create impressions of Brazil. Those pieces begin to burst forth with animation. Waterfalls surge from the paintings. Flowers melt and become dancing flamingoes. Flowers sing. A tree morphs into the back of a bird. A bunch of bananas turn out to be the beaks of a durante of toucans (Yup. That's the collective noun. I googled it.). The art is unexpected, playful and gorgeous.

More Mary Blair fantasticness.

Also, I want to give a shout out to Mary Blair, who did inspirational art for Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella and Peter Pan, created the visual style for it's a small world and did the murals at the Contemporary in Walt Disney World, among other Disney projects. She's the tall blonde that you see in the live footage and her art is instantly recognizable. She was married to another Disney artist, Lee Blair, when she came to work at Disney. This trip was a real turning point in her artistic voice. It's where she really discovered her unique style and sense of color. You'll hear tons more from me about her in the near future, but this is where she really starts to blossom.

The Story:

4/10. Not gonna lie. This film lacks in the story department. It feels more like a rather hastily thrown together piece of propaganda than a movie. There is nothing really linking the disparate sections together save the fact they all occur in South America. The sections themselves are not so bad. In Donald's section, he plays the American tourist in Lake Titicaca (Stop snickering! That's its name! It can't help it!), observing the locals and tangling with a jitterbugging llama. Goofy takes on the role of a gaucho, which is an Argentine cowboy, and hijinks ensue along the lines of his "How To" shorts. Pedro the young Chilean plane is a bit more problematic. He's not the most compelling lil' guy, cute as he may be and they aren't able to wring too much drama out of a single trip across the mountains, try as they might. It's a cute short, but rather forgettable. The final segment, "Aquarela do Brasil", has absolutely no story whatsoever in a traditional sense, but the fascinating artistry more than makes up for the lack of narrative.

The Characters:

5/10. Two of the best characters in the film- Donald and Goofy- can't really be attributed to it, well-used though they may be. I mentioned that the characters in the "Pedro" short are charming but a bit on the bland side. There's a archetypical dad, mom, and young one who triumphs despite hardships. There is absolutely no character development in the humans in the live action sequence, who come and go, dancing and singing things that have nothing to do with the music that you hear (see The Music below).

Hola, Jose. Te quiero.

That leaves us with...sigh...eyelash batting...Jose Carioca. Ah, Jose Carioca. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. If someone were to tell me that I would have a crush on a green bird one day I would have looked at you cross-eyed and showed you the door. But then I met this little guy and fell a little bit in love. First off there's that carefree Brazilian accent. Then there's the impeccable sense of style. He's a fantastic dancer. He is exuberant, excitable and expressive. Plus, he is effortlessly charming. He's has the kind of sexiness that transcends sexuality. He's the type of bird who would be as comfortable showing affection or flirting with the men as he would with the women. He knows the power in his charisma. I heart Jose Carioca 4ever. Luckily, we'll be running into him again more in The Three Caballeros.

The Music:

5/10. Save the fantastic "Aquarela do Brasil", the music in the film is atmospheric but unremarkable and they don't do much to really use or highlight it. It kind of makes for a cha-cha cousin of white noise. I will also take this moment to say that I find it rather odd that the sound during the live action sequences usually doesn't match what we see. It just makes it look like it was badly dubbed.

The Gay Scale:

The love in undeniable.

As are the pink dress and fancy headwear.

5/10. Despite a poster claiming that Saludos Amigos is Disney's "gayest musical Technicolor feature", there isn't all that much that is queer in this first South American jaunt. Jose Carioca is of questionable sexual orientation and seems more of a equal opportunity flirtation machine, though as I admitted before, he certainly churned my butter. The only other character that can be read as gay is actually Goofy's horse in the gaucho section. Though you never can tell these things with horses, he seems male, with whiskers and all. But he also seems to be quite enamored with the Goof. He cries at the sound of the ballad the Goofy "sings" while wearing a fruity flowered hat and later dons a pink dress when the two have a dance number together. It was enough to set my gaydar off, though it may be inaccurate in the field of equine sexual preference in relation to humoresque canines.

The Bottom Line:

5/10. Not so successful this time around. This film starts the trend of package films that would carry the studio through the forties. This first however, is probably their least successful artistically. Saludos Amigos feels very made to order. Insert American cultural icon A into foreign place B to learn about C. That coupled with it's tiny running time (less than 45 minutes) make for a movie that feel like a plastic baggie full of celery stalks and peanut butter when you really wanted a Little Debbie. You know it's not bad and it's good for you, but where is the fun in it?

The Miscellanea:

There is a fantastic documentary about this period in Disney history called Walt and El Grupo. It does a fantastic job giving background on the whole goodwill tour, warts and all. I highly recommend it.

On the DVD to the documentary, one of the bonus feature is the uncensored version of this film, which is the one that I watched. The only thing that has been changed is putting a cigarette back in Goofy's cowboy segment. We all know how I feel about censorship. They can claim that kids look up to Goofy and would want to emulate him and I would say really? When I'm a parent I'll be happy to let my kids laugh along with Goofy, but I would't really want them to act a fool like him. He's often more of a what-not-to-do. Plus Jose Carioca is seldom seen in the self same film without a cigar in his mouth. I will say that at least in this case they have given us both versions so that we can choose which we want to watch with or without our children.

Apparently, some folks were none to happy about how Chile was represented by Disney in the "Pedro" short and so Chilean cartoonist Rene Rios Boettiger created the character of Condorito in protest.Here are a few clips of the character Condorito. I can't say this lil' guy is terribly flattering to tell you the truth, but maybe it's a cultural thing.

Here is an interesting niblet where animator Bill Tytla discusses animating Jose Carioca. And we all know how grateful I am to him for animating one of my biggest crushes. Swoon.

Well. What were your thoughts? Did you get more out of the movie than I did? Are you as smitten with Jose Carioca? Careful how you answer that. I can get a bit possessive. Did you feel like you were watching a kind of lame, outdated educational film from lower school? Am I missing something? Were you sipping on margaritas when you watched and did it help? If so, did you feel even drunker when it hit the "Aquarela do Brasil"section?

OK. So our first week in South America didn't go so well. But I have a little surprise for you. We're staying an extra week! I pulled a few strings and hopefully week two of our stay will be an improvement. Plus I want to spend a little more time with Jose Carioca. Jealous? You should be. But don't worry, next week there will be The Three Caballeros on our DATE Night! A veritable smorgasbord! But hand off Jose. He's mine. Got it?

DATE Night: Make Mine Music

Well, this poster is pretty boring. 

So first off, let me apologize that I had to postpone our DATE Night. I was sick as a dog. Maybe I accidentally drank the water in Mexico last week. Mea culpa and I promise to not let it happen too often, but I am human after all. I told you that this week we would go to another concert. We did. And. Well. So, OK. Make Mine Music wasn't the best experience that I've ever had, but, honestly, Disney can't hit it out of the ballpark every time, right? The evening wasn't a complete waste and things will get better I swear. Just give it a few weeks. Promise me.

The Background:

The World War II years had proven hard for the studio. Rations, strikes, use of talent to create works for the government just to stay afloat. Creatively, it is pretty much accepted that the animated feature was not at its apex. The "package films" of the forties were a way to try to keep the animators creatively active without giving them too long of a time commitment. The results in every case (as we've seen for the past two weeks with the Latin American package films) are spotty at best, with some jewels that sparkle side by side with dull, grey rocks. This time, instead of centering around classical pieces or foreign cultures, the film attempts to give a cross-section of musical forms, each introduced by title cards (that seem to have the Mary Blair touch about them) which tell us the form- such as tone poem (yawn...) and jazz interlude (yay!)- the performer (Oh, how I heart thee, Andrews Sisters), as well as the name of the piece.

Very punny, title card. Very punny. 

The result is more lighthearted than Fantasia, but also less coherent in its vision. The most exciting parts are the ones that incorporate really modern (jazz, for that time) sounds. At times like this, it makes me want Disney to collaborate with great pop artists of now and create a package film of really awesome shorts set to their songs. Can you imagine a film made up of animated shorts based on Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" or Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance"? It makes me all tingly just to think about it. Just an idea... 

The First Impression:

This is actually one of the films that I wasn't able to rustle up previously for my Disney Project. These are my first impressions of watching all of the film in one sitting!

The Art: 

5/10. Once again, there are some lovely effects animation in "Blue Bayou" and "Without You". Pieces like "Casey at the Bat" and "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" employ the same skill and technique that most of the shorts from that time do, if not as much of the charm. "Peter and the Wolf" fares better and has some truly outstanding moments like the instruments morphing into the characters at the top of the segment. "Two Silhouettes" bleeds artfulness into preciousness, despite some lovely moments.

But the three best segments artistically (and all around, actually) are "Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet", "All the Cats Join In", and "After You've Gone". "Johnny/Alice" is pretty traditional looking, but they took what could have been rather twee, anamorphic hats, and infused it with charm (Johnny's excitedness), emotion (Alice's tears) and cleverness (a palace made of hatboxes and baby bonnets as children). It's full of wonderful details and styling.

I'll have whatever they're having.

"Cats" and "After" are both artistically exciting because they look so new and fresh, which matched the modern music they were set to. They are filled with bold choices (solid backgrounds in "Cats" and the abstraction of "After") and concepts (the pencil filling in the scenes in "Cats" and the battling instruments in "After"). Both feel like they were pushing the form into new and exciting territory.

The Story:

4/10. Some of these shorts have no real story to speak of. Of those that do, I am most impressed by "Johnny/Alice", which made me feel a real emotional pull for two "inanimate" objects because "True love will coming smiling through" (awwwwww!) and "Peter", which is the definitive version of this tale as far as I am concerned, and is aided beautifully by Sterling (Winnie the Pooh and the Cheshire Cat) Holloway's narration. It never ceases to amaze me how his voice can be so distinctive and yet so versatile at the same time. How much of my affection can be attributed to the fact that I grew up with this cartoon is unclear, but I think that it is a very effective telling of a familiar story that adds the right amount of Disney touches while staying true to the intentions of the musical piece and tale.

I. Hate. Clowns. Terrifying...

I'm not a fan of the "Casey" poem and this film did little to sway me. Maybe it's because I'm not into sports, but a story about a full of himself athlete who has a breakdown because he fails once? I was bored by that sentence alone after the word athlete, though Disney did fill it chock full of sight gags like the weird finger braid. And I am not as impressed as many seem to be with "Whale". Spoiler Alert! The ending is a real downer. We're supposed to feel better about Willie getting murdered because he sells out a concert in heaven? Bogus. Plus, it feels very pretentious and indsider-y. If you're an opera buff, which I admittedly am not, maybe it has more of an impact.  

The Characters:

That's right. They deserve
their own poster.

5/10. Johnny and Alice are fantastic creations. They found a way to keep them looking completely like hats and yet feel human enough to elicit an emotional impact from there separation and reunion. It feels similar in spirit to "The Little House", which is another one of my favorite Disney shorts of all time. 

The teens in "Cats" are all distinctively drawn and have personality enough for the purposes of the film. The same with "Casey", where all of the players are broadly drawn and all have very distinct, though less amiable, personalities. Casey himself is terribly unlikable, which is a hurdle for a title character to scale to make us get involved in a story. Casey does not scale that hurdle. "Peter" has lovely characters. It's hard not to feel truly heartbroken when it is assumed that Sonya has died. Each character is beautifully interpreted.

Willie the whale is a bit more problematic for me. He's sweet and animated very well, but I never really feel drawn to him as a character. There's just something missing. Maybe it comes back to that opera thing. All he does is sing opera. OK. So then what? He feels like more of a gimmick than a character and he kind of was, since the whole short seems set up to showcase how versatile the performer doing all the voices is. Instead of focusing on dimensional characterizations, they focused on what vocals tricks of Nelson Eddy's they could sneak in. Plus those three creepy uvulas don't do Willie any favors. And Willie singing "Mama's lil' baby loves shawtnin' bread" is a bit off-putting nowadays, but is a product of the times. I'm glad they didn't censor it, but it does feel a little ice, regardless of the fact the song was a big hit for Eddy at the time.

The Music:

This poster's a bit better. Very, uh, yellow.

5/10. Like everything else, this is a grab bag. The songs range from snoozers ("Blue", "Without", "Silhouettes"), to classics ("Peter" and pieces of "Whale"), to story songs ("Johnny/Alice", "Casey"), to jazz ("Cats", "After"). The upside is that if you don't much like what you hear, something you'll dig is most likely around the corner. The downside is that there is no continuity. And they didn't really cover enough musical ground to fulfill the concept of each one being something from a different genre. Too many are too similar. They were able to score some big time vocalists (Nelson Eddy and Dinah Shore) and musicians (Benny Goodman) that would have lent more star power back in the day than they do now. Above all others, I will say that I'm the most stoked by the inclusion of The Andrews Sisters on "Johnny/Alice". That musical style, with it's tight harmonies, is easily one of my favorites. 

The Gay Scale:

Just a little off the back, please and thank you.

4/10. Eh. There is very little that is terribly gay here, and it's really reaching to really read gay into that little bit. There's the pretentious artsiness of the ballet ("Silhouettes" gives us a very literal reading of the term "Twinkle toes") and opera elements. There's the tiniest bit of man candy in "Casey", and the title character does some fancy prancing and pinky extension. "Cats" has a cheekiness to it that feels a bit queer, with its back nudity and sock-hopping. Plus what gay wouldn't love to take a pencil and just erase the extra pudge off of some part of their body? There's some talk about hearts being gay in "Johnny/Alice", as well as a vampy pink hat that comes onto Johnny. Plus it's an entire short based on accessories! See. I told you it was stretching. I'll do my best to find at least a little bit o' gay in every film, but Make Mine Music is one of the least queer Disney films in the canon.

The Bottom Line:

This seems much dirtier than it actually is.
Right? Right?!?!?!

5/10. This movie landed with a disappointing thud in our apartment. My roommate wandered off somewhere in the middle to take a shower and my husband was in and out of it while noodling about on his iPad. Honestly, I can't blame either of them. Though none of these segments are offensively bad or embarrassing, they all fall so short of expectations. You hope that an animated feature is something greater than a series of shorts strung together. Some of the package films have been something greater by the sheer force of their ambition (Fantasia) or their weirdness (The Three Caballeros). This falls into the group, with Saludos Amigos, of package films that just sits in the corner, twiddling it's thumbs, and not really contributing much. 

The Miscellanea:

The DVD release of Make Mine Music is actually missing one of its original segments called "The Martins and the Coys". It was apparently taken out because of the gunplay. Now, I've made it pretty apparent how I feel about censorship by now. I'm not a fan at all. As Sister Mary Ignatius would say, "You make me want to blah." That being said, the cartoon violence in this short is so tame (no more explicit than your typical Elmer Fudd cartoon), I can't help but feel like there had to be something else at play here. Were they afraid of offending hillbillies? Southerners? NRA members? Now, don't get me wrong, this segment isn't exactly a masterpiece. It's a mildly funny story with a country/folk twang, which is otherwise missing from this patchwork quilt of musical types. There is no real reason for this to be withheld from video releases. It just seems another symptom of the disease that has plucked poor Sunflower from Fantasia and won't let us see Song of the South. And that's a bummer.

So how did you feel about Make Mine Music? Are you more smitten with these package films than I have been? Did I slight your favorite segment? Did you stay awake through the whole thing? Let me know! To make up for the fact that I made you wait so long for our DATE Night, our next one will be tomorrow! We'll crack into Fun and Fancy Free. Sounds more promising already. I mean it does have the word "fancy" in the title, after all!

DATE Night: Dumbo

It's already our fourth DATE Night! Things are coming along swimmingly dontcha think? I think this may even turn into something long-term. Don't tell Tom, though. He gets jealous since he's wearing my ring and all. This time around I'm taking you to the circus for Dumbo. 

The Background:

Artwork from the original Roll-A-Book.

Pinocchio and Fantasia were mad expensive and took a very long time to make, y'all! Gorgeous as they may have been, those big gambles did not exactly pay off the way it had been hoped that they would. The studio needed a project to follow them up that they could make quickly and inexpensively. They found their solution in the slight story of Dumbo the flying elephant that had been created as a Roll-A-Book, which was a scrolling toy/book hybrid. They expanded the story into a full-length feature, though at just over an hour, it is one of their shortest.

Simplicity was the name of the game. They worked quickly and economically and after less than a year they had the final product- Dumbo. It was released in late 1941 and was warmly received by critics, who saw the film as a return to form for Disney. The film was the most financially successful release of the forties from the studio, aided, no doubt, by the fact that it cost half as much as Snow White had cost them to produce. It weathered an animator's strike and being famously knocked off the cover of Time Magazine by the attack on Pearl Harbor to become one of the most beloved of the Disney animated classics. 

The First Impression:

The Disney Project- Part 11: Dumbo. (Just came in at the library) Dumbo is precious. You can't help but love him and his mom and Timothy for protecting him. Though it almost feels more like a long short than a feature, it's quite sweet and nicely simple. "Baby Mine" is one of my favorite songs ever and so heartbreaking in context. And I want a sip of what made them see the pink elephants. What an amazing sequence!

February 6, 2010 at 7:23pm ·

The Art:

7/10. The art in Dumbo is a complete 180 from the style of their earlier films. It is less representational and more stylized, simpler and brighter. It almost feels like a feature film with the look of an exceptionally good short. That's not to say there aren't impressive effects or artistry, because there are. The watercolor backgrounds, the rain and cloud effects at the opening, the storm and lightning effects during the raising of the tents, and the stunning use of color throughout prove that this was crafted by skilled artists. Artwork this straightforward fits a story this uncomplicated.

I am terrified that they will eat me in my sleep.

Of course, no discussion of the art in Dumbo is complete without mentioning the "Pink Elephants on Parade" sequence. It is so incredibly far ahead of its time that I still don't think we've caught up with it. The hallucinogenic quality makes for an unforgettable experience that's unlike anything else Disney had ever done before or since, no matter how hard those Heffalumps and Woozles may try. This is truly groundbreaking artwork. It is ingenious and sophisticated and a complete contrast to the rest of the film. It is creepy and mesmerizing in equal parts and even cleverly pokes fun at Fantasia in the ballet portions.

The Story:

Those eyes...sigh...

7/10. Simple. Exactly as it should be. The slight premise was expanded just enough without over bloating it. It feels less episodic than Pinocchio, moving swiftly along as the idea of Dumbo learning to excel by embracing his differences, despite the discouragement of others, takes center stage. Each experience that our little friend goes through helps support that thesis without indulging in superfluous tangents. The only exception is the "Pink Elephants" section, but if they were going to go off the beaten path, I'm glad they did it in such a bold, visually impressive way. They knew they needed a showpiece to lighten the mood a bit, and they got it and how. The movement is lean and muscular, following a path so familiar that it is actually archetypical. No bells and whistles, just necessities. This kind of back to basics storytelling was a breath of fresh air after the experimentation of the last two films. It was much needed.

The Characters:

8/10. This is the area where the movie really shines. We see from go that the animals are going to have more human characteristics and the humans are going to be vaguely sketched in, which immediately gives us permission to empathize with the animals and see things from their point of view. The humans are cartoonishly evil (the ringmaster and the boys that taunt Dumbo), completely faceless voids (the roustabouts), or seen in silhouette. The animals are shown as more like humans and the humans are shown as more like animals.

Even the clowns are less like humans in the ring than an alien species biologically created solely for hijinks in the ring. It's rather creepy, in fact. By the way, I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but clowns terrify me to no end. Mama says that when we went to the circus museum when I was a little nubbin, I was so horrified that I spent the entire trip going from trash can to trash can peering in to avoid having to look at anything else. Therefore I find it rather amusing that clowns seem to be the lowest life form imaginable in this film. The worst punishment that could possibly dealt to Dumbo is that he be forced to be a clown. Sounds about right to me. Shudder.

Even one of the Real Housewives' plastic
 surgeons couldn't fix that.

The character of Dumbo is so amazingly animated, you just want to scoop him into your arms and love him forever. The fact that he doesn't utter a word for the entire film means that not only does he seem more child-like, but you feel more protective. Not to mention it means that the animator, Bill Tytla, had a massive task ahead of him. He had to animate the central character of the movie, who was a pantomime elephant, and make us fall head over heel in love with him. The result is some of the most lovely character animation ever put on celluloid. From his very first appearance, Dumbo's sweetness is palpable, with his teardrop-shaped, crystal blue eyes and eager and loving nature. When he sneezes and his ears pop out, you can't help but adore him. At every turn, from being forced to perform tricks in the circus tent to getting drunk, he is a curious little nugget whose openness and curiosity are an audience's window into the world of the story.

Don't mess with his mama, yo. She'll school you.

Your heart breaks for Mrs. Jumbo, Dumbo's mother, when she doesn't get her package from the stork at the top of the film. Then the lovely moments between Dumbo and his mother are so exceptionally touching they are truly able to establish a very real, loving relationship between them. When she takes those huge ears and swaddles him in them, you know that she is a mother who will love her son because of and not despite his flaws. You can feel the warmth. When they touch trunks, it has the truthful spark of a real mother/son connection. You adore the mother for protecting her son at any cost. When she lashes out against the children teasing Dumbo, she gets so upset that the blue eyes she and her son have in common turn red with anger. The devastation of her being locked up as punishment makes your heart sink. During "Baby Mine", when she cradles Dumbo in her trunk, a simple gesture becomes the ultimate expression of motherly love.

Contemplating where he left his pants.

Timothy is a great sidekick for Dumbo. He is the more gentle Jiminy Cricket to Dumbo's more relatable Pinocchio. He advises him, brings him out of his shell, and supports him unwaveringly. There is a great moment when Timothy uses one of Dumbo's tears to lather him the soap to clean him off as if to tell him to use his sadness to propel him forward and not hold him back. He was charmingly voiced by actor Edward Brophy, whose work in gangster pictures gave Timothy the sound of a mob boss with a heart of gold.

The other supporting animal characters are also distinctively animated and voiced. The moments showing the other baby animals with their mamas work like a charm. Disney has a knack for making little ones in the animal kingdom so squishy that you want to just eat them up. The goofy stork who delivers Dumbo is portrayed by Sterling Holloway, who would later voice Winnie the Pooh and the Chesire Cat. Verna Felton, whose voice is familiar as the Queen of Hearts and the Fairy Godmother, made the leader of the cruel elephant ladies icily horrifying.

The one on the right looks like he has
the glasses bird from the Tulgey Wood in
Alice in Wonderland sitting on him.

One other familiar voice is that of the head crow, named Jim Crow (yikes), who was performed by Cliff Edwards, who also provided the voice for Jiminy Cricket. All of the other crows are voiced by African-Americans. They are clever with their words, playful, and turn out to be Dumbo's allies. This leads us to the sticky wicket of the crows and the accusation of racial stereotyping. I will say that I winced a bit, but I don't see them as any more or less offensive than Sunflower from Fantasia or Song of the South. I find it interesting what Disney censors and what they don't. Once again, I think it's important to keep characters like this intact. They tell us about our history and are opportunities to open up conversations about the portrayal of minorities in film. And that's something that is still a hot topic. 

The Music:

6/10. The score, by Frank Churchill, who also wrote effectively for Snow White, does wonderful work again here, winning the Oscar for best score. It does a fantastic job of evoking the circus atmosphere and guiding your emotional journey through the movie. It also wonderfully underscores the action in wordless scenes, like the first moments of bonding between Mrs. Jumbo and Dumbo.

I love the chick beneath the "B"
who's terrified of getting crushed.
Nice touch, poster artist.

The songs are half fantastic and half fine. Churchill wrote them with lyricist Oliver Wallace. "Baby Mine" is one of the most perfect lullabies ever written. It is still covered often be artists like Bette Midler (I'll admit it made me cry during Beaches, too) and Alison Krauss. "Casey Junior" is a fantastic theme which represents the anthropomorphized circus train. "Pink Elephants on Parade" is a vaguely sinister, completely weird ditty appropriate for a liquor-induced vision. "When I See an Elephant Fly" is jazzy tune of disbelief that turns into a triumphant blare at the very end. The rest of the songs, though not bad at all, fail to stand out or stand up to these fantastic numbers.

The Gay Scale:

Pride Parade float or Disney
Attraction? You decide. 

8/10. You have a youngster who is born different than all the other little ones. He is protected fiercely by a loving mother. He is torn away from his mother and finds an unlikely ally in another outsider, who unwaveringly stays on his side, reminding him that the things that hold him back will ultimately carry him up. He is judged by cruel grown-ups, who call him a freak that only a mother could love. They literally turn their backs on him, referring to him as their "shame" and saying that they wouldn't "eat at the same bail of hay with him". Finally, after he learns that his differences are what make him special, he finds his faith in himself. From there, what made him different makes him a star, which is the ultimate revenge for an outsider.

Any outsider narrative is bound to have an effect on a gay audience, and Dumbo is just that in it's purest, simplest form. It resonates deeply. It is very easy to read the movie as the story of a newly out young gay person into this film. All of these experiences are ones that we all go through at some point in the coming out process. What I love about Dumbo is how beautifully it reinforces that being unlike others is valuable and desirable. It also shows friends and family who are willing to fight to support Dumbo as he discovers his true self.

Pink elephant in drag. Still terrifying.

During the "Pink Elephants" sequence, Tom said "Those pink elephants are obviously gay. Wait...Now they're cars. I guess that has nothing to do with sexual orientation". He has a point. It really doesn't. But at the same time there is something indelibly queer about the sequence. It is over the top, proud of its freakiness, and pink as all get out. Oh. And they bellydance. Seems pretty gay to me.

The Bottom Line:

Best Dumbo Pin. EVER!

8/10. Dumbo is a movie that, though slight, is undoubtedly full of great characters and emotional impact. Add to that bright, colorful art, some fantastic songs, brisk pacing and humor in all the right places and you have a charmer without an ounce of fat on it. Just like Dumbo, who learned that what some considered a fault could be a major asset, Disney took a financial crunch and made it into an opportunity to focus on telling a simple story very well and creating outstanding characters. Instead of aiming for the clouds and falling short, it aims for your heart and hits a bullseye.

The Miscellanea:

Back in the early days of the Disney Channel, one of the flagship shows was Dumbo's Flying Circus. I have a vague recollection of the show and this theme song. Somehow it feels like I should be watching this with a big bowl of Fruit Loops in my lap while sitting way too close to the TV. Looking at it now, it amazes me what a different beast children's television programming is today. It also makes me appreciate how sophisticated Sesame Street always has been from day one and continues to be.

There was a sequel planned to Dumbo. A short trailer/making-of feature was on one of the DVD releases. The idea was abandoned and never came to be, and I must say I'm pretty happy with that decision. From the trailer it looks like it would have been another sequel by committee incorporating "important lessons that children should learn" and "characters designed to have specific characteristics that children can relate to". One day I'll give you an earful about how I feel about the direct-to-video sequels. Most of my opinions aren't terribly high. I'm grateful that Dumbo was spared this fate.

In Disneyland, they have a roaming Pearly Band, like the one that performs "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" with Mary Poppins. This is them performing "Pink Elephants on Parade". It is fully awesome.

It gets me all excited like because I am going to Disneyland with Tom in just two more weeks! Come to think of it, the last time that I went to Disneyland, also known as my first time, Tom and I went on Dumbo's Flying Elephants. I had never gone on it in my adult life. It always seemed like a long wait for a lame ride. Riding it in Disneyland was one of the coolest things we did that day. Just like the movie itself, sometimes the simplest things are the ones that will surprise you by being the most enjoyable. The sense of history riding the classic attraction and seeing all the little ones get so excited was magical. I can't wait to ride it again.

So, were you as charmed by Dumbo as I was or do you think that it's a little too lightweight? Do you miss the ambition of the past few films or did you appreciate that they dialed it back a little and simplified? Did you feel like you were tripping balls during the "Pink Elephants on Parade" section? Did you weep uncontrollably during "Baby Mine"? Come on, y'all. I know it's not just me!

I thought that next week maybe we could take a lovely walk in the forest with Bambi on our DATE Night. I'll pack the bug spray and if you come wearing cammo or bring a firearm with you, the date is officially canceled. Fair warning.