Disney Era Analysis – Make Mine Music
As mentioned in the first blog post in this series, I’ll be writing analysis content on all 60+ Disney animated feature films and their film making eras.
The second era is the Wartime Era, which ran from 1943 to 1949 and started with Saludos Amigos. As mentioned in a previous blog post, the Wartime Era is also known as the “package era” as the films during this era were famous for consisting of multiple segments or short films with varying plots (or sometimes no plots at all) that were put together, as opposed to being a film focusing on or telling one concrete story. This era was also known for combining live action with animation. This era was also known for showing how World War II affected the Walt Disney Animation Studios.
So how well did Make Mine Music measure up to these famous features and was it the right film to mark the halfway point of the era?
Consisting of multiple segments or short films with varying plots (or sometimes no plots at all) that were put together:
Make Mine Music consisted of ten segments:
The Martins and the Coys:
A rustic ballad, this segment tells the story of a Hatfields and McCoy-style feud between two families, the Martins and the Coys, in the mountains. The feud reaches it peak when both families shoot each other to death, watching their only remaining respective relatives, Grace Martin and Henry Coy fall in love as they try to avenge their families, much to their respective family’s chagrin. The segments ends with Grace and Henry fighting as fiercely as their families used to.
Blue Bayou:
A tone poem, Blue Bayou tells the story of an egret couple looking for companionship in the loneliness of a marsh.
All the Cats Join In:
A jazz interlude, this segment has music played over the visuals being drawn by an artist’s pencil, as teens dance away to the music.
Without You:
A ballad, this segment pairs impressionistic images with a ballad about lost love.
Casey at the Bat:
A musical recitation, Casey at the Bat is a poem of the same name being recited about an arrogant baseball player whose cockiness was his undoing. This segment was the first to feature dialogue, albeit from an unseen narrator.
Two Silhouettes:
A ballade ballet, this segment features two rotoscoped live-action ballet dancers, David Lichine and Tania Riabouchinskaya, dancing in silhouette with animated backgrounds and characters, which included two cherubs.
Peter and the Wolf:
A fairytale with music, this segment is an animated version of the 1936 musical composition by Sergei Prokofiev. As it is an animated version of a musical, Sterling Holloway narrates the segment and starts by explaining that each character is represented by a corresponding instrument in the orchestra. Peter, by the string quartet, Sascha (a bird) by the flute, Sonia (a duck) by the oboe, Ivan (a cat) by the clarinet, Peter’s Grandpapa by the bassoon, the Hunters’ guns by the kettledrums, and the wolf by the horns and cymbals.
The segment tells the story of a Russian boy, Peter, trying to hunt a wolf in the forest with his friends: Sascha, Sonia, and Ivan.
After You’ve Gone:
This segment featured The Goodman Quartet and showcased six anthropomorphised musical instruments (piano, bass, snare, bass drums, cymbals and clarinet) who dance through a musical playground.
Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet:
A love story sung by the Andrews Sisters about two hats who fall in love during their stay in a department store window display. They are torn apart when Alice Bluebonnet is sold and Johnnie Fedora devotes himself to finding her again, even when he is sold, lost, and damaged. He eventually finds her again when they become hats for two horses at the end of an ice carriage.
The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met:
An opera, this segment is the bittersweet story about a whale, Willie, who has three uvulas each with a different voice range, who dreams about singing at the opera. We are led to believe that he becomes a successful singer after he eventually manages to impress impresario, Tetti-Tatti (after he tries to kill him).
A montage of Willie’s successful career under Tetti-Tatti’s management is played, however in reality, Tetti-Tatti managed to harpoon and kill Willie. However, the narrator explains that Willie managed to make his dream come true in Heaven, where he gained hundreds of voices. The segments ends with the Pearly Gates closing, with a ‘sold out’ sign on them as Willie sings.
Combining live action with animation:
The only segment that combined live action with animation, or came close to it, was Two Silhouettes, which had two ballet dancers rotoscoped into the segment and interacting with the animated backgrounds and characters.
Showing how World War II affected the Walt Disney Animation Studios:
Make Mine Music is the first Disney animated feature film to be released after the end of World War II and is the first film of the era to not be associated with South America and Disney’s goodwill tour. It also contains a segment with a Russian boy and setting (Peter and the Wolf), at the time and during the War, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies, the tensions that would lead to the Cold War and the Anti-Soviet sentiment in the United States wouldn’t take place for another year.
World War II led to Disney losing a large amount of its staff and lots of unfinished projects, mainly shorts that weren’t long enough to be classified as a feature length movie, so these shorts were put together to make them a feature length movie.
My overall thoughts:
I honestly quite enjoyed Make Mine Music as it wasn’t a film that came out of the goodwill tour or meant to be “subtle propaganda” like the two previous films, Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. The two previous films at times felt like a chore to sit through but this one didn’t. Because of this alone, I feel it is the right film to mark the halfway point of the Wartime Era.
I also appreciated that the film was made to feel like a night at the theatre with it beginning outside of a theatre, being led in, being given a playbill of sorts and stage curtains opening, and ending with the curtains closing. I also appreciated the wide variety of musical and film genres being highlighted, and the animation and visuals were stunning.
There were some difficulties for me when it came to being able to watch this film. This is the only Disney animated feature film that hasn’t been released on Disney Plus, so I had to buy it on Amazon (Disney Plus didn’t respond to my email asking why this was the case), and one of the segments, The Martins and the Coys was removed due to censorship, so I had to watch it on YouTube. If you’re interested in checking out Make Mine Music you can buy it here, and you can check out the removed The Martins and the Coys segment here.
The next part of the Disney Era Analysis series will focus on Fun and Fancy Free.
Fun Facts and Trivia:
- According to IMDb, The Martins and the Coys was removed from VHS and DVD release due to the comic gun-play, however it was shown in its entirety on TV years before its release.
- According to IMDb, various scenes from All the Cats Join In have been censored due to brief moments of nudity and focus on the feminine parts of the female teenagers, in particular, a moment where a naked (silhouetted) girl jumps out of the shower into her clothes.
- According to IMDb, All the Cats Join In is a depiction of 1940s teen culture and its association with popular music and dancing, a rare subject for a Disney film during this era.
References:
Loveday Writing 