Disney Era Analysis – Melody Time

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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 Melody Time measure up to these famous features?

Consisting of multiple segments or short films with varying plots (or sometimes no plots at all) that were put together:

Melody Time consisted of seven segments that have been described as “mini musicals”.

Once Upon a Wintertime:

This segment is all about two young lovers, Jenny and Joe, on a romantic skiing date on a snowy day in December, accompanied by a male and female rabbit, also on a romantic snow date. While their date initially goes well, when Joe tries to show off to Jenny and accidentally buries her in snow, she storms off. The female rabbit also follows, as she was also buried in snow by the male rabbit.

When the male rabbit follows, he discovers that the female rabbit and Jenny have walked past a sign warning them of thin ice. When he tries to get them to look at the sign, he takes the sign and plunges it into the ice, breaking it. This leads to the male bunny and other animals coming to the female bunny and Jenny’s rescue. Joe and Jenny ride away on their sleigh and bid the animals farewell.

Bumble Boogie:

This segment is an interpretation of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee orchestral interlude, by Freddy Martin and his orchestra. Rimsky-Korsakov’s interlude is intended to musically evoke the flying pattern of a bumblebee. In Bumble Boogie, this play out as a surreal battle that a bumblebee has in escaping musical instruments and notes attacking him. Freddy Martin’s interpretation of the interlude is a swing-jazz variation, and the animators have paired the music with surrealistic animation, and this segment was considered for Fantasia.

The Legend of Johnny Appleseed:

This segment is a retelling of the story of John Chapman, known for spending most of his life roaming through Ohio and Indiana during the pioneer days, planting apple trees and spreading Christianity, which is how he earned his famous nickname.

Little Toot:

This segment tells the story of a small tugboat of the same name, who aspires to be just like his father, Big Toot, but can’t stay out of trouble. His troublesome ways come to a head when he causes an ocean liner to spin out of control and crash into a city.

After being escorted out of the harbour’s limits as punishment, Little Toot spots a ship in distress and helps it safely arrive at the harbour by himself. This segment is based on the story of the same name by Hardie Gramatky.

Trees:

This segment is a recitation of the 1913 poem by Joyce Kilmer and provides a “poem, picture, and melody” as a simple tribute to trees. The music is performed by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians.

This segment’s tribute to trees focuses specifically on the changing seasons, an extended break between the sixth and seventh lines of the poem is provided to accommodate a storm scene.

Blame it on the Samba:

This segment features Donald Duck and Jose Cariocha meeting the Aracuan Bird (who previously appeared in The Three Caballeros) and learning about the pleasures of the samba. Ethel Smith appears as the organ player and this is the first segment to contain live action combined with animation.

Pecos Bill:

This segment also features live action and the appearance of Roy Rogers, Bob Nolan, and the Sons of Pioneers telling Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten the animated story of Pecos Bill, one of the best cowboys who ever lived. Bill is raised by coyotes and saves his horse, Widowmaker, from being eaten by coyotes.

Bill falls in love with cowgirl, Slue Foot Sue and they get married. Widowmaker is so jealous that he sabotages their wedding day, causing her to get stranded on the moon forever.

The segments are broken up with a paintbrush painting title cards across the screen, introducing them.

Combining live action with animation:

Live action is combined with animation in the final two segments: Blame it on the Samba and Pecos Bill.

Showing how World War II affected the Walt Disney Animation Studios:

Melody Time is considered to be the last anthology/package film made by Disney during and after World War II. Although it is not regarded as the last film of the Wartime Era, that would be the next film, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, although it’s not regarded as an anthology as it only featured two stories/segments (although Fun and Fancy Free only featured two stories, so this distinction is very odd).

My overall thoughts:

Overall, I enjoyed Melody Time mainly as I felt that the segments had a certain charm to them that I haven’t felt in the previous films of this era.

According to IMDb, while Melody Time was well received at the time of its release, one main criticism of the film was that “not all its segments are of equal quality and impact.” I agree with this sentiment as they do vary in length, and I personally found Once Upon a Wintertime and Little Toot particularly charming and light-hearted, whilst I felt that Bumble Boogie and Blame it on the Samba were better suited to Fantasia and The Three Caballeros respectively. Whilst I appreciated the charm and artistry of The Legend of Johnny Appleseed and Trees respectively, I did feel that these segments and their religious themes and undertones were out of place. I also felt that Pecos Bill was out of place, purely because its tone and setting didn’t blend well with the other segments.

Melody Time was also described as a “mixture of fantasy, abstraction, parable, music, colour, and movement”, I feel that this is the perfect description for the film.

The next part of the Disney Era Analysis series will focus on The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

Fun Facts and Trivia:

  • Pecos Bill has been censored heavily since its release, specifically the scenes with him smoking. It also contains racial stereotypes of native Americans.
  • The Legend of Johnny Appleseed is one of the rare Disney animated works based on a historical figure.
  • Pecos Bill is the longest segment at 22 minutes in duration.
  • Trees is unique in that it used frosted animation cells with the pastel images painted directly onto the cells. These were then laminated to protect the artwork, a process that had never been done before.
  • This film is known as “Melody Cocktail” in France.
  • This film wasn’t released on home video until 1998.
  • Trees is often overlooked or dismissed as boring, since it features no action or dialogue, and actually has no characters.
  • The Legend of Johnny Appleseed is one of the rare Disney animated works to feature religious content, although it is not the only segment in this film to have religious undertones, they are also present in Trees.

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