Happy Monday! The weekend may be over but that just means that the next weekend is right around the corner, give or take a few days. This next film is another of my childhood favorites with some of my favorite segments. I highly recommend it for a weekend watch or even a weeknight watch. For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.
Update: In February 2022, I started a video version of the DFP on Tiktok. You can find the video below. Thoughts expressed in the video may be different than what are expressed in the blog post, due to the time difference in posting.
A Brief Summary
The second-to-last of the “package films” from the 1940’s, Melody Time is a musical compilation with 7 segments, both in live-action and animation. From ‘Bumble Boogie’ and ‘Johnny Appleseed’ to ‘Blame it on the Samba’ and ‘Pecos Bill’, this film features old friends, new characters, delightful music and some wonderful stories. Includes an ice-skating trip, a little tugboat and lots of coyotes.
What works
- As the second-to-last ‘package film’, Melody Time opens with a painting (similar to “The Whale Who Wants to Sing at the Met” short from Make Mine Music) and the opening credits are sheet music for each of the different segments.
- Like Fantasia, there is a little bit of introduction to each of the individual segments. It’s not as formal an introduction as in Fantasia, more an introduction of the singers and the title and possibly a little background information on the segment (esp. Bumble Boogie and Johnny Appleseed). Pecos Bill is the only live-action segment in this film, with its own introduction.
- The painted theater masks serve as the hosts for the film, with the male mask serving as the narrator of all segment introductions.
- Shorts in Melody Time:
- Once upon a Wintertime
- Frankly, I’m not the biggest fan of this particular segment (there are only two in this film that I don’t really like and this is the better of the two) but its story works, though with cringe/laugh-worthy moments.
- Essentially, the story boils down to a date that goes horribly wrong and then got fixed.
- the only words in this segment are the song lyrics but they don’t fully match the action on the screen. humorous but not in a good way
- a simple storyline, not much depth. The human couple goes skating with boy teaching the girl, the bunny couple goes skating as well
- the boys are trying to impress their girls, in the process making them upset
- I do like that there is a smaller conflict that leads up to the main conflict in this short. It raises the stakes and, for the guys, changes the whole adventure around.
- Bumble Boogie
- One of my favorites from this film.
- “a confused little character tries desperately to escape from the hectic harmony of an instrumental nightmare.”
- Normally (okay, most often) I like to know how someone or something got into the trouble that they’re in. But with this short, I don’t actually wonder. I don’t wonder about the past, where the bee come from, but I wonder/worry how he’s going to get out. That for me is a major plus.
- What works for this short is that not only is it attached to a great piece of music, but it is more of a visual/aural delight than a detailed story like ‘Johnny Appleseed’ or ‘Little Toot’. The story is
- Johnny Appleseed
- The format for this segment is a definite contender for the Hero Cycle so I decided to make the following chart. Enjoy!
- Joseph Campbell’s Hero Cycle – Disney’s Johnny Appleseed
- Ordinary World – Small farm in Pittsburgh
- Call to Adventure – pioneer song/wagons rolling by
- Refusal – turns away from the departing wagons,
- Meeting with the Mentor – meeting “Johnny’s Angel”, his guardian angel
- Crossing the Threshold – Johnny’s angel convincing him to take to the road with a metal pot hat, a bag of seeds (think Legolas’s quiver of arrows, I’m talking seeds for days!), and the Holy Bible
- Tests, Allies, Enemies – first planting of apples/proving himself a friend to animals everywhere
- Ordeal – Not so much of an ordeal scene is shown, just a montage of how through wind/rain/snow, Johnny kept on with his mission (technically this was shown after the Reward portion)
- Reward (Seizing the Sword) – Seeing the pioneers/Native Americans having an “Apple Party” with music and games.
- The Road Back – 40 years go by, visually show that through apple trees, ‘this little man threw his shadow across the land’
- Resurrection – Johnny’s angel returns to visit with Johnny, leaving Johnny’s ‘mortal husk’ behind
- Return with Elixir – There’s not really a scene to match this cycle point, unless the fact that the story comes full cycle, returning back to where it was at the beginning of the short.
- Joseph Campbell’s Hero Cycle – Disney’s Johnny Appleseed
- The format for this segment is a definite contender for the Hero Cycle so I decided to make the following chart. Enjoy!
- Little Toot
- This short, another of my favorites (also the instrumentals can be heard in Toontown at the Disneyland Resort!), reminds me of ‘Pedro’ from Saludos Amigos and ‘The Flying Gauchito’ from The Three Caballeros. Sung by the Andrews Sisters, they sing for all of the characters and it rhymes (I don’t know why that makes me happy inside, but it does) making for an adorable story.
- While not as detailed as ‘Johnny Appleseed’, ‘Little Toot’ still shows a basic variation of the Hero Cycle, though I would say that story fits more into two acts than three. No, I changed my mind. The first act ends with the cruise ship run aground, the second act ends with Little Toot pushed underwater by the waves after pulling the distressed ship from the rocks, and then the third act of him coming back to the harbor, ship in tow! Ah, I just love a happy ending!
- Trees
- See the following section
- Blame it on the Samba
- We get to revisit with some old friends (a la 4 movies ago): Donald Duck, Jose Carioca and my favorite bird, the Aracuan!!
- This is the first time that Donald really interacted with the Aracuan beyond just a handshake (and the Aracuan moving the train tracks) as in The Three Caballeros.
- Pecos Bill
- It does get the same voiced intro as all of the other shorts, but with this being a live-action segment as well as the longest and final segment of the film, there’s an extra bit of magic added to the short.
- The narration style reminds me of how Edger Bergen, Charlie, and Mortimer told the tale of ‘Mickey and the Beanstalk’. I’d actually say that ‘Pecos Bill’ sits right between the styles of ‘Bongo’ and ‘Mickey and the Beanstalk’. Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers sing/narrate the story like Dinah Shore, but with humor and live-action cuts like in ‘Mickey and the Beanstalk’.
- While both Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill were considered folk heroes, it was cool seeing the differences in the telling of their tales. Johnny’s was gentle, relaxed and home-like. Pecos Bill’s story was much more befitting the Wild Wild West. There were exciting adventures, heroic moments, the best friend and even a love story featuring Miss Slue Foot Sue.
- Once upon a Wintertime
What may or may not work
- Ah, the ‘Trees’ short, which is, unfortunately, my least favorite segment in this film..or in any Disney film thus far. Which is really sad, because the short is visually stunning, the music is lovely (albeit a bit slow) and the lyrics are taken directly from the poem by Joyce Kilmer. As a kid, I thought this short was the longest of all the shorts (it’s not) and as an adult, I realize how short it actually is (still surprised at how short it is). That being said, it feels out of place among the other segments, especially when the following short is almost its complete opposite in music, tone, and visual appeal.
Honorable Mentions
- Let it be known that guys did NOTHING in ‘Once upon a Wintertime’ to actually save their girls. They tried and got stuck in the snow, upside down no less. It was the horses, the birds and the squirrels that saved the day.
- Can I also mention the fact that Little Toot revealed his super-boat strength by the fact that he, while pushing the rudder, caused A GIANT OCEAN LINER to start spinning uncontrollably
- The “Apple Song’ from ‘Johnny Appleseed’ is a fabulous song if only because it’s all. about. food. Also totally inspired my dad to buy apples the day after we watched the first viewing of the movie for this project.
- The last line and vocals of ‘Trees’ is absolutely breathtaking. I’m not just saying that because it represents the end of the segment, but it is my favorite part of that segment.
- Have I mentioned how much I love the Aracuan? Well, I do, and this will
probablybe the last time I mention it because he won’t be making an appearance in any future films. - Roy Rogers and Trigger make an appearance with the western singing group, Sons of the Pioneers. Cool note: The Sons of the Pioneers still perform today! The current line-up is full of different musicians but the group still exists! (Did you really need to know that? Eh, probably not..but I thought it was cool, so there you go!)
- Luana Patton and Bobby Driscoll return for another appearance! This is Luana’s third film in a row and third with Disney overall. Bobby wasn’t in the previous film (Fun and Fancy Free) but he was in Song of the South and he will be in the next film, So Dear to my Heart.
Side Questions
- Did the guy ever teach his girl to ice skate?
- Why was Widowmaker so against Slue Foot Sue? Other than the fact that she was kind of full of herself…I mean, Widowmaker could totally have shared Pecos Bill with her.
- Why didn’t Pecos Bill try to catch her again? I mean, yeah, the rope didn’t work once, that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work again.
What I learned from watching this film
- When it comes to anthologies, short story collections, or package films like this one, it helps to have variety in the selection of pieces chosen. But the reason why ‘Trees’ didn’t work for me versus the slower segments in earlier films, is because it was all alone. It was a nature-based segment with gorgeous artwork, lovely music, talented singers and based on a well-known poem from a time gone by. But in Melody Time, it was the only one of its kind. There weren’t really any other similar pieces in the film to help balance the variety. It was almost as if ‘Trees’ was on one side of the spectrum with the remaining shorts closer to the other side. If the ‘Blue Bayou’ segment from Make Mine Music had been a part of this film, that might have helped to create a smoother balance. So, again, it helps to have variety but I will be looking much more carefully at pieces I create, especially if they are part of a series or collection, to make sure that it all works cohesively together.
If you’ve seen Melody Time, what did you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Rewind to the beginning of the Disney Film Project
Skip back to the previous film with Fun and Fancy Free
Fast Forward to the next film with So Dear to My Heart
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