Film #153 - Melody Time (1948)
Melody Time is the next-to-the-last of Disney’s “package” films (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad would end the era). It has a larger number of individual stories than most and, being music-based, it has more in common with Fantasia than the other package films.
First up is “Once Upon a Wintertime”, a short, unmemorable story about two young lovers during Winter. The song is sung by Frances Langford and is as unmemorable as the story. While the animation is certainly nice, it lacks anything truly distinctive.
Next is a very Fantasia-like sequence called “Bumble Boogie”, following a bee as it gets caught in musical imagry that is, again, very similar to the more stylizd sequences in Fantasia. The peppy version of ‘Flight of the Bumblebee” that accompanies this sequence keeps things moving along.
“Johnny Appleseed” is one of the longer sequences in Melody Time, relating a fanciful version of the well-known story of Johnny Appleseed as he plants trees throughout America. The songs and voices are provided by Dennis Day and this is one of the stronger parts of the film. It was later separated from the film and released as a short of its own, as well as being included on later video compilations, such as Disney’s American Legends. The patriotic and somewhat religious tones are atypical for Disney fare, but it never grows overpowering.
“Little Toot” is one of my favorite parts of the film, not so much because of the story, but because it is sung by the Andrew Sisters, who I’ve always liked. The story is a simplistic children’s tale of a tug boat who learns a lesson about responsibility. It, also, was released as a short, but doesn’t stand on its own as well as “Johnny Appleseed”.
“Trees” is a rendition of the well-known poem that spans the four season. It is a lightweight, throwaway bit that could hardly have taken much time for Disney. Basically, it’s pleasant filler.
“Blame It on the Samba” is like a mini-sequel to Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros in that it features Donald Duck and José Carioca learning about the Samba and shares a lot of the stylistic choices of those two films. It certainly feels like a deleted sequence from Caballeros and would not have been at all out of place in that film. It is an entertaining piece, but not as strong as those in the earlier films, again playing to my suspicion that it was originally intended for one of them.
“Pecos Bill” is the last story and another of the longer sequences that make up Melody Time. It tells of the lengendary western hero with music and narration by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers. It is not a particularly good sequence. The animation is allright, but the story lacks zing and the lead character is unappealing. Disney tried to clean up his image a bit by removing all references to smoking (there were quite a few), but it helps little as he is still nothing but a big lug. The music by Rogers helps make up for some of the shortcomings, but aren’t enough to prevent Melody Time from closing on a down note.
These package films are always a mixed bag, with some sequences stronger than others. But Melody Time is particularly susceptible, due to the number of stories told. With seven sequences, it is second only to Make Mine Music. The package films tend to work best with either a continuous narrative holding things together (like The Three Cabelleros) or when there are just a couple of stories (like Ichabod and Mr. Toad). With such a wide variety of stories and musical styles, there is little to give cohesion to Melody Time. The better sequences stand well on their own, but gain nothing by their inclusion here. While the economics of the day meant that package films made financial sense, their obvious drawbacks make it clear why Disney would not use the method for over 25 years once they gave it up.