Melody Time
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Melody Time (first released on May 27, 1948) is an animated feature produced by Walt Disney and released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures. Made up of several sequences set to popular music and folk music, the film is, like Make Mine Music before it, the contemporary version of Fantasia, an ambitious film that proved to be a commercial disappointment upon its original theatrical release. Melody Time, while not meeting the artistic accomplishments of Fantasia, was a mildly successful film in its own right. It is the tenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon.
Film segments
This particular film has seven segments:
- Once Upon a Wintertime featured Frances Langford singing the title song about two romantic young lovers in December. The boy shows off for his girl, but soon things turn to the threat of a possible tragedy and a timely rescue. This short was also featured in a Disney Sing-Along video as a background movie for the song Jingle Bells.
- Bumble Boogie was a surrealistic nightmare for a solitary bee trying to escape from the visual display of a musical frenzy. The music is courtesy of Freddy Martin and his orchestra (with Jack Fina playing the piano) and is a swing-jazz variation of Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumble Bee, which was one of the many possibilities for inclusion in Fantasia, only to be scrapped.
- Johnny Appleseed was a retelling of the story of John Chapman, who spent most of his life roaming America and planting apple trees, thus earning his famous nickname. Radio star Dennis Day provides all the voices.
- Little Toot was a retelling of the poem by Hardie Gramatky, in which the title protagonist, a small tugboat, wanted to be just like his father but can't seem to stay out of trouble. The Andrews Sisters provide the vocals.
- Trees was a reciting of the famous Alfred Joyce Kilmer poem by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians as the lyrical setting of the poem followed through the seasons.
- Blame It On the Samba had Donald Duck and José Carioca meeting with the Aracuan Bird who introduced them to the pleasures of the samba. The Dinning Sisters provide the vocals while Ethel Smith plays the organ.
- Pecos Bill was the finale about the famous hero from Texas, the biggest and best cowboy that ever lived, his horse Widowmaker, and the way he was brought back down to earth by a woman named Slue-Foot Sue. This retelling of the story is courtesy of Roy Rogers, Bob Nolan, and the Sons of the Pioneers to Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten. This segment was later edited on the film's NTSCvideo release (but not the PAL release) to remove all scenes of Bill smoking a cigarette. The entire scene with Bill rolling the smoke and lighting it with a lightning bolt was cut and all other shots of the offending cigarette hanging from his lips were digitally removed.
Titles in different languages
- Dutch: Melody Time
- Finnish: Säveltuokio
- French: Mélodie Cocktail (Le Temps d'Une Mélodie in French Canada)
- German: Musik, Tanz und Rhythmus (also known as Donald's Hit Parade)
- Italian: Lo Scrigno delle Sette Perle
- Portuguese: Melodias Fantásticas (Portugal); Tempo de Melodia (Brazil)
- Spanish: Tiempo de Melodiá (Spain); Ritmo y Melodia (Latin America)
- Swedish: Melody Time (also known as Vilde Bill bjuder på fest and as Jag spelar för dig)
Cast
- Roy Rogers - Himself; Narrator; Singer (Pecos Bill)
- Trigger, the Smartest Horse in the Movies - Himself
- Dennis Day - Narrator; Singer; Characters (Johnny Appleseed)
- The Andrews Sisters - Singers (Little Toot)
- Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians - Singers (Trees)
- Freddy Martin - Music composer (Bumble Boogie)
- Ethel Smith - Organist (Blame It On the Samba)
- Frances Langford - Singer (Once Upon a Wintertime)
- Buddy Clark - Singer; Narrator
- Bob Nolan - Himself; Singer; Narrator (Pecos Bill)
- Sons of the Pioneers - Themselves; Singers; Narrators (Pecos Bill)
- The Dinning Sisters - Singers (Blame It On the Samba)
- Bobby Driscoll - Himself (Pecos Bill)
- Luana Patten - Herself (Pecos Bill)
See also
External links
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