Voices of Jerry Colona, Nelson Eddy, Dinah Shore, and Andy Russell, among others
Directed by Jack Kinney and others
Music and Lyrics by various
This was the third of six anthologies of animated shorts Disney released during the 40's when they lost animators to World War II, then had financial difficulty. It's also the hardest to find complete today, thanks to some darker or dated content. How does this collection of extremely varied shorts look today? Let's start on the farm with a pair of feuding Ozark families and find out...
The Story: This being a "package" film, there's actually ten stories here, beginning with...
The Martins and Coys: Retelling of the infamous hillbilly feud and how two members of the families fell in love.
Blue Bayou: Originally intended for Fantasia with different music, this soothing piece has two egrets flying against a flowing, watery background.
All the Cats Join In: A teen girl prepares for a night at the local malt shop with her boyfriend, dancing the night away to Benny Goodman and His Orchestra.
Without You: Haunting ballad of a lost romance, set against a blue backdrop, sung by crooner Andy Russell.
Casey at the Bat: Jerry Colona sings and recites the famous poem about the cocky star batter for the Mudville Nine who doesn't do as well at the plate as his team had hoped.
Two Silhouettes: Ballet dancers David Lichine and Tania Rianbouchinskya are rotoscoped silhouettes gliding against a romantic backdrop as two little cupids frolic around them.
Peter and the Wolf: Retelling of the classical piece for children about a Russian boy and his animal friends who hunt for the title wild canine.
After You've Gone: Benny Goodman and His Orchestra are back, this time providing the music for a short but jazzy segment with line drawing instruments frolicking across a backdrop of musical notes.
Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet: Two hats fall in love in the window of a New York department store. He's devastated when she's sold and spends the next few years searching for her on various heads.
The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met: Real-life opera singer Nelson Eddy finishes things off with the tragic story of a sperm whale whose dreams of singing grand opera are dashed by a short-sighted and disbelieving impresario.
The Animation: Like the shorts, it's all over the map, from the dreamy, haunting watercolors of "Blue Bayou" to the cartoony "Peter and the Wolf," "Casey at the Bat," and "Johnny Fedora." The three ballads are downright gorgeous to look at, with their dreamy watercolors and the simple but elegant pastel lines on "Silhouettes." "Whale" even has some nice effects with Willie on the water, the fire where he's playing Mesophiles during the opera montage sequence, and when he's in heaven in the finale. Love the pen "drawing" the bouncy line artwork for "All the Cats," too.
The Song and Dance: By far the most varied of the package films, with stories ranging from dark comedy in "The Martins and the Coys" to romance in the ballad and ballet shorts to high tragedy in "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met." Kudos to Disney for trying some unusual material for them. "All the Cats" may be their first depiction of normal teens, "Johnny Fedora" is a charming and slightly bittersweet historical romance, and there's that sad finale in "Whale" and all the guns being slung around in "Martins and Coys." "Whale" is probably my favorite segment, with its unique story, followed by "Johnny Fedora" and "Two Silhouettes."
Favorite Number: "All the Cats Join In" and "After You've Gone" are bouncy, bubbly swing tunes, with Goodman and his musicians as bright and energetic as the teens bopping to "Cats." "Two Silhouettes" is a sweet ballad performed by Dinah Shore depicting two ballet dancers gliding against a soft, misty pastel backdrop. Sterling Holloway narrates the adorable "Peter and the Wolf," which even retains the traditional showing of which instrument performs which character. The Andrews Sisters sing the charming "Johnny Fedora" as Johnny searches for his Alice all over New York. Jerry Colona sings and recites the more comic "Casey at the Bat," with its goofy players and all the build-up to Casey's big miss.
The big one is "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met." Nelson Eddy uses Disney's experimenting with recording to let him sing all of the roles, from Willie's baritone to Tetti-Tatti's bass to the soprano who performs Isolde to his Tristan. His "Shortnin' Bread," Eddy's real-life theme on radio, is too fun, and the medley showing Willie's dream of Met success has a couple of great gags, including Willie nearly singing his Isolde off the stage!
Trivia: An extended version of "Blue Bayou" was originally planned as a segment for Fantasia to be scored to "Claire de Lune," but it was cut when Disney thought the movie was running too long. It exists in full and can be found included on The Fantasia Anthology set.
The only Disney Animated Canon film to not be on Disney Plus at press time.
What I Don't Like: First of all, I can sort of understand Disney's problems with this one nowadays. "Martins and Coys" is awfully violent for them, with its deaths, gun battles, and hillbilly stereotypes. That's probably why it's cut from the current video and DVD copies. Ironically, "Peter and the Wolf," the one segment that had a bittersweet ending in the original composition, doesn't retain it here - the duck is spared. (It's especially odd since they do retain the downer ending on "Casey at the Bat.") "Blue Bayou" and "Without You" are lovely to look at, but a bit dull to listen to, with their so-so ballads and meandering animation.
The Big Finale: While this is slightly better than Melody Time, they're still only recommended for major Disney fans or fans of this era of animation.
Home Media: DVD-only in the US, and in an edited version missing "Martins and the Coys" and some bits of "All the Cats." The Blu-Ray was released exclusively through the Disney Movie Club; it's expensive secondhand and was also edited. "Martins and the Coys" can currently be found on YouTube (with Spanish subtitles).
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