Anyone Can See A Throne Would Be Your Proper Place

After nearly a decade of the package films 1950’s Cinderella was a grand return to the three act narrative. This film is a nostalgic favorite of mine as I remember watching this film over and over again with my great grandmother. She spoke very little English, and after living in the US for over 60 years I think she understood more than she let on, but she always loved watching Cinderella with me. She loved how beautiful the film looked, and she was right. This film is stunning.

Our story begins in a storybook prologue where we learn that Cinderella’s father married Lady Tremaine but passes away shortly after. Being a cruel woman and jealous of Cinderella’s beauty, Tremaine forces our titular heroine to a life of servitude to her and her 2 daughters. Cinderella herself is often criticized as being another damsel in distress but I always admire her strength given the situation that she’s in. She’s tenacious, she’s sarcastic, and she should get a lot more credit than she gets. As I stated in my write up of Snow White, I see Cinderella being another product of her times, the 50’s. This is probably what a young, strong, and independent woman was back that, and I think it still holds up.

Helping Cinderella along are the animals that inhabit the manor led by Jaq and Gus the mice. As lovable as these characters are, Gus especially providing a lot of great laughs, this is where the film falters a bit. When Cinderella is feeding the chickens in the yard she gives a few extra pieces of feed to the mice and they scramble to get their share. This scene runs a little long when I’d rather be spending more time with Cinderella and her step sisters. But it’s all forgiven when they help Cinderella make a dress for the upcoming royal ball from a vintage gown that once belonged to her mother and scraps from discarded clothing from the sister in the utterly entertaining The Work Song.

Keeping Cinderella in rags is one of my top Disney Villains, Lady Tremaine. She tries to destroy Cinderella with just and icy glare and a few choice words. She has so much power over Cinderella. My blood boils every time she is on screen. She’s just so nasty and petty for no reason other than being cursed with obnoxious, spoiled, and plain daughters. Balancing out Tremaine’s cruelty is the buffoonery of the wicked step sisters Anastasia and Drizella. During a fantastic scene, the girls are in the midst of a music lesson to Sing Sweet Nightingale, Anastasia is completely off key and Drizella is delightfully oblivious, hitting Anastasia with her flute any chance she gets. Downstairs, Cinderella is scrubbing the floor and singing along. I didn’t know until recently that Walt Disney pioneered the method of doubling up the vocal track so that Cinderella could harmonize with her image in the soap bubbles. I learn something new about that man every day.

Though thoroughly comedic the step sisters show some true rage in my favorite sequence in the film. Cinderella strikes a deal with Lady Tremaine that if she can complete her chores and finish fabricating her dress she can attend the ball. Tremaine manipulates her daughters into noticing that the dress is made up from old scraps and jewels they threw out and they proceeded to rip the dress into shreds. The opulent chateau becomes a void of crimson and black as the girls tear the dress apart. It is both striking and terrifying.  Lady Tremaine leaves the situation so smug. I get so angry, I could spit!

This is the only time that Cinderella feels she’s lost all hope and who could blame her. In her time of need her adorably absent minded Fairy Godmother comes to her aid. Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo has become as pseudonymous as a magic word as Abracadabra, and for good reason. The sequence is so magical that even Disney himself has claimed that the gown transformation was his favorite single piece of animation.

When Cinderella arrives at the ball I love how massive everything looks to her. The scale is fantastic, when she enters the castle, you can feel her trepidation as the long stairways and vaulted ceilings suck you in with her. She meets a handsome and under developed Prince Charming. The King and the Duke get more time to become full characters, the Prince, he just needs to stand there and look bored until Cinderella arrives. They dance, they fall in love, midnight comes and Cinderella has to flee leaving behind a glass slipper. The search is on for a maiden to fit it. An elementary school teacher once told me that this was in the time of the cobbler, so all shoes were custom. I guess that should debunk the whole idea that someone else could have fit the shoe… but I still don’t buy it. Surely at least one other woman could have put the shoe on. And why stop at one girl if the shoe fits? What if it wasn’t Cinderella?

Logistics aside, Lady Tremaine realizes the mystery girl is Cinderella and locks Cinderella up in her room before the Duke arrives for the fitting. The mice retrieve the key and as the duke is about to fit the slipper on Cinderella, Lady Tremaine trips the Duke’s Valet and the slipper shatters. Luckily our heroine was still in procession of the matching slipper and Lady Tremaine gives the best reaction of all time. Of. All. Time. I dare you not to love the zoom in on her face. 

Cinderella marries the Charming and the scullery maid becomes a princess. This post is already longer than I intended but it’s because I love the movie. Great visuals, great storytelling and one of Disney’s best baddies, it’s just wonderful. This movie has stood the test of time and can be enjoyed by all, from little boy to an 88 year old woman who claims not speak a word of English. Disney’s Cinderella, the sweetest story ever told.

If You Were Asked to Choose the Most Fabulous Character in English Literature, Who Would it Be?

In the last of the I-Didn’t-Know-This-Was-A-Movie package film series is 1949’s The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Based off Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows this is another feature that is more famous to my generation has being two separate cartoons as opposed to one film. The tale of the Headless Horseman seems to be the more famous of the two shorts. Most likely because it’s one of the few outright spooky and dark cartoons that Disney produced and it became a staple of Halloween viewing. For those of you who don’t know, I spent a decent chunk of my career as an Attractions Host in Disneyland’s Fantasyland and you’d be surprised how many times I would hear people wonder who Mr. Toad was when I operated his beloved attraction. Most people didn’t know he had a film (not to mention an entire work of literature written about him).

Setting the tone of the film is a disembodied narrator in a lush library. The Wind in the Willows is the first story we hear, narrated by Basil Rathbone. J. Thaddeus Toad Esq. is our lead character, a wealthy toad with a penchant for anything new and trendy, in this case Automobiles. He sells the deed to his mansion to a sleazy bartender named Winky in exchange for a stolen car. Toad is falsely accused of the car theft and the resulting trial is absolutely hilarious as it parodies the justice system. Toad’s horse Cyril is a scene stealer as he recaps the events. Speaking of the horse, one oddity in this short is the scale of the characters. Toad is the size of a toad, so Cyril, being a horse, towers over him. The world is inhabited by humans, so they are much larger than our animal cast. You’d think it’d look strange but the color pallet and general madcap style make it work. Anyway, Toad gets incarcerated and breaks out of prison. It’s up to his friends Ratty, Moley, and MacBadger to help get Toad Hall back from Winky and his band of Weasels. It’s obvious that this Mr. Toad was supposed to get a full feature as the story is a bit rushed. The frantic pace sort of works in its favor, but I would have liked it to be slowed down to learn more about the characters. Ratty and Moley seem like they’re good people and their relationship is adorable, but I could have used more time with them. A full 90 minute feature could have fixed that. 

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was always meant to be a short and it shows. The story is much tighter and flows much better. The tale of Ichabod Crane is narrated by Bing Crosby and what’s pretty cool is that it’s all done in song and pantomime, none of the character have any dialog. We mostly follow the daily life of the new schoolmaster as he takes advantage of most of the women in town. He may be lanky and pretty socially inept, but he’s quite the lady’s man. What struck me the most when viewing this was what a jerk Ichabod was. We normally see him has this frail victim, but he’s just not here. When he meets his eventual demise you don’t exactly feel sorry for him. Back to the plot, he falls for one of the riches women in town, Katrina, for her looks and her money. Local bully Brom Bones is jealous and regales superstitious Ichabod the legend of the Headless Horseman, riding the night woods at night looking for replacement heads. The legend comes true as Ichabod rides home and he comes face to face (?) with what is possibly one of the most scary villains in Disney history. His laugh still gives me chills. The mood set during the chase is great as the atmosphere is dark and heavy, but the action is more often funny and fast paced. In the end we don’t see if Ichabod survived as all that is found is his hat.

This is the final of the anthology films of the 40’s and as much fun it was to revisit this series of films the second Golden Age of Disney Feature Animation couldn’t come soon enough. The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr. Toad isn’t the strongest of the package films, but it’s not the worst by any measure. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is strong and the best version of the story I’ve seen but there is a want for a single narrative film. And that want is more than met in 1950 when a curtain scullery maid makes her entrance to the ball.

There’s Drama, There’s Excitement, There’s Harmony

1948’s Melody Time could have easily been the sequel to Make Mine Music. They follow the same format of animated shorts set to popular and modern music, 1940’s modern, some of the shorts leaning toward the abstract and some telling a straight story. This less-ambitious-than-Fantasia concert film format succeeded for Make Mine Music and it’ll succeed again for Melody Time.

A narrator sets up the sequences and the love story Once Upon a Wintertime kicks off the film. A really sweet Mary Blair styled short about 2 pairs of lovers, one pair human and the other rabbit, is a gentle little tale. But what is most memorable about it is the gorgeous art. Damn it, Mary Blair, why you so talented?

Bumble Boogie is great in all its abstractedness. Animated to a jazzy version of Flight of the Bumblebee, a little bee is just trying to escape the music. The surrealism could have easily been a part of the Pink Elephants scene in Dumbo, and the breakneck speed of the animation is only rivaled by the breakneck speed of the music. Fun fact: this was an abandoned scene from Fantasia and could have worked perfectly as juxtaposition against all the pomp and pageantry of the film.

The Legend of Johnny Appleseed tells the story of the titular hero roaming The United States planting apple trees, in song of course. Miss Blair hit it out of the park again with the art direction. There is so much great, poetic imagery. As the piece comes to a close and orchard of apple blossomed trees melds with the pink, dusk sky to lead an old aged Johnny to Heaven. It’s just breath taking.

Little Toot is sort of a letdown after all we saw coming before it. The story of a rascally little tug boat is cute and all, but that’s about it. The animation is your standard, albeit quality, Disney animation. If it wasn’t for the tight harmonies of the Andrews Sisters telling the story, Little Toot would be rather stale in comparison to this line up.

Thankfully Trees picks up the feature with a poem about the life of a tree. Sounds dull, but it moved me. The short is beautifully animated and gave me a lot of deep thoughts about how important trees are. To be fair, I might have been on my 3^rd glass of wine when watching.

Blame It on the Samba plays like a reject from the Good Neighbor movies but that doesn’t mean it’s not a lot of fun. Donald and Jose Carioca are mixed a samba cocktail by the Aracuan Bird. There is live action footage of an organist and she’s phenomenal! Her fingers move at lightning speed and there is actually minimal animation going on around her. She didn’t need it, the playing is that captivating.

Finishing up the film is Pecos Bill. It’s got fun music and animation but I can’t help but feel that if they wanted to end on American Folklore, they should have ended it with Johnny Appleseed. The wacky animation is fine, but Appleseed’s imagery has so much more atmosphere and story is way more powerful.

If I had to pick a favorite of the less-ambitious-than-Fantasia concert films, I think Make Mine Music has a little more going for it but Melody Time is definitely worth a watch.

Never Saw Such a Dismal Pair

Being the huge Disney fan that I am, I often get asked what my favorite Disney movie is. That’s like asking me to pick a favorite child. That is if I had children. It’s my Sophie’s Choice as I like so many of them for so many different reasons. On the other hand, if you were to ask me what my least favorite Disney movie was I now have a firm answer: 1947’s Fun and Fancy Free.

What’s strange about me not liking it is that this package film contains one of my favorite Mickey Mouse cartoons, Mickey and the Beanstalk. I get great nostalgic feels from this one, I remember it was always paired with Dumbo when it aired in syndication. It has some really great character moments with Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy, a fun villain in Willie the Giant, and tells a classic fairy tale. Telling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, Mickey and pals are on a quest to rescue the Magic Harp from Willie and restore happiness and the harvest to Happy Valley. The Harp falls under the underrated Disney beauties list, she’s gorgeous! But what I didn’t know was that in the feature film, this short is bookended by a really creepy birthday party for a little girl that only attended by Edgar Bergen and his ventriloquist dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. While I appreciate the snarky comments made by McCarthy, the whole endeavor becomes really odd. Does this little girl have no friends her age? Where are her parents? The live sequence last too long and all you want them to do is get to the damned cartoon.

Preceding Mickey and the Beanstalk Jiminy Cricket sets the stage for the story of Bongo, a circus bear who longs to live in the wild and gets his wish by breaking free while traveling on a train. He meets a female bear by the name of Lulubelle and they both form an attraction to each other but he also has to win her hand from a rival male, Lumpjaw. Lulubelle chooses Bongo by slapping him. Yes, slapping him. Square in the face. Bongo misinterprets this bit of violence because in the bear community a slap is how one shows affection. We are treated to a marathon length song about smacking the one you love. Lulubelle accidently slaps Lumpjaw and he takes her away as her own. After Bongo realizes the slap means I Love You, he challenges Lumpjaw. Spoiler Alert: Bongo wins and can finally slap Lulubelle. This is all lovingly narrated by Dinah Shore. Not only is this whole slapping thing really weird and disturbing, but the short as a whole is a little boring. I think my head scratching from all the slapping is what kept my interest.

This is one jumble of a mess of a movie. Mostly, the package films of the 40’s work pretty well, but Fun and Fancy Free really feels disjointed. The connecting threads don’t make sense and the first half is a total snooze. Glad I saw it, but I probably won’t be watching it again for quite a while.

Yes, Swing ‘Till the Rafters Ring

Even though Fantasia received an official sequel in Fantasia 2000, 1946’s Make Mine Music could be an appropriate sequel as well but with Popular Music being showcased instead of classical. The third package film of the 40’s, this one featured a lot of my childhood favorite shorts that I had no idea were part of a full length feature film. My generation of Disney Channel had very little original programming and consisted mostly of old Disney shorts spliced together to make various half hour programs. All the Cats Join In,  Peter and the Wolf, Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet, and The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met being some of my all-time favorite cartoons happen to originate from this film.

The similarities to Fantasia start from the beginning with the short Blue Bayou. In fact, the animation is recycled from a cut segment from Fantasia. It’s a beautiful opening with a stunning tracking shot in the middle of the piece. Sweeping shots like this never cease to amaze me in animation.

Next in the program is the fantastic All the Cats Join In. Done in the distinct style of Disney Animator Fred Moore, this short follows a set of teenagers living it up at a local dinner. Everything about it screams fun. From the swing music to the bright color palate, so much energy is comes out that you can’t help but want to party with this group of kids.

The short titled Without You is a great atmospheric piece about love lost. The perspective is of one staring out a window on a rainy day looking out to a weeping willow. It goes one to get pretty abstract before returning back to the starting point. There was so much mood and emotion that I actually got a bit choked up.

I’m sure we’ve all seen Casey at the Bat, and it’s just as hilarious as ever. Strange choice as I don’t see the connection to the music theme other then it being a recited poem? Other than that, I could watch Casey strike out over and over again.

Two Silhouettes features, oddly enough, two silhouetted live action ballet dancers performing against an animated backdrop. It’s kind of a stalling point in the film, it’s a bit dull but luckily pretty short.

The classical piece of Peter and the Wolf features some brilliant character animation. You can tell they had a lot of fun bringing these characters to life using only the instrument assigned to each one as their voice. Sonia the Duck has always been a favorite of mine, his low, lazy oboe perfectly fitting his carefree but oblivious personality.

After You’ve Gone is another short little interlude, but is a bit more fun while we watch the instruments featured in the song do their thing in a cartoon land.

If you ever wondered if you could buy a love story between two anthropomorphized hats, then look no further than Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet. Told through song by the tight harmonies of the legendary Andrews Sisters, this short has always had a little spot in my heart. I don’t know if it’s the beautiful tones of the Andrews Sisters or the fact that this story can only be told in an animated world but the moment I saw that department store window I was always glued to the screen.

The finale short is the tragic The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met. Without giving too much away, the story takes you to fantastic highs as we see the meteoric rise of Willie the Whale as he becomes an opera star, but takes us to a really low, dark place. There is still a happy ending, but not the happy you normally associate with Disney. It’s pretty sophisticated storytelling for a little short. Mention has to be made to Nelson Eddy who provides all the vocals.

As you could probably tell, this is definitely my favorite of the package films, probably due to a huge case of nostalgia since so many of these were already among my favorite Disney cartoons and seeing them all together is a treat. If you haven’t revisited these ones in a while, I high recommend giving the film a view. You’d be surprised that they work well separately as shorts but work harmoniously together as a film.

 

Three Happy Chappies, with Snappy Sarepes

Have you ever wanted to see Donald Duck try his best to get tail feathers ruffled for a good 2/3rds of a movie before? Well, 1944’s The Three Caballeros is the film for you. You heard me right, for a good portion of this movie Donald is chasing women around south of the border.

The Three Caballeros is probably a more known in title than Saludos Amigos, and I’m sure that more than a handful of people think of them as the same movie, but being films about Latin America is pretty much where the similarities end (besides sharing Donald Duck and Jose Carioca). Where Saludos Amigos showcases the continent of South America during a goodwill tour with the Disney Artist, The Three Caballeros follow the complex storyline of Donald Duck opening birthday presents sent to him his pals in Latin America.

The feature starts simple enough with 2 short films; The Cold-Blooded Penguin, a cute story of a Penguin named Pablo from Argentina looking for warmer weather and The Flying Guachito , where a little boy from Uruguay races his winged donkey named Burrito. Caballeros really kicks in when Jose Carioca burst onto the scene with a rousing samba number in the Brazilian state of Baia. As Jose talks about the coastal state his silhouette is bathed in this gorgeous, warm pink light and we dip our toes in the pond of Surreal Land. There is a fantastic part of the sequence where a 2 man dance becomes a cock fight and back again. It is a great example of what I love most about animation, it is art in motion.

Upon returning from Baia Panchito Pistoles, a rooster representing Mexico, is introduced and we are treated to the Mexican celebration of Las Posadas via still paintings by Mary Blair. It’s quiet, it’s beautiful, and it’s touching. Then from here on out Donald Duck is in full horn dog mode as he tours Mexico on a magic Sarape! There is some really great Animation/Live action mixing in the sequences where the Caballeros learn about regional Mexican dances, which is odd since I’m pretty sure that Baia was not mixed, but the live actors were acting in front of a screen with the animation projected on it. Donald Dances with Women Patzuaro, he dances with women in Veracruz, and then he chases SEVERAL women on what seems to be the beaches of Acapulco but is most obviously a soundstage in some angles.

Donald seemingly falls in love with a singer representing the stars of Mexico and our foot now firmly planted in the Surreal Ocean. Donald moves his affection to a strange dancing flower woman hybrid and then falls for a Mexican woman conducting dancing cacti with her rider’s crop. Jose and Panchito join in the finale in an explosion of color and firecrackers.

The character animation in this one is fast and loose, almost Looney Toonsian. It’s a whole lot of fun to see them go off the animated rails a little but the very little story in it is a bit too fragmented. Are we watching an educational travelogue? Are we watching a cast of zany characters running around south of the border? Are we watching Donald Duck sow his wild oats whilst on a break from Daisy? What we do get is some really great imagery and fantastic music.