Disney Odyssey #8 – Make Mine Music (or, More Fantasia: The Sequel)

Monday night’s dinner consisted of grilled lemon pepper chicken, couscous with black beans and corn, and steamed veggies (onion, red pepper, zucchini, leek). The whole thing was a) too much food and b) completely insanely delicious. This week will be filled with leftovers – in the best way possible. We had aimed to do milkshakes for dessert but were absolutely too full to even entertain the thought of continuing with that plan, so we sat down and watched the next film in the Disney Odyssey, which was a roller coaster of sense-memory peaks and furrowed-brow valleys. Basically, I can’t wait till we get to the 1950s.

The Film:  Make Mine Music (1946)

The Facts:

• Many of the animators for Disney were drafted in WWII. There were so many unfinished ideas lying around the studio that a number of ‘package films’ were released, including this one, and the previous two, The Three Caballeros and Saludos Amigos.
• It received mixed to positive reviews initially, but it was submitted to the 1946 Cannes Film Festival.
• The first segment, “The Martins and the Coys” was later removed because of excessive violence.
• Popular radio voices and musical groups featured in the film include: King’s Men, Dinah Shore, Benny Goodman, Ken Darby singers, and the Andrews Sisters. Also, Sterling Holloway: King of Voice Acting.
• Segment two, “Blue Bayou” used to be backed by the famous Debussy piano piece, “Claire de Lune” and was originally intended for Fantasia. It was later replaced with the song “Blue Bayou” and included in this film instead.
• Outside of North America, this film is largely unavailable on DVD or VHS.
• Most of the segments in the film were later released theatrically as precursors to other films or included in television broadcasts, separate from the rest of the film’s segments.

The Observations:

• “The Martins and the Coys” – N/A
  • This segment initially started off the film but the copy we have did not include it. Womp womp.
• “Blue Bayou”
  • This is the animated story of nothing. That’s not true. It’s about a bird (later, two birds) flying through a bayou. Probably the Everglades. Nothing happens. There is no plot, just lovely scenery.
  • Let the record show that the Fella got up to get our Texas Toast out of the toaster oven and when he came back the egret/heron/crane/whatever was still in the exact same position.

  • 

  • You can totally tell this is leftover from Fantasia.
• “All The Cats Join In”
  • “Oh, a ‘jazz interlude,’ eh? Well, we’ll see about tha–BENNY GOODMAN? Oh HECK yes, this’ll be good.”
  • “Ohhhhhh,” says the Fella, remembering suddenly, “this is the sexy one!” I scrunched up my nose. “The what? I don’t remember this one being sexy. How sexy could it be?”

  • 

  • Boy, these crazy teenagers with their wild music and fast cars! They grow up so fast. Some things never ch– wait, did the pencil just make that girl’s butt and thighs smaller so that the boy would want to dance with her?!

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• “Without You”
  • Ahhh, a ballad of lost love, and…..oh, it’s over already. “Good,” snorts the Fella derisively.
  • “This is basically like if Fantasia were set to the newest Beyonce album,” I observe. “Yeah,” agrees the Fella, “Or ‘Timber.'” I pause. “You mean that Ke$ha song?” He nods sagely.
• “Casey at the Bat”
  • Based on the eponymous poem by Ernest Thayer, this is a memorable one for its zany portrayal of baseball players in the golden era of the 1910s…but unfortunately the famous poem is barely intelligible, performed by Jerry Colonna. I seriously could barely follow what was being said.
  • This is classic. The commedia here is brilliant. Everyone is drawn like they’re made of soft spaghetti noodles. Or rubber.
  • The men all have different facial features, facial hair, hair color, body types… and the women are all nearly the same but with different hats. Interesting.

  • 

    

• “Two Silhouettes”
  • oooOOOOooooh, rotoscoping!
  • Aw, hey, Fantasia cherubs! Nice to see you again.
  • Vocals provided by…. Dinah Shore
  • Oh hey, look, colors of the wind again!

  • 

• OMGOMGOMGOMG IT’S “PETER AND THE WOLF”
  • This is one of my favorite things of all time.
  • I watched it so much as a kid we broke the VHS.
  • I used to know it by heart.
  • This is the best.
  • AND it’s narrated by Sterling Holloway, who is the best ever.

  • 

    

  • “I swear to God, he had yellow eyes.” Name that cross-reference!
  • The sound the wolf makes is definitely not a wolf. It’s definitely like… a lion or tiger. Shere Khan maybe?
  • Aww, Angel Sonia has extra wings! “She’s a seraphim now,” says the Fella.

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  • The three hunters are classsssssic commedia zanni.
• “After You’re Gone”
  • more classic jazz!
  • musical instruments personified!

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  • Wait, are those finger-legs?
• “Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet”
  • I remember this one very distinctly! The Andrews Sisters sing it – how could you forget?
  • Oh, Disney – making hats and other inanimate objects romantic and emotional since 1946 (at least).

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  • Walt was super nostalgic for the 1910s, wasn’t he? It was his childhood, after all. Hence this, hence Main Street USA in the Disney parks. It all ties together.
  • Horse hats!!! Did people often make their horses wear hats back in the day?

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• “The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met”
  • This… is already weird. A Fantasia ghost? Colors of the wind? Chaos!
  • The whale looks like Monstro from Pinocchio!

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  • “Mammy’s little baby love short’nin bread.” Oh…. oh no. Why, Willy, why.
  • This is bizarre. He has three uvulas, and therefore three separate voices? That isn’t how anatomy works, even for giant whales.

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  • Oh NO. That was all a dream sequence! The Italian guy shot Willy! Poor Willy.
  • Why do all angels have green wings? Is that a thing??
  • What an unexpectedly sad ending for this movie.

Commedia Bonus: 22! This is approximate. Highest commedia concentration in Casey at the Bat and Peter and the Wolf.

Next time: Fun and Fancy Free!