Director: Charles Nichols Release Date: December 12, 1948 Stars: Mickey Mouse, Pluto, the little seal Rating: ★★★½ Review:
After visiting the seals at the zoo, Mickey accidentally brings a little seal home in his basket.
‘Mickey and the seal’ is the third cartoon to feature the little seal (the other two are ‘Pluto’s Playmate‘ from 1941 and ‘Rescue Dog‘ from 1947). And like the earlier entries featuring this cute animal, ‘Mickey and the Seal’ is charming, but not very funny.
Nevertheless, it contains a lovely scene of Mickey and the seal in bath, which is a prime example of great silent comedy. Its finale, too, arguably is the funniest of all postwar Mickey Mouse cartoons. The bath scene renders a shot of Mickey completely naked (except for his gloves).
Watch ‘Mickey and the Seal’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Mickey Mouse cartoon No. 121
To the previous Mickey Mouse cartoon: Mickey Down Under
To the next Mickey Mouse cartoon: R’coon Dawg
Director: Charles Nichols Release Date: March 19, 1948 Stars: Mickey Mouse, Pluto Rating: ★ Review:
‘Mickey Down Under’ features Mickey and Pluto in some Australian banana plantation.
Pluto has troubles with a boomerang, while Mickey encounters an ostrich. Even though the animation of Pluto is inspired, ‘Mickey Down Under’ is a boring cartoon, and one of the weakest entries in the Mickey Mouse series. Apart from the boomerang, the setting can hardly be called Australian. On the contrary, the cartoon depicts some flora and fauna not indigenous to Australia: toucans, bananas and ostriches. The title music is that of a Pluto cartoon.
Watch ‘Mickey Down Under’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Director: Charles Nichols Release Date: October 3, 1947 Stars: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto Rating: ★★★★★ Review:
For the first time in five years (actually, since ‘Symphony Hour’) Mickey receives considerable screen time in his own cartoon, even though he has to share it once again with his dog, Pluto.
In the opening scene ‘Mickey’s Delayed Date’ we watch Mickey snoring at home, when the phone rings. It’s Minnie: she has been waiting an hour for him to come at a date with her for a dance. As soon as she has threatened him on the phone to break up if he doesn’t show up within fifteen minutes, Mickey rushes to the dance hall. Unfortunately he loses the tickets, which are brought by Pluto just in time.
Much screen time of ‘Mickey’s Delayed Date’ is devoted to Pluto in a rather long scene with a humanized tall hat. Nevertheless, it’s nice to watch Mickey in fine comic shape again, although he is less flexible here than in Riley Thomson’s shorts of the early forties. This short contains a shot of an almost naked Mickey (even without gloves).
‘Mickey’s Delayed Date’ was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon directed by Pluto-director Charles Nichols. He would direct five of the eight post-war Mickey Mouse cartoons.
Watch ‘Mickey’s Delayed Date’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Mickey Mouse cartoon No. 119
To the previous Mickey Mouse cartoon: Squatter’s Rights
To the next Mickey Mouse cartoon: Mickey Down Under
Director: ? Release Date: May 27, 1948 Rating: ★★★½ Review:
The last sequence of ‘Melody Time‘ is framed by the sentimental ballad ‘Blue Shadows’, sung by country & western singer Roy Rogers and The Sons of the Pioneers.
After a while, we see them sitting in a cartoon-style prairie, accompanied by two children. The boy asks Rogers why the coyotes howl at the moon, which prompts him into telling the tall tale of Pecos Bill, his horse Widowmaker and his love interest Slue Foot Sue.
Although it only becomes funny after several minutes, the story itself is quite good, the highlight being the part where the cowboys sing of the mighty deeds of Pecos Bill, who singlehanded creates the Gulf of Mexico, the Rio Grande, the gold in the hills and the painted desert.
Unfortunately the cartoon is rather slow-paced and accompanied by mostly dull country & western music, preventing it of becoming a real classic. Disney would tell other tall tales from American folklore, in ‘Paul Bunyan‘ (1958) and ‘The Saga of Windwagon Smith‘ (1961).
Watch ‘Pecos Bill’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Director: ? Release Date: May 27, 1948 Stars: Donald Duck, Joe Carioca, The Aracuan Bird Rating: ★★★★ Review:
Sung by Ethel Smith and the Dinning Sisters, ‘Blame it on the Samba’ looks like a lost sequence from ‘The Three Caballeros‘ (1944)
The short, the sixth segment from ‘Melody Time‘, reunites Donald Duck, Joe Carioca and the Aracuan bird. The latter serves as the cartoon’s surreal character, who can cross the three dimensions, not unlike the Do-Do in ‘Porky in Wacky Land’ (1938). It’s this feature that makes ‘Blame It On The Samba’ so enjoyable.
Again, the Mary Blair-inspired backgrounds are highly stylized, even almost abstract, and extremely colorful. It also features some live action footage of Ethel Smith dancing and playing the organ and a pair of conga’s. Unfortunately, the music seems to be more about samba than being it, and it never becomes really hot.
However, this religious poem about trees is easily the least interesting example of its kind, despite its rather beautiful images of trees and wildlife. Neither the music nor the poem (with its moral “only God can create a tree”) is remotely interesting, rendering this short sequence dull and forgettable.
Watch ‘Trees’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Director: ? Release Date: May 27, 1948 Rating: ★★ Review:
The fourth segment of ‘Melody Time‘ is based on a children’s book by former Disney animator Hardie Gramatky
In ‘Little Toot’ the Andrews Sisters sing the story of the humanized tugboat Little Toot who’s expelled first, but who becomes a hero by saving an ocean liner from a terrible storm. This storm, which contains some very spectacular animation of water, is the most interesting part of this otherwise dull and sugary story.
‘Little Toot’ is very similar to ‘Pedro the airplane’ sequence from ‘Saludos Amigos‘ (1942), but much less successful.
Watch ‘Little Toot’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Director: ? Release Date: May 27, 1948 Rating: ★ Review:
The third segment of ‘Melody Time‘ tells about American folk legendary hero John Chapman (1774-1845), a.k.a. Johnny Appleseed.
In the legendary version he’s a apple tree planting youth, who’s visited by a guardian angel, who resembles a mustached pioneer and who tells him to go west. Somewhere in the west Johnny finds a spot where he plants his apple trees, befriends the local animals and facilitates the coming of more pioneers. At the end of the cartoon we watch an aged Johnny Appleseed die and following his guardian angel once more to plant apple trees in heaven.
However appealing this cartoon may be to Americans, its slow and annoyingly religious story probably fails to impress the rest of the world. Johnny Appleseed is one of the most boring characters Disney ever put to screen. His animator Milt Kahl, quoted in John Canemaker’s book ‘Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men & the Art of Animation’, sums up the character’s flaws perfectly:
“There’s nothing harder to do in animation than nothing. Appleseed was such a mild character. He never got mad. He was never elated about anything. Everything was kind of in the middle. He was a weak character. Insipid.”
The only interesting features of this feature sequence are its extraordinarily beautiful backgrounds, which are based on designs by Mary Blair, who used bright and unusual colors and designs.
Watch ‘The Legend of Johnny Appleseed’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Director: ? Release Date: May 27, 1948 Rating: ★★★★ Review:
Freddy Martin and his orchestra play their jazzy variation of Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ in this second segment from ‘Melody Time‘.
This music is accompanied by images of a little bumblebee fleeing from all kinds of things, in their designs loosely based on piano keys and music notes. The setting is semi-abstract and resembles the ‘After You’ve Gone’-sequence of ‘Make Mine Music’ (1946) a lot.
‘Bumble Boogie’ is far more colorful, however, with bright colors sometimes changing within semi-seconds. At one point, the little bumblebee is even rendered only in lines, anticipating the graphic style of the fifties, and of UPA in particular.
Watch ‘Bumble Boogie’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Director: ? Release Date: May 27, 1948 Rating: ★★★★★ Review:
Once Upon a Winter Time’ is the first and easily the best sequence from ‘Melody Time‘.
In this film, sung by Frances Langford, we follow a young romantic couple on a sleigh ride. They go skating and are joined by an equally romantic couple of rabbits. After a short break-up the two females are caught in drifting ice and heading for a waterfall. Surprisingly, they are rescued by the couple’s two horses, who get help from a pair of birds and a pair of squirrels. They return the ladies in distress to their male counterparts, restoring love.
This sweet story is particularly interesting for its highly stylized backgrounds based on designs by Mary Blair and featuring unnatural colors, like a yellow sky. The story looks back to ‘On Ice‘ (1935) and even ‘The Ugly Duckling‘ (1931), which both feature a rescue from a waterfall, too.
Watch ‘Once upon a Wintertime’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske Release Date: May 27, 1948 Stars: Donald Duck, Joe Carioca, The Aracuan Bird Rating: ★★ Review:
Melody Time’ is a compilation film in the same vein as ‘Make Mine Music’ (1946).
It consists of seven unrelated episodes, connected by a voice over and an animated brush. The songs of these sequences are sung by popular artists, who, except for the Andrews Sisters and Roy Rogers, are all but forgotten today. Even more obviously than in ‘Make Mine Music’, these songs are clearly designed for the cartoons, instead of the other way round, like in ‘Fantasia’ (1940). In any sense ‘Melody Time’ is a far cry from that latter film, and the most interesting feature of this film is not the animation, but the film’s beautifully stylized backgrounds, especially in ‘Once upon a Wintertime‘ and ‘The Legend of Johnny Appleseed‘.
The sequences themselves are mediocre, often slow and only moderately funny at best. Luckily, Disney would soon return to real features, for ‘Melody Time’ shows that the studio’s compilation features had outstayed their welcome.
Melody Time consists of the following episodes, which I will discuss in more detail, elsewhere:
Director: Chuck Jones Release Date: April 10, 1948 Stars: Bugs Bunny, The Crusher Rating: ★★★½ Review:
When Bugs jeers at the champion of a boxing game, he’s suddenly ‘invited’ to be in it.
The boxing game soon changes into a wrestling match with blackout gags, in which we only see round 37, 49, 73, 98 and 110. These blackout gags foreshadow the complete Road Runner series. In the last one the champ uses a train in order to ride over Bugs, but then the film abruptly breaks, a revival of a gag Jones used in ‘My Favorite Duck‘ (1942).
‘Rabbit Punch’ is one of the earliest cartoons in what we can call Chuck Jones’ mature style, which consolidated in 1949. Like in his earlier Bugs Bunny cartoons ‘Case of the Missing Hare‘ (1942) and ‘Hare Conditioned‘ (1945), Jones uses his sense of grace and deftness to portray a particularly large, human opponent to Bugs. And like in those cartoons he does that with stunning ‘camera angles’ and a cinematic approach. Bugs is pretty suave in this cartoon, acting out complete terror in the final scene, only to appear in full control, after all.
Watch ‘Rabbit Punch’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Director:Friz Freleng Release Date: June 12, 1948 Stars: Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam Rating: ★★★★★ ♕ Review:
Bugs Bunny dares to resist Yosemite Sam in this Western entry, which is both delightfully classic and totally absurd.
For example, when Yosemite Sam exclaims that ‘The town is not big enough for the two of us’, Bugs responds by building an enormous block of skyscrapers in a few seconds! Its finale, too, is hilarious. When Bugs tries to board an unwilling Sam on a train leaving town, they discover this train’s going to Miami and is full of dames in bathing suits. Then they both want to board it! Needless to say our hero wins the day.
‘Bugs Bunny Rides Again’ is a brilliantly hilarious cartoon full of great and flexible animation, and undoubtedly one of Bugs Bunny’s finest entries. The short reuses some footage of a dancing Bugs from ‘Stage Door Cartoon‘ (1944).
Watch ‘Bugs Bunny Rides Again’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Director: Charles Nichols Release Date: April 30, 1948 Stars: Pluto Rating: ★ Review:
While looking for some bones he has buried, Pluto encounters a gopher who makes him sneeze, using mimosa ,all through this boring picture.
‘Bone Bandit’ is one of Pluto’s most forgettable entries, even though Pluto does not become friends with a little animal for once.
Pluto would encounter another gopher in ‘Pluto and the Gopher‘ (1950), which is only marginally better. Gophers apparently just aren’t funny, a fact also proven by ‘Donald’s Garden‘ (1942) and the Woody Woodpecker cartoon ‘Wicket Wacky‘ (1951).
Watch ‘Bone Bandit’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Pluto cartoon No. 24
To the previous Pluto cartoon: Pluto’s Blue Note
To the next Pluto cartoon: Pluto’s Purchase
In ‘Pluto’s Blue Note’ Pluto tries to sing along with some birds, a bee and a grasshopper, but to no avail.
When he discovers that he can use his tail as a needle to play records with, he uses these not only to impress these animals, but also five female dogs, who fall for ‘his’ crooning, Frank Sinatra-like voice. In this short Pluto performs a very silly dance, which is only topped in outrageous animation by his facial expressions while play-backing the crooning voice.
‘Pluto’s Blue Note’ certainly is one of the more inspired Pluto cartoons of the late forties, and its story a welcome deviation from the Pluto-befriends-a-little-animal formula.
Watch ‘Pluto’s Blue Note’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Pluto cartoon No. 23
To the previous Pluto cartoon: Mail Dog
To the next Pluto cartoon: Bone Bandit
‘Mail Dog’ is another arctic short featuring Pluto (see ‘Rescue Dog‘ from eight months earlier).
This time Pluto is a mail dog in Alaska. While delivering the mail he encounters a totem pole and a chilly rabbit. When he chases it, he accidentally delivers the mail in time, too.
This short follows the typical Pluto story, where Pluto befriends a little animal he dislikes at first. Unfortunately, there’s absolutely nothing special about this particular entry, making it one of Pluto’s most forgettable cartoons.
Watch ‘Mail Dog’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Pluto cartoon No. 22
To the previous Pluto cartoon: Rescue Dog
To the next Pluto cartoon: Pluto’s Blue Note
Director: Charles Nichols Release Date: March 21, 1947 Stars: Pluto Rating: ★★ Review:
Pluto somehow is a rescue dog in the arctic, where he encounters the little seal from ‘Pluto’s Playmate‘ (1941).
In a story all too similar to this earlier entry, Pluto tries to get rid of it, but when the seal rescues him from almost drowning, they become friends.
This is one of the more forgettable Pluto shorts in which Pluto befriends a little animal. Its story is told quite slowly. However, it contains some broad and funny animation of Pluto. The seal would return the following year in ‘Mickey and the Seal‘.
Watch ‘Rescue Dog’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Pluto cartoon No. 21
To the previous Pluto cartoon: Pluto’s Housewarming
To the next Pluto cartoon: Mail Dog
Directors: Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske & Bill Roberts Release Date: September 27, 1947 Stars: Jiminy Cricket, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Edgar Bergen, Luana Patton Rating: ★★★★ Review:
Fun and Fancy Free’ was the fourth of six package features Disney released in the 1940s.
It consists of two unrelated stories, which were both originally conceived as feature films in 1940/1941. The two stories, ‘Bongo’ and ‘Mickey and the Beanstalk’ are loosely linked by Jiminy Cricket, who sings the happy-go-lucky theme song.
He plays a record to a sad doll and a gloomy bear which features Dinah Shore telling the story of Bongo in rhyme and song. This cute, if unassuming and forgettable little film (after a story by Sinclair Lewis) tells about Bongo the circus bear, who breaks free from the circus, falls in love with a cute female bear called Lulubelle, and combats a large brutal bear called Lumpjack.
Immediately after this story has ended, we follow Jiminy Cricket to a live action setting: a private party with a little girl (Luana Patton), Edgar Bergen and his two ventriloquist sidekicks, the cynical Charlie and the dumb, but gentle Mortimer.
Bergen tells a version of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, starring ‘famished farmers’ Mickey, Donald and Goofy in their last classic trio outing. This part had a long genesis, the early drafts of this film go back to 1940. Apparently Pinto Colvig had returned to the Disney studio, because Goofy has his voice back after having been silenced for eight years. Pinto Colvig would do Goofy’s voice in two subsequent shorts, ‘Foul Hunting‘ (1947) and ‘The Big Wash‘ (1948), before leaving again, leaving Goofy voiceless, once more. This sequence is also the last theatrical film in which Walt Disney does Mickey’s voice. Halfway the production Jimmy MacDonald took over.
This second episode of ‘Fun and Fancy Free’ is a delight, if a little bit slow. Its humor derives mostly from Charlie’s sarcastic interruptions. Nevertheless, the animation of the growing beanstalk and of Willie the giant is stunning.
Willie would be the last giant Mickey defeated, after having done with giants in ‘Giantland‘ (1933) and ‘Brave Little Tailor’ (1938). Unlike the other giants, Willie is an instantly likeable character, and he was revived as the ghost of Christmas Present in ‘Mickey’s Christmas Carol‘ (1983).
‘Fun and Fancy Free’ is a lighthearted film. Like Disney’s other package features, it is not too bad, but it is certainly not among the ranks of masterpieces.
Watch the opening scene of ‘Fun and Fancy Free’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera Release Date: August 30, 1947 Stars: Tom & Jerry, Mammy Two-Shoes ,Meathead Rating: ★★★★★ Review:
In ‘A Mouse in the House’ Mammy has two cats: Tom and Meathead. Unfortunately, they are both lazy as hell.
She tells them whoever catches the mouse (Jerry) is allowed to stay. This premise leads to a wild chase, simply packed with wonderful gags. The cartoon builds up brilliantly to a grand finale in which not only both cats are expelled, but Jerry, too.
‘A Mouse in the House’ is undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable Tom and Jerry cartoons. Hanna & Barbera must have thought so, too, because the premise of this cartoon was reused in ‘Pet Peeve’ (1954), featuring Spike instead of Meathead. However, the latter cartoon is no match for the perfect comedy of ‘A Mouse in the House’.
Watch ‘A Mouse in the House’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Directors:William Hanna & Joseph Barbera Release Date: July 12, 1947 Stars: Tom & Jerry Rating: ★★★★★ Review:
Tom is at the beach, trying to impress a sexy white kitten.
He’s disturbed by Jerry, who appears from the kitten’s picnic basket, and by a green crab, which looks surprisingly similar to the crab in the Mickey Mouse cartoon ‘Hawaiian Holiday’ (1937).
‘Salt Water Tabby’ was the first Tom and Jerry cartoon to feature oil backgrounds, several years after Disney and Warner Brothers made that transition. Nevertheless, this experiment was not to be continued, leaving ‘Salt Water Tabby’ the only Tom and Jerry to feature oil backgrounds for years.
Watch ‘Salt Water Tabby’ yourself and tell me what you think:
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After visiting the seals at the zoo, Mickey accidentally brings a little seal home in his basket.
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 