Melody Time Discussion

[AwallaceUNC]

This, like Make Mine Music, is one that I saw as a small child and only remember parts of... not enough to make a fair assessment of it now. For what it's worth, I don't remember disliking it or particularly loving it.

-Aaron

[Luke]

In all honesty, I had to consult my review of this one to remember what shorts made up this one. Not the most memorable of collections, though indivdually, none of the cartoons really stands out as being poor. <i>Melody Time</i> is an old-fashioned film, dated by the singers and by the animation style. "Johnny Appleseed" is a highlight, but the rest, including the most substantial piece "Pecos Bill" must be pretty forgettable for me because I can't remember really liking them.

It's no <i>Make Mine Music</i> and certainly no <i>Fun and Fancy Free</i>; I'd probably rank <i>Melody Time</i> among the weaker anthology films, which puts it quite near the bottom of the canon of animated classics. That's not to dismiss the film; there's a certain charm, and it's a bit of a shame that we don't see traditional cartoon shorts or a loosely-tied collection of some, anymore today.

[Uncle Remus]

yeah i saw Melody Time for the first time when it came out to video in 1998. my favorite short in the movie was Blame It On The Samba. i loved the music to that short. it also bought back two good characters from the Latin America films: Jose Carioca and the Aracuan Bird.

[Loomis]

I've only seen this film once, and it was after I bought the uncut UK edition.

For some reason I reviewed this for DVDBits (my first review for the site, and quite crap in retrospect):

"While it may not look as polished as some of today’s Disney features (especially if you are a fan of Pixar’s work, or have seen "Brother Bear" theatrically), "Melody Time has what many animated features lack today – a sense of fun. While it doesn’t always work, it is certainly an important part of animation history."

The Aussie release is identical, so I was essentially reviewing that for the local market on Bits.

I stand by my comments, that are from late last year. It is certainly not as energetic as some of the modern "we make films for FAMILIES" Disney, but it does have a sense of fun about it. I don't especially like music based Disney, but I do like some of the musical shorts in this. As Luke said, it is a shame themed/connected shorts aren't made like this anymore. I know it was a budget thing at the time, but there is a...sense of fun (can't think of any other way to say it!) about them.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

My favourites here would be "Blame it on the Samba" and "Bumble Boogie".

[MickeyMousePal]

I love Melody Time I remember watching the short segments when I was younger. They were played on a channel called KCAL channel 9 in the early 90's.
This is one of my favorite short segments Disney Animated Classic like Fantasia and Fun and Fancy Free.
This is worth to buy before it goes on OOP (out of print) like that will ever happen.

"Once Upon a Wintertime", "Bumble Boogie", "The Lord is Good to Me", "The Apple Song", "The Pioneer Song", "Little Toot", "Trees”, "Blame it on the Samba", "Blue Shadows on the Trail" and "Pecos Bill" are all great to watch from Melody Time.

[DreamerQ18]

I havent seen Melody time in a long long long time. I remember bits and pieces of it. I know I really enjoyed the Johonny Appleseed short that was one of my favorites and the other one I really enjoyed from this movie was the ice skating short which name I can not recall at the moment but I dont know there was something about that was always so funny to me. Hmmmmm I think I might just watch it sometime this week brush up on it a bit.

[AwallaceUNC]

Yeah, Johnny Appleseed is definitely the segment that most stuck with me. I remember watching Melody Time in school and then doing a big project on Johnny Appleseed and reading some books on him and stuff, and I was really interested in it.

Pecos Bill sticks out in my mind as well. As I read Luke's review, I was reminded of the ice skating segment, which I remember really liking. Other than that, I'd probably have to rewatch it to gather any more memories of the film.

-Aaron

[DDMAN26]

I plan on watching it tonight. My favorites have always been Johnny Appleseed, Blame it on the Samba and Pecos Bill

[reyquila]

This, like Make Mine Music, is one that I saw as a small child and only remember parts of... not enough to make a fair assessment of it now. For what it's worth, I don't remember disliking it or particularly loving it.

-Aaron

This one is not out of print, what about buying it and then talk.
Put your money where your mouth is!!!

[AwallaceUNC]

WHAT are you talking about?? There are a good many films I don't own on DVD, I can't afford to get them all at once. It's not like I was criticizing or singing it praises- only offering what I can remember, which is all I can do.

-Aaron

[BrandonH]

I just saw this today for the first time. It was the last of a trilogy of package features that I purchased to take advantage of the Best Buy Disney DVD promotion. My full (and I do mean full) review is in my blog, but here is a brief summary.

This film is pretty uneven, and it does not match up to Make Mine Music or Fun and Fancy Free, but it has its shining moments. My favorite parts are Johnny Appleseed, Pecos Bill, and Bumble Boogie.

[ichabod]

In my opinion. Melody Time would rank last! 44th place! I just don't feel it has the same charm as Make Mine Music, The 3 Caballeros and the other package features. And the 'Trees' segment is just plain dull!

[Wonderlicious]

I've decided to bump this thread since I saw Melody Time for the first time just a few minutes ago.

Melody Time is one of the three anthology films that I've seen. The other package films that I've seen were Ichabod and Mr Toad and The Three Caballeros, and I've got to rank Melody Time far behind those two films; if I were to rank all of Disney's animated films that I've seen in a row, Melody Time would fall into the lesser end.

One of the problems was that some of the segments dragged. Perhaps it's because I'm British, but I felt that the Pecos Bill and Johnny Appleseed segments we're really bogged down by American pride, as they seemed like they were screaming "We love American legends! Amen!". I should also add that I felt that they went on too long.

Another problem was a point Luke made; the pieces seemed out dated. Bing Cosby's narration of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow works as he's still remembered due to White Christmas etc. But seriously, the Andrews Sisters singing about a tug boat doesn't stand up as this generation doesn't know the Andrews Sisters.

I wouldn't say that that Melody Time is really bad; it's just mediocre. Whilst having down time, the film does have some charming moments, especially the Blame it on the Samba sequence and for once BVHE UK was good; we got the unedited version of the movie!

[orestes.]

I haven't seen this movie since grade two but I have seen bits since then and I've always enjoyed it. I actually just bought it on DVD on Monday so I'll be watching it again soon.

I'm with you Wonderlicious on the American pride. Sometimes it's too much to watch but with Disney it usually doesn't get to me. I think the only time I cringed was the ending of Der Feuhrer's Face when Donald is in his stars and stripes pajamas. Ah well, they are American made!

Some people complain about it being outdated or other movies outdated but I enjoy that. Not everyone does I guess. Surprisningly I'm in my early 20's and know the Andrews Sisters and have known about them for over a decade but maybe that's just me and my fasicination with reading encyclopedias when I was younger. (I swear if you take me from grade 6 and me from now I would say I was smarter back then... well maybe not but back then I believed I was smarter than most... now I'm just average... damn!)

Anyways people should get to know the movies they watch more. It's fun to learn... and I'm sick of hearing people say Tarantino directed 'Hero' so I encourage people to read up on movies and not just reviews.

[Lazario]

Most of the shorts in Melody Time had some great moments in them or great things about them. But I really didn't like the "Johnny Appleseed" segment. I hate to say it was all the Godtalk that spoiled it for me, because I'm not really an Atheist, but the way they just kept going on and on and on began to make me feel like a vampire having garlic shoved in my face. But I did really like "Blame It On the Samba", even though it wasn't nearly as amazing as most of the Three Caballeros scenes. Most of the shorts lacked something but had excellent animation, "Once Upon a Wintertime" and "Trees".

[Tolhurst]

If you like Disney Surrealism, the Bumble Boogie and Blame It On The Samba segments are quite good (though not as far out as the last 15 min. of Three Caballeros)
I like Melody Time quite a bit (and recieved it -and Make Mine Music- with collecting those bonus dollars that came in the DVDs in 2001, anybody remember those?) .

[DisneyFanatic]

My favorite shorts in Melody Time are "Johnny Appleseed" and "Little Toot". I really like the songs in both of these shorts. Whenever I watch Johnny Appleseed the song gets stuck in my head. (However, I can understand how the 'godtalk' can annoy some people).

[Lazario]

The "Little Toot" segment got good when he was put out into the ocean, exhiled. I don't know why, that moment just had some really nice combinations of music and animation. I loved how after the dissolve where the bigger ships were sailing away, the sun was further set than in the shot where the ships were going back into the port/city, and LT looked bigger than the towers/skyscraper buildings which were curved and standing right next to him - very surreal.

[dvdjunkie]

"Melody Time" is another of those really good musical-shorts-tied-together with good narration that make very pleasant watching in the early evening with the grandkids. I am old enough to have seen this originally in the movie theaters and then be privileged as a projectionist at Disneyland in Anaheim to show segments from it at the Fantasyland Theater. With voice talents like Dennis Day (Johnny Appleseed), and, of course Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers (Pecos Bill) this is a very fun film to sit through many times over. "Little Toot" is very good and teaches a good moral to kids and adults alike. I give this film a very strong 8 on the viewing scale, and recommend it very highly to Disney collectors.