Tonight's Movie: Melody Time (1948)

In this uncertain time, "comfort viewing" is very much in order, and what makes better comfort viewing than an animated film from Disney?

For me tonight that film was MELODY TIME (1948), one of Disney's "package" films of the '40s, a style which began with FANTASIA (1940). Particularly after WWII, the package films were more affordable projects for the studio; they're collections of cartoon shorts of various lengths, set to music and combined into a single film "package." Disney package films previously reviewed here include MAKE MINE MUSIC (1946) and FUN AND FANCY FREE (1947), to name two.

Although I own the VHS tape of MELODY TIME, which my children watched growing up, I'd never "upgraded" it to DVD because of my annoyance that Disney censored both the video and DVD releases for U.S. audiences, digitally removing Pecos Bill's cigarette.

However, I recently learned that the Region 2 DVD available in the UK was, for unknown reasons, left intact by Disney. Since I have an all-region DVD player I ordered the movie immediately and was able to enjoy watching it this evening for the first time in many years.

The opening credits alone will warm the heart of Disney fans, reading the lists of familiar Disney Legends who worked on the film. One of the most significant contributors was Mary Blair; she worked on "color and styling" for the movie, including the "Once Upon a Wintertime" segment. Some of the artwork is breathtakingly beautiful.

The movie combines terrific '40s musicians with gorgeous visuals for seven segments:

*Frances Langford sings "Once Upon a Wintertime"

*Freddy Martin and His Orchestra perform "Bumble Boogie"

*Dennis Day sings and narrates "The Legend of Johnny Appleseed"

*The Andrews Sisters sing "Little Toot"

*Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians perform "Trees"

*Ethel Smith plays the organ in "Blame It on the Samba," with vocals by the Dinning Sisters

*Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers perform in the final segment, "Pecos Bill," with live-action appearances by Disney child actors Luana Patten and Bobby Driscoll

At just 75 minutes, MELODY TIME is short and sweet, a relaxing diversion with enjoyable music and some lovely visuals. The artistic styles range from Blair's pastels in "Once Upon a Wintertime" to BAMBI (1942) style watercolor backgrounds in "Trees" to vividly wild, over-the-top colors in "Blame It on the Samba," which reunites Donald Duck and Jose Carioca of THE THREE CABALLEROS (1945).

MELODY TIME was just the kind of light yet extremely well-executed viewing I needed today, and I very much enjoyed it.

For fun additional reading on this film, check out Disney D23's article "Did You Know? 10 Tuneful Facts About Walt Disney's MELODY TIME" by Jim Fanning.