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Disney Daze: Make Mine Music



Make Mine Music (1946)
Disney Animated Classic Number 8
Starring: Nelson Eddy, Dinah Shore, Benny Goodman, The Andrews Sisters, Jerry Colonna, Sterling Holloway, Andy Russell, David Lichine, Tania Riabouchinskaya, The Pied Pipers, The King’s Men & The Ken Darby Chorus
Directed by: Jack Kinney, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Joshua Meador & Robert Cormack
Rating: ½

Make Mine Music is the third of Disney’s package films, which were made due to the outbreak of the Second World War, and is the second of his musical anthology films.

And the worst Disney film title goes to...

As one of the least well known Disney films, Make Mine Music is mainly known for its final segment, about an opera singing sperm whale, a unique piece of cinema that will go down in history for traumatised me for life.

But more on that later…

Described as a ‘musical fantasy with no narrator’, I had to buy a Region 1 copy from the States as it was not available to buy in the UK.

Oh Willlie the Whale- you've been the cause of many a nightmare I'm sure...

Upon release, the movie had ten segments, but the first one has now been entirely edited out of the DVD as it features excessive gun violence and mass murder.

I kid you not.

Not surprisingly, this part of the film was condemned by contemporary critics for being too violent and, given the historical context, I don’t blame them. It is exceptionally messed up.

The film opens with a song entitled Make Mine Music, which tries to justify the stupid title by saying that if you ‘make mine music’ my heart will sing, it will always be spring, and I’ll dream of you. After Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros, Disney were obviously finding it hard to churn out ideas, something we will discover again in the next two terrible offerings from the world’s most famous film company.

The movie then opens with Blue Bayou, but as I wanted the entire Make Mine Music experience, I went onto YouTube and watched the original opening segment.

I wish I hadn’t.

The Martins and the Coys
A Rustic Ballad

Please note- this song is not in any shape or form a ballad. It is in fact a more brutal, violent and sickening version of Romeo and Juliet, which revolves around genocide and domestic violence.

Looks peaceful, doesn't it? It isn't.

The entire segment is about two gun totting families who settle their disputes the old fashioned way- by blowing each others' brains out. Described as ‘reckless mountain boys’, Grandpa Coy steals some eggs from the Martins so they of course murder him.

Let the punishment fit the crime.

This turns into a gun battle between the families, who shoot one another until only two people are left standing- Grace Martin and Henry Coy. Ignoring the fact that both families have no womenfolk amongst them and they managed to have children, the two get off to a great start- by trying to murder one another. But since Grace has a ‘pretty figure’ Henry falls in love with her and the two get married, much to the anger of their dead relatives who watch on from heaven. Why they are in heaven is beyond me, but in this world it’s clearly acceptable to kill an elderly man because he stole some eggs.

Grace's 'pretty figure' stops the violence- temporarily.

After dancing together at the wedding to some country music, they of course begin to batter one another in a shocking portrayal of domestic violence that is probably meant to be funny but really isn’t. The ghosts are very happy about this- and revel in the fact that their offspring are punching each other in the face with closed fits.

The End.

The whole sequence is horrid and I’m glad they cut it from the DVD, although the unnecessary death is only preparing you for the horror that will come much later. And because short presents gun violence and spousal battery as humourous, it is incredibly uncomfortable viewing.

Blue Bayou
A Tome Poem

This new opening to the movie is completely different from the segment that had originally gone before it. Slow, soft, gentle and beautiful, two herons fly across a blue bayou.

The only moment of respite in an otherwise shocking and disturbing movie.

This sequence was originally intended for Fantasia accompanied by the song Clair de Lune.

All the Cats Join In
A Jazz Interlude

Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, who seem to have invaded the Disney recording studios to contribute towards two offerings in this movie, get to show off their jazz skills as they accompany a pencil who draws more images of violence and this time, nudity.

Watch out! It's a giant pencil!

The entire segment is ‘being drawn’, a feature I really liked, and the song is good too. The animation really reminded me of Archie Comics, and the whole thing has a very Happy Days feel to it.

Although, saying that, in Happy Days I don’t ever remember a little boy pulling his flies down, a teenage girl pulling her sister away from a telephone by her pigtails, or young women jumping into a shower and then walking around in their towels.

All the 'cats' dance together.

Apart from these moments of sex and violence, the ‘cats’ (the cool kids) all dance together and enjoy good clean fun.

Then the Jukebox explodes.

They just had to add something horrible to it- didn’t they?

Without You
A Ballard in Blue

No, this is not Three Colours Blue, but it is still about depression!

With You I stare out of the window...

Following on from a group of teenagers dying in a terror attack, this dull section is about a man pining for his lost love- as it rains.

Trees, again. Disney sure loves his trees.

The entire thing takes place in a window pane, so we get to watch the stars sparkle and the trees shake as the man cries about losing his girlfriend-quite possibly in a Jukebox explosion or a family mass murder.

Casey At The Bat
A Musical Recitation

This is a famous poem apparently, although I’ve never heard of it, which begins by telling us how silly women don’t understand baseball because they’re, um, silly women and don’t understand anything.

The ladies sure love Casey...

Boy, this really is a movie that keeps on giving, isn’t it?

But one thing women do understand is how much they love Casey. Everybody loves Casey, including the weird ‘Irish’ narrator, who loses his ‘Irish’ accent after three sentences to recite the poem, which is not sung. I think the term ‘musical recitation’ was made up just for this piss poor poem.

Casey sure loves to showboat...

Casey, a baseball player, is mighty and manly and dangerous- and that’s why the ladies love him. He’s the pride of them all, and the women spontaneously faint when they see him. That’s just how shit hot Casey is.

He's the shit and he knows it...

After the baseball crowd beat up the village idiot, they attempt to murder the umpire. This happens just before Casey goes up to bat. He’s incredibly confident, but is struck out, and ends up crying in the rain.

More crying? More rain??

Casey fails, and sinks into depression. THE END.

It’s a bizarre and weird ending to a completely pointless story. Strangely enough, this section is actually quite famous, although I fail to see why.

This looks painful.

As a note to future package/anthological filmmakers, putting a film about depression after a film about depression only leads to one thing: depression.

And we still haven’t got to one of the most emotionally scarring moments in film history.

Two Silhouettes
Ballade Ballet

Dinah Shore (haven’t we heard of her before?) sings as two silhouettes dance ballet.

Yes, that's right! Two silhouettes is about... two silhouettes.

It’s pretty self-explanatory really. Two cupids also fly around, as the ballerina dances in the sky on a red cloud.

I often dance in the clouds with cupids...

The song and the way it is sung is enjoyable, but this section still isn’t particularly good.

Peter and the Wolf
Fairytale and Music

Each character is represented by an instrument and this is explained by Winnie the Pooh.

Seriously, when I said before that Make Mine Music is a film that just keeps giving, you have to see the wolf- it is truly terrifying. The wolf is up there with the wolf from The NeverEnding Story in terms of nightmare fuel.

This wolf means business!

Peter sets out to hunt the wolf- accompanied by a bird, a duck and a cat. The wolf chases these cute animals and picks them off one by one. In an act of pre-politically correct racism, three Cossacks turn up.

Watch out! The wolf is about!

It’s a nice little story with a a great moment on the ice and a happy ending. Finally, we have a part of this movie that actually deserves to be remembered- if only for giving you nightmares.

After You’re Gone

Fingers do the can-can whilst playing the piano.

Benny Goodman makes a dramatic return with a jazz instrumental that is catchy and accompanies some  anthropomorphised dancing musical instruments- which are interesting and inventive.

Johnnie Fedore and Alice Bluebonnet
A Love Story

The Andrews Sisters sing a song about two hats that live in a department store and fall in love. We’ve already seen planes and tugboats, not we’ve got hats. Wow Disney, you really can make any inanimate object become a character. Even a volcano.

Alice Bluebonnet and Johnny Fedore are very cute!

Johnnie Fedora is well designed, cute, and looks cool. After Alice is taken from him, all he wants to do is find her, and to do so is involved in a bar brawl as he travels from Brooklyn Bridge to Jersey Shore.

True love conquers all...

Luckily, for this movie, there is a happy ending, as true love comes smiling through. The song is catchy and the characters likeable- this is probably the best part of the entire film.

And trust me when I say it WILL all go downhill from this point. You have been warned.

The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At The Met
Opera Pathetique
THE TRAUMATISING FINALE

I’ve seen a lot of movies in my life, and it’s hard to find ones that have profoundly disturbed me to my very core. And this is one of them. There is nothing that could have prepared me for the emotionally traumatising short film known as The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At The Met which should be known as All Your Childhood Dreams Will Be Crushed In This Short Film About A Loveable Sperm Whale Who is Slaughtered for Absoultely No Reason But to Destroy Your Life.

I defy anyone who has seen this movie not to instantly fall in love with Willie the Whale.

I would advise anyone who loves whales/animals to never ever watch this. I seriously think it is the most harrowing piece of animation Disney has ever made (and that includes The Lion King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

It hurts me to write this, because it means I have to relive the pain and sadness this short segment caused me. But here goes…

Yes he does!

Willie the Whale is an opera singing sperm whole who performs to seals and pelicans. He has three separate tonsils and can therefore sing in three different voices at the same time.

I LOVE WILLIE THE WHALE.

Some dickhead called Tetti Tatti thinks that Willie has swallowed an opera singer and so sets out to MURDER HIM.

Willie means no harm- he just wants to sing at the Met!

Willie manages to escape and gets to sing at the Met, and then travels the world singing to audiences who love his special talent. He instantly wins the hearts of everyone- including me.  

Then, in a horrific turn of events- even for Disney movie- we discover that Willie had just imagined the life he should have had, as he is instead HARPOONED AND KILLED by Tetti Tatti.

This moment is not censored- we see him get impaled and then writhe around in agony as he sinks beneath the waves.

SCREW YOU DISNEY.

This Disney Death has to be the most unnecessary and upsetting I have ever seen, mainly because it sets up Willie as a wonderful character and then tricks you into thinking he lives out his dreams- only to rob you of yours.

Willie's death will forever haunt my nightmares- note how I don't have an image of his harpooned corpse.

And although Disney tries to rectify this horror by showing Willie singing in heaven, it does not make anyone feel better. Willie didn’t have to die, and this pissed me off to no end. I fell in love with Willie the Whale and it makes no sense to kill him off. Unless, of course, this was a genius move to indoctrinate children to become anti- whaling, because trust me when I say it works.

And then the film ends. What is meant to be an uplifting finale, is actually soul destroying.

Mass murder, animal slaughter, domestic violence and child abuse- the Second World War obviously destroyed Walt Disney’s brain- so much so that he made this ghastly mess.

Who knew that such serious social issues could be presented in a 1940s animation? I thought movies were about escapism- clearly Disney didn’t agree.

I can’t tell you how happy I am that I have watched the last of Disney’s music monstrosities from this time period. Although, saying that, Fantasia 2000 is still on my watch list, and after the mess that was Fantasia, the trauma I suffered from this and the boredom I was subjected to in Melody Time, I am seriously considering not even bothering with it.

But for completeness, I will, even though it'll be a long and painful two and a half hours, as we shall soon discover...

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