Melody Time (1948)
This one might not count as a movie.
Brief Backstory
Between Bambi and Cinderella, there were six movies named “package” films. Two of them involved a barrage of different animated segments much like Fantasia (some people may not call these movies at all which is partially true). The first was Make Mine Music, which came out in 1946, and the second was Melody Time which was out in 1948, the same year of which brought us the beloved Key Largo and one of the shittiest and most corrupted Supreme Court justices in all time history, Clarence Thomas, who got wrote up for impeachment.
Story
Seven cartoons are set to different music pieces.
Once Upon a Wintertime
Bumble Boogie
Johnny Appleseed
Little Toot
Trees
Blame it on the Samba
Pecos Bill
Random Facts
This sometimes isn’t considered a full movie since it’s broken up into segments. Creepshow and Fantasia are like that too.
Footage of Once Upon a Wintertime was used in Very Merry Christmas Songs.
Several of the shorts can be seen on compilations from the 80s, Walt Disney Christmas (Once Upon a Wintertime) and Storybook Classics (Little Toot). It wasn’t until the middle of 1998 when they finally sent out the full movie.
Of the segments, Little Toot is the most well known. I have no idea why.
Roy Rogers is in this. John McClane would approve.
Pecos Bill is sometimes censored out due to smoking.
Bobby Driscoll (who was in So Dear to my Heart and most famously Peter Pan) shows up during Pecos Bill. He died in 1968 due to drug use. Remember kids, drugs are bad. M’kay?
Random Opinions
Once Upon a Wintertime is the segment I’m most familiar with as it was on Very Merry Christmas Songs (the same reason why I mainly remember the final section of Night on Bald Mountain and just the wintertime part of the Nutcracker Suite).
I’m under the implication this was a follow up to Fantasia since it appears to have a similar style of how it’s played out. The biggest differences though is that you don’t have a narrator explaining the shorts, you have singing (Only Night on Bald Mountain had singing) and narration throughout the cartoons, and these tell stories (only some of them in Fantasia did).
Hey Disney you trying to make me hungry AND sad with Johnny Appleseed?
My favorite segment is probably Blame it on the Samba.
Pros
- Really good animation in some of the segments. I particularly liked the style used in Once Upon a Wintertime.
- Unlike Fantasia, none of the segments overstay their welcome.
- Great to see Donald Duck and Jose together again.
Cons
- Johnny Appleseed isn’t just depressing in the end; it makes me too hungry.
- The segment runtime is too inconsistent.
Rating: 5.5/10 – Average
Bad, this ain’t, but Fantasia this ain’t. I’d still consider it a decent follow-up to Fantasia, although Fantasia 2000 is a true sequel.
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