1 Better than Make Mine Music but doesn't equal to Fantasia.
The third attempt to remake Fantasia Disney comes across better. In this film they are telling little stories than really little musical dittys that we saw in Make Mine Music. The plots are more gripping, and the characters are more iconic. The highlights of the movie are Pecos Bill and Johnny Appleseed. I highly reccomend this for a whimsical good time.
2 Quackeriffic!
Melody Time (1948) was the third of the Disney Orchestral cartoons.Produced and illustrated by Walt Disney (1902-1966).I remember watching this in 2nd grade.The only cartoon in this movie I remember is the Johny Appleseed sequence.It's about a man named Johny(Appleseed isn't really his last name,you knoW)and why he likes apples and why they call him Appleseed.Of course,Mr Applessed isn't just made up.But why do they have Donald on the boxes?I didn't see Donald in this.It's sort of a 2nd sequel to Fantasia(1940) but it's not.Fantasia only has one sequel:Fantasia 2000(1999).Make Mine Music (1946) was nicknamed the 1st sequel to Fantasia.If you like Melody Time,buy Fantasia,Fantasia 2000 or Make Mine Music today!
3 The original sequel to Fantasia?
This fine collection of short subjects was obviously done to be a sequel of sorts to Fantasia. Here's what to expect:
In "Once Upon a Wintertime" one can almost believe that you have stepped over a threshold into a greeting card come to life.
In "Bumble Boogie" we are treated to a jazzy version of "Flight of the Bumblebee" complete with a bee and flowers, and the ever more surreal adventures he has. This is one of the most obvious nods to "Fantasia" in the movie. There are no words. Just the Bee and his music.
"Johnny Appleseed" is one of the main reasons to buy this disk, however. The story of this American Folk Hero has never been done better. I still get a little choked up every time I get to the end. "Johnny Appleseed" will always be one of my very favorite Disney shorts.
In "Little Toot" we are treated to a Disney version of this great Children's story. The story of the "Little Tugboat that Could" gets the young ones chanting right along - "You can do it, Little Toot!"
"Trees" is a marvelous animated rendition of Joyce Kilmer's famous poem.
"Blame It On The Samba" seems to be left over from the recent releases of "Saludos Amigos" and "Three Caballeros". An infectious Latin American rhythm and Donald Duck make this a wonderful way to introduce both "Saludos Amigos" and "Three Caballeros".
Finally, "Pecos Bill". Another American legend, this time more in the flavor of Paul Bunyan, "Pecos Bill" does not suffer from the limited amount of retouching they did to remove almost all references to Bill's cigarette.
I think this is a wonderful addition to the "canon" of Disney Animated movies, and a great addition to a library of children's films.
4 Anouther censored piece of art.
This film has been censored just like Fantasia and Saludos Amigos and Make Mine Music. I really hate when someone tries to tell me what I can and cannot see. I don't see the reason why Disney can't release 2 versions. The same way Dragonball is released edited & uncut version.
5 Classic Disney!
Great classic cartoons, fun for the whole family! Gotta love the old Disney stuff! Cute stories, great animation, and great music.
6 Interesting, yet ultimately flawed
Like Fantasia, this movie features many short animated clips, but set to "modern" music -- if you consider the 40's to be modern. A number of interesting clips - the wintertime one, the bumblebee one and johnny appleseed stand out. There are unfortunately an equal number of segments that seem to drag or are incredibly dated: the trees and the samba segments come to mind.
However, the worst thing about this particular DVD is that the Pecos Bill segment has been obviously edited from the original to remove a cigarette from Pecos Bill. This seems the height of hypocrisy - plenty of new Disney films have no such resistance to cigarettes appearing onscreen. This version of the film stands as a bad example of spineless political correctness for no reason that benefits the end product.
7 Wonderful animation
I saw this movie in 1948. It was the first time I had met Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill. Watching it 54 years later made me feel like I was 7 years old all over again. If other reviewers hadn't commented on the editing I probably wouldn't have noticed. The combining of the music with the animation at just the right moment makes it magical. I am so happy that I found this tape. I hope the the children of today love this as much as I did thenand remember it the rest of their lives.
8 Hypo(or is it Hyper?)-criticism in the Disney studios
This is a nice glimpse of what Disney passed as a "feature" during and after the war, and it shows a willingness by whoever's in charge of the Disney studios to be faithful to Disney's original intentions(it would have been easy for the money men to chop up this feature, "Make Mine Music", "Salugos Amigos" and other collections, bundle them up with other shorts and release them separately).
BUT...
That honour only goes so far! They're willing to reissue a feature as Walt originally intended, but that feature has been "edited for content"(as the green screen at the beginning of the feature says). And it's not just "Melody Time"; "Make Mine Music", "The Three Caballeros" and others all carry that familiar distinction.
Why do they persist in "homogenizing"(for lack of a better word)Disney's classic works, while the modern studios are going full force in what they're censoring from the past? I mean, they take out a few seconds worth of Pecos Bill's cigarette, but the old lady character from "Atlantis" smokes like a chimney!
This says to me that there are too many cooks in the kitchen; doesn't everyone wish that there was someone who could be the strong head of Disney the way Walt was? Overseeing everything from story construction in animated features to the foundation and expansion of Disneyland, all without missing a step?
9 one of the best i have ever seen
This melody time has the story of Johnny apple seed in a well liked and simple told eazy for my 5yr old to even understand.
I also like the story of little toot , that teaches to be good.
many newer disney film seem to miss the mark of old fastion truth. Faith, Love, Hope.
ionly wish they come out with a dvd in this melody time, for my son is wareing out his tape already.we bought this VHS about a year ago.
10 Melody Time Gold Collection DVD
Despite what I read in other reviews at Amazon.com, I decided to buy this movie and I'm glad that I did.
Walt Disney's 10th Animated Feature is nicely paced, and you are almost never caught in a place were you want to skip chapters. While the "censoring" does seem like a wrong move, it really does not effect "Pecos Bill" unless you force yourself to notice it. True that this is tampering w/ Walt Disney's original work, but it's done and there really isn't much of a difference.
This Package Feature opens up with "Once Upon A Wintertime", a wonderfully animated piece of a couples day in a winter wonderland. "Blame It On The Samba" (Was this segment something left over from "The Three Caballeros"?), starring Donald Duck & Joe Carioca is terrific. The only part that slows things down is "The Legend Of Johnny Appleseed", it's good but a little bit too long.
Great movie, should'nt be compared to Fantasia though.
11 Disney editing wrong and unnecessary
I couldn't wait to get Melody Time on DVD; I already had a taped copy from when it ran on The Disney Channel. The animation and stories in it are great. The music and singing are great, too. And then, the disappointment set in as I learned that the DVD version of Melody Time has portions edited out. I thought that one of the potential features of the DVD format was that a viewer could select a rating (G, PG, etc.) for a program that would be suitable to the audience. Why didn't Disney produce a DVD with this option instead of editing, and thereby ruining, Melody Time? I, for one, will not purchase any more Disney DVD releases that have been wrecked in this fashion. It is wrong for Disney to do this to their lifelong fans and customers and totally unnecessary given today's technology.
12 Sorry, but I do not agree that this is "censorship"
"Melody Time," the 1948 collection of shorts that was not only the last but also the best of this type of Disney film, is not the focus point of an interesting controversy. When bringing out the video/DVD versions of this film, Disney altered the animation in the Pecos Bill segment. Originally Bill had a cigarette hanging from his lip and at one point shot a cigarette into a little kid's mouth, but those images and scene have been exorcised from the film....I have to admit I am not that upset by this [censorship]....
Now back to reviewing "Melody Time."
Here are the segments in this film: Frances Langford sings "Once Upon a Wintertime," done as a greeting card come to life. "Bumble Boogie" features a bumbleebee being chased by musical instruments and notes during a jazz version of "The Flight of the Bumblebee." Dennis Day does the voice of "Johnny Appleseed" in the story of the hero of folklore. The Andrews Sisters sing "Little Toot," about a young tugboat trying to make his father proud. "Trees" sets Joyce Kilmer's famous poem to music sung by Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians. Donald Duck teams up with Joe Carioca (from "The Three Caballeros) in "Blame It on the Samba," a giant cocktail with some interesting affects. Finally, the controversial "Pecos Bill," spung by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers.
"Melody Time" is a solid blend of both musical and animation styles, which means it is going to be someting of a hit and miss proposition for small children, just like "Fantasia." There is always going to be a segment the kiddies want to fast-forward through to get to their favortie. "Melody Time" was never reissued, with Disney choosing instead to cut up the segments and rerelease them separately. "Trees" and "Bumble Boogie" became a short entitled "Contrasts in Rhythm" while five of the other sequences were combined with four from "Make Mine Music" in the "new" 1955 feature film "Music Land."
13 Full marks for the flick....no marks for Disney Enterprises!
Crusifixion is too lenient a punishment for our politically correct 'saviors' at Disneycorp 2000 who insist on defacing Walt's original works of art. So Pecos Bill has a cigarette dangling from his lip!! OOOOOOOOOOH.....that's gonna drive us all to the demon smoke! Messing with this classic animation is a sin! It's an outrage that would make Walt turn in his cryogenic tank. Having said that, what's left is still good enough to get a high rating from me. The Donald Duck/Jose Carrioca "Blame It On The Samba" and Roy Rogers' "Blue Shadows On The Trail" and story of "Pecos Bill" are worth the price of admission alone. The rest of the disc is the usual warm and fuzzy Disney of yore with maybe "Trees" being the least interesting. Do yourself a favor and buy it....before someone deletes it! This stuff is so wonderful that even editing by our illustrious protectors at Disney can't take away ALL of the magic.
14 Scene missing
I don't know about this being digitally edited as some other reviews have claimed but there is one verse edited out of the "Pecos Bill" segment. As I recall there was a scene in which Bill lights a cigarette by loading it into his gun and fireing it into his mouth. Perhaps Disney didn't want to encourage children to fire guns at thier faces. Though, a child would have to get a hold of a gun first.
15 EDITED DVD! Why is that not labeled?
I actually CAN believe Disney would do such a thing. However, it is not fair to those of us who wish to own these DVDs for nostalgic purposes. I would like to at least see Disney take accountability for their actions and label the DVDs/videos as altered or edited. This would prevent angered consumers and RETURNS!
ANYONE know which other DVDs have been edited? please e-mail to mcgeesalice@hotmail.com
16 This DVD has been ruined by being edited.
With the DVD of "Melody Time," the editors at Disney have decided that their audience needs to be "protected" from "offensive" material. For example, they removed all smoking references.
Disney has a long history of altering it's products for DVD release, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that "Melody Time" has been edited.
Disney will not be getting my money for this, or for any other edited DVD.
Let's hope Disney never acquires the rights to the "Popeye" cartoons!
17 I'm so disappointed!
I too, bought this video because I wanted to own these classic Disney cartoons from my childhood. How disappointing to find that they have become a victim of 'political correctness'. Disney has really lost the plot. I'm not sure I would recommend this video to anyone looking to own a piece of history but I suppose it might have some transient appeal to small children who have never seen the originals. I hope Disney considers re-releasing the original unedited versions of these cartoons (if necessary with a PG rating)for those of us who are capable of censoring our own viewing.
18 Editing a cartoon? Gimme a break!
I'll admit that I haven't purchased this or the other apparantly edited Disney cartoons (for the sake of political correctness) I've read about (such as Melody Time, etc.) according to customer reviews here yet, but despite this, I'm disappointed, but still interested in getting them. However, I still wanted to voice my opinion on this. Like another customer implied, rate them, don't RUIN them! If it's necessary for a Disney movie to have a PG rating because of a few unacceptable things that were perfectly acceptable at the time it was made, what's wrong with that? I've very disappointed at Disney for this... Booooo! Hsssss! Boooo! Both my thumbs are down on this...
19 It keeps getting worse
The original pieces making up this DVD are good or average Disney. Donald Appleseed is a masterpiece in my opinion. And I was pleased that the shorts were not embedded in some of those awful Disney "frame" stories. BUT as always I started getting angry for the 3 compulsory FBI warnings (how many criminals repent after seeing them I wonder), and I got positively furious for the five minutes or more of compulsory trailers. Just what I need with a DVD which I am supposed to keep and see from time to time! Finally Idiscovered that the stories had been edited in order to be politically correct. ! Poor Walt. And poor me. These hypocrites OWN the stuff. Where shall I be able to find those beloved cartoons of my infancy? Could not Disney publish a RATED (original) version of his movies? I would pay extra for them Mario
20 What's with the editing, Disney?
I bought this video as an anticipated addition to my Disney library. Having viewed it, I admit it's average fare for a 'package film' of its era. However, in reading other comments from viewers, I am very annoyed to know that what I own is a censored 'PC' version of the original film! What a disappointment, especially since it didn't hold my nephews' interest for very long anyway! It concerns me that Disney is starting to censor itself.
21 It's Melody Time
A good disney film, features 5 great shorts, as well as 2 other not-so-great shorts. Entertains my sisters (ages 4 and 5) even after multiple viewings. This DVD edition also comes with 3 additional shorts, all which are worth viewing more than once. The picture and sound have been restored, although the sound is still presented in it's original beautiful 2.0 mono format. This doesn't subtract from the disc though, this edition sports nice cover art, and nice stationary menus. Without a doubt, one of the best Disney DVD's yet!
22 Disney history - not a family entertainment DVD!
As a product of wartime material, this 'package' film (a number of bits and bobs) was not an ideal format for Disney artists, but it was a way of putting together a feature-length release at a time when wartime shortages and economic pressures made true features impractical. Although made after the war, this is a Disney money-saving effort of that time which is much lesser now. In all honesty it's ironic that something which was once money saving has been turned around by the very same company to become money-making! HOWEVER, I love Disney and would say that those interested in the progression of Disney material would benefit. It wouldn't make a great long-term entertainer for children though.
23 Bring Back the Original !
I'm as disappointed with this issue as some others who thought they were buying the original masterpiece. Okay, so Pecos Bill has a ciggie in his mouth in the original (funny, I never took up smoking because of that, and I was 6 when I saw the original). I doubt that those who see this desecrated version will understand why the original was such a unique experience. It's a little strange to me that Pecos Bill can't smoke and Johnny Appleseed has to clean up his act, but the Power Rangers can violently and noisily wipe out legions of their foes with such glee. Bring back the originals, guys. This, and "Song of the South", with Uncle Remus intact.
24 OK for adults, but may not be meant for a 90's 2 year old!
I bought this for my two year old nephew who loves Mickey Mouse & his friends (none of whom do you see much of in this video.) This video may be great for adults who are looking for a blast from the past, but I ended up not giving it to my nephew and regretted buying it at all.
25 Trippy "Melody Time" came 15 years too early!
Similar to "Fantasia" in concept, this film uses popular music from the 50's to underscore it's fabulous animation. And like "Fantasia," I'm sure this film was FAR more popular in the trippy '60's than when it was originally issued. This film may be hard for some to sit through entirely, but each of the individual segments feature animation and design at the peak of the Disney Animation Department's powers. One "PC" problem: Disney has digitally removed Pecos Bill's cigarette throughout that particular segment--and yet, in the very next segment, there's an animated parrot smoking a cigar and swimming around in a martini (through the entire segment!!). Zowie! What's next? Removing the scene in "Bambi" where his mother gets shot??
