Melody Time Reviews

This last musical compilation film from the Disney studios was also one of the best, and Disney's animators display their entire creative range, from the irrepressible comedy of Donald Duck to more refined work reminiscent of FANTASIA. The sequences include the story of a young couple's quarrel, told in flashback after they are a long-married pair; a marvelously surreal piece, dubbed "an instrumental nightmare," in which a befuddled bee buzzes about in a frenzied effort to escape a variety of musical perils to the accompaniment of a jazzy "Flight of the Bumble Bee"; a retelling of the Johnny Appleseed folktales; the charming "Little Toot," in which the title tugboat is always getting into trouble in its attempts to emulate its father; "Trees," a version of Joyce Kilmer's poem that is Disney animation at its best; "Blame It on the Samba," which once more teams Donald Duck with his pal Joe Carcioca from the popular cartoon "The Three Caballeros"; and a final segment featuring cowboy king Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers crooning "Blue Shadows on the Trail" against a series of desert night scenes. Essentially a compendium of unrelated shorts, the delightful MELODY TIME incorporates visual styles as varied as the subjects of its segments.