| Make Mine Music | |
|---|---|
Original theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Jack Kinney Clyde Geronimi Hamilton Luske Joshua Meador Robert Cormack |
| Produced by | Walt Disney |
| Written by | Walt Disney James Bordrero Homer Brightman Erwin Graham Eric Gurney T. Hee Sylvia Holland Dick Huemer Dick Kelsey Jesse Marsh Tom Oreb Cap Palmer Erdman Penner Harry Reeves Dick Shaw John Walbridge Roy Williams |
| 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 |
| Studio | Walt Disney Productions |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. |
| Release date(s) | August 15, 1946 |
| Running time | 74 minutes (original version) 67 minutes (edited version) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Make Mine Music is an animated feature produced by Walt Disney and released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on August 15, 1946. It is the eighth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series.
During the Second World War, much of Walt Disney's staff was drafted into the army, and those that remained were called upon by the U.S. government to make training and propaganda films. As a result, the studio was littered with unfinished story ideas. In order to keep the feature film division alive during this difficult time, the studio released four package films including this one, made up of various unrelated segments set to music. This is the fourth package film, following Fantasia, Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros.
The film was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival.[1]
Contents |
This particular film has ten such segments.
This segment featured popular radio vocal group, King's Men singing the story of a Hatfields and McCoys-style feud in the mountains broken up when two young people from each side fell in love. This segment was later cut from the film's video release due to comic gunplay.
This segment featured animation originally intended for Fantasia using the Claude Debussy musical composition Clair de Lune. However, by the time Make Mine Music was released Clair de Lune was replaced by the new song Blue Bayou, performed by the Ken Darby Singers. However, the original version of the segment still survives.
This segment was one of two segments to which Benny Goodman contributed: an innovative shot in which a pencil drew the action as it was happening, and in which 1940s teens were swept away by popular music.
This segment was a ballad of lost love, sung by Andy Russell.
This segment featured Jerry Colonna, reciting the poem also titled "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Thayer, about the arrogant ballplayer whose cockiness was his undoing.
This segment featured two live-action ballet dancers, David Lichine and Tania Riabouchinskaya, moving in silhouette with animated backgrounds and characters. Dinah Shore sang the title song.
This segment was an animated dramatization of the 1936 musical composition by Sergei Prokofiev, with narration by actor Sterling Holloway. A Russian boy named Peter set off into the forest to hunt the wolf with his animal friends: a bird named Sasha, a duck named Sonia, and a cat named Ivan.
This segment again featured Benny Goodman and his orchestra as four anthropomorphized instruments who paraded through a musical playground.
This segment told the romantic story of two hats who fell in love in a department store window. When Alice was sold, Johnny devoted himself to finding her again. The Andrews Sisters provided the vocals. Like the other segments, it was later released theatrically. It was released as such on May 21, 1954.[2]
The bittersweet finale about a Sperm Whale with incredible musical talent and his dreams of singing Grand Opera. However, short-sighted impressario Tetti-Tatti believed that the whale has simply swallowed an opera singer, and chased him with a harpoon. Nelson Eddy narrated and performed all the voices in this segment. As Willie the Whale, Eddy sang all three male voices in the first part of the Sextet from Donizetti's opera, Lucia di Lammermoor. In the end, Willie was harpooned and killed, but the narrator then explains that Willy's voice will sing on in Heaven.
| Actor | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Nelson Eddy | Narrator; characters (The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met) |
| Dinah Shore | Singer (Two Silhouettes) |
| Benny Goodman | Musician (All the Cats Join In/After You've Gone) |
| The Andrews Sisters | Singers (Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet) |
| Jerry Colonna | Narrator (Casey At the Bat) |
| Sterling Holloway | Narrator (Peter and the Wolf) |
| Andy Russell | Singer (Without You) |
| David Lichine | Dancer (Two Silhouettes) |
| Tania Riabouchinskaya | Dancer (Two Silhouettes) |
| The Pied Pipers | Singers |
| The King's Men | Singers (The Martins and the Coys) |
| The Ken Darby Chorus | Singers (Blue Bayou) |
Make Mine Music was originally released on laserdisc in Japan on October 21, 1985, and on VHS and DVD on June 6, 2000 under the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection title. Before, two of its segments (including Peter and the Wolf) were released on home video individually with additional cartoons added to them in the 1980s and 1990s. This release was edited to remove "The Martins and the Coys", because it had "graphic gunplay not suitable for children." The Japanese laserdisc includes all the cuts made to the VHS/DVD versions. No other release has been scheduled. It is the only film in the Disney Animated Classics canon never to see a release on Region 2 or Region 4 DVD.
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