Disney Movie Challenge: Saludos Amigos (1942)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

Saludos Amigos

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020.  I will be watching each film in chronological order. 

A few things happened around the same time that created this film.  First there was the animators strike in 1941 during production of "Dumbo" and "Bambi".  With Walt Disney on site it only created more tensions.  One of the solutions was for Disney to get out of the country and he headed down to South America. While Walt was out of the country the strike was settled and the strikers won everything they wanted.  The other major world event that happened was the United States entering WWII.  The war had many effects on Disney Studios. From less income to fewer animators available  to make sophisticated animations they had been making.  Then the U.S. Government stepped in.  Disney was enlisted by the U.S. Government to make propaganda films and one of the reasons for Disney’s trip to South America was to help ease tensions between the United States and South America.  Since Mickey Mouse was popular down there they thought Disney would be perfect for a “Good Will Tour”.  Disney went down there with a group of animators and they took inspiration from what they saw and put together 4 shorts to make "Saludos Amigos".  The government also gave loan guarantees to Disney for the film. 

Each short is supposed to reflect a specific country in South America. Originally they were going to be released individually but Disney felt that they would largely go unseen except by people of those countries so he packaged them up with some documentary footage of the animators on their trip shown between each short.  The first of the  four shorts is “Lake Titicaca'' with Donald Duck making his feature film debut. It has a series of familiar Donald Duck mishaps with a Llama. The next short is called “Pedro”. It is about a small airplane who is tasked with retrieving mail from Argentina and bringing it back to Chile.   It’s a perilous journey over some scary mountains but he proves he can do it. The third short is Goofy’s feature film debut in “El Goucho Goofy”.  Here he plays an American Cowboy who learns the way of The Goucho (a South American Cowboy) in Argentina.  The fourth short is “Aquarela do Brasil” and we get the introduction of the character Jose Carioca.  Jose brings Donald Duck on a musical tour of Brazil. 

The stand out short in the package  is “Aquarela do Brasil”.  The short has some of the best animation and best music in the film.  It feels more similar to the animation in "Bambi" and "Pinocchio".  It’s a colorful and fun short highlighting dances and music of Rio.  “Pedro” is an interesting short.  As far as story goes it is probably the best one in this bunch. A young plane has to make a dangerous journey by himself. Things are going well but then he gets stuck in a storm.  It has elements of suspense and triumph and could see kids really liking this one.  It also definitely feels like the Disney film “Planes” took some inspiration for the designs of their plane from this short.  “Lake Titicaca'' and “El Goucho Goofy” feel like shorts you would have come to expect from a Donald and Goofy shorts at the time. Neither feel that inspired or interesting.

Alfred Charles Richard Jr., a film historian,  said that the movie "did more to cement a community of interest between peoples of the Americas in a few months than the State Department had in fifty years". Most credit the documentary style parts of the film for giving Americans a new perspective of South America. Most Americans of that time thought of South America as primitive and was surprised to see that they had modern cities.   

Overall: As with most packaged or anthology films it’s a mixed bag.  Besides “Aquarela do Brasil” none of the other shorts felt worthy of being in a feature film.  There also seemed to be too much live action footage between the shorts.  Not sure why this film is considered an animated feature since it’s less than 60 minutes and a big chunk of it is documentary style footage.  Coming a few months after Bambi the decline in animation quality is quite remarkable.  

Random Facts:

The first Disney film to premiere in South America before the United States.  The movie premiered in Rio de Janeiro in August of 1942 before premiering in the U.S. in February of 1943.  

First of 6 packaged films to be released in the 40’s.  

The first appearance of the character José Carioca, the Brazilian cigar-smoking parrot

 Shortest Disney Animated Film at 42 minutes barely qualifies as a feature film. 

First appearance by Donald Duck and Goofy in a feature film. 

El Goucho Goofy was edited on home video releases to remove a short scene where he smokes a cigarette. 

Casablanca

The greatest movie of all time? Quite possibly in my opinion. When I first saw this movie it changed my life. How can a movie change someones life you ask? Well,I was one of those people that would never watch a movie if it was in black and white. Always figured old movies couldn't live up to modern movies. But then I saw Casablanca and it opened my eyes. The movie is amazing. Made me realize that you don’t need color or the latest technology to make a great movie. Just need a good story, great script, and great acting. Very rarely do you get the trifecta of all three coming together. This movie also proves that you can make a romantic movie without it being a sappy story. I always say I love action and adventure movies so it seems weird that I consider a romantic movie as the greatest movie of all time. What makes it so great is that it doesn't feel like a romantic movie.

The movie is about Rick (Humphrey Bogart at his best) an owner of a saloon in Casablanca during early WWII. The town is full of corruption, gambling, and underground trafficking. As people are fleeing France and the rest of Europe during the Nazi invasions, people are coming to Casablanca to try to get to the United States . Ricks American saloon is the place a lot of the underworld comes to do business and gamble. Rick is a cynical man who takes no sides in politics or the law, as long as no one disturbs the peace in the saloon. The head of police in Casablanca is Captain Renault (Claude Rains). He is corrupt and an easily bribed man. One of the refugees that end up coming to Casablanca and to Ricks is Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and her husband. Rick and Ilsa had been lovers in pre-war Paris, but she had left him as he fled from France during the invasion. Her appearance with her husband in Casablanca stirs up some old feelings of love and hate for Rick. He still loves her but can’t forgive her for leaving him, and now he is faced with the choice of either to help or not help her and her husband flee from the Nazi’s that are after them. It's a romance complicated by war, greed, politics, and morality.

What makes this story work is the acting and the script. It is amazing that the script is that good. It was rewritten a bunch of times. It was originally based on a play that was never produced then Julius and Philip Epstein started writing a script and when they started having trouble the producers asked Howard Koch to write a script. Then Casey Robinson looked over both scripts and combined them adding a little romance that he thought was missing from both. Usually when a script goes through this many changes it a good bet that it is going to be a bad movie. Especially since the script wasn’t even finished when the movie started shooting. They were never sure how the movie should end. In the 80’s the script was sent to readers under a different title and some who did not recognize it said it was “not good enough to make a decent movie”, “too much dialogue”, and “not enough sex”. Yet the movie is considered the best screenplay of all time. Somehow it all worked. The dialogue is great. It has some of the best lines in movie history. It is quick, witty, and fun. Even during the romantic parts it is not too cheesy. But it’s also the actors that bring the script to life that makes it work. You can have the best script in the world but if you have bad actors it’s just not going to work. Bogart gives one of his best performances as Rick. He has the tough guy persona and yet he can show his sensitive side. Claude Rains is amazing also. As the corrupt Captain Renault he delivers some of the best lines in the movie so easily. While the movie focus’s on Rick and Ilsa the friendly banter and honor among thieves friendship of Renault and Rick give the movie some humor and some tension. You really need to watch the movie a bunch of times to catch all the little one liners in there. The score was also amazing. Max Steiner is probably one of the greatest early composers of movie scores. Besides for Casablanca he also scored, Gone With the Wind, King Kong, Arsenic and Old Lace and tons of other movies. He was nominated 24 times for an Academy Award and only won 3. But his scores are amazing and truly helps the mood of all the movies.

The movie won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. How it didn't win any acting awards is a mystery. Max Steiner's score was also nominated but didn't win.
The movie is on a number of lists as being the greatest movies of all time. On AFI’s Top 100 list it was #2 the first year and #3 when they did their 10th year edition. Why the fall? I don’t know. I think it should have been number 1 both times. It is much better then Citizen Kane. It was listed as the #1 romance movie and #37 on the thrillers list. It also had 6 entries in the Greatest Movie lines more then any other movie.
Some of my favorite lines. “Of all the gin joints in all the towns, in all the world she walks into mine”.

When the Germans order Captain Renault to close Ricks
Rick: How can you close me up? What Grounds?
Captain Renault: “I’m Shocked, shocked to find gambling going on in here!”
(someone hands Renault a pile of money)
Croupier: Your winnings sir
Captain Renault: ”Oh, Thank you very much.”

Last Lines of the movie “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”

Overall a great movie and a must see for all movie fans.

Mrs. Miniver

Mrs. Miniver is one of my Grandmothers favorite movies to win Best Picture and its the first Best Picture winner about WWII. The movie tells the story of a women (Mrs.Miniver of course) and her family as cope with the beginning parts of WWII in England. The movie is told from her point of view and how she tries to keep her family together during this difficult time. Her son, Vin joins the Royal Air Force and her husband patrols the waters in his boat which leaves her home alone with her two younger children. While the story centers on the story of her family it also
shows her interaction with the other townsfolk and how they all must change.

What I like about the movie is that it portrays an ordinary family dealing with extraordinary situations. For the most part the acting is great. Greer Garson as Mrs. Miniver and Walter Pidgeon as Mr. Miniver do a great job of showing the roller coaster of emotions. Teresa Wright as the fiance of Vin Miniver is very good as well and is one of the stand out performances in the movie. Too bad the same cant be said about Richard Ney as Vin. His performance very one dimensional and over the top. He just doesn't have the depth of emotion that the others have. The other problem with Richard Ney is that he is only 12 years younger then Greer Garson and its hard to believe that he is her grown son. Guess that's saying a lot about Greer that she doesn't look old but they could have done something with make-up to at least make it look like she could be a mother of a grown son. And a weird fact afterward Greer and Richard got married after the movie filmed. I find that a little disturbing for some reason.

Some consider this a propaganda film. That it really resonated with Americans because it showed what might happen if they didn't fight in the war. And I guess from that perspective it is true. The message at the end is if you want to keep your way of life then you need to fight the Germans. The final line of the movie is the vicar saying "This is the people's war! It is our war! We are the fighters. Fight it then. Fight it with all that is in us. And may God defend the right" Watching it now almost 70 years later except for the last line it doesn't really feel like propaganda and more as a look at how war affects a family. I guess that is a true testament to a good film That it has multiple ways of being interpreted and can stay relevant after 70 years.

Other notes of interest.
It was the first movie to be nominated for 5 acting awards. Won 2. Greer Garson for Best Actress, and Teresa Wright as Best Supporting Actress
William Wyler won his first Best Director Oscar. He was nominated 4 previous times and has the most nominations for any director with a total of 12 with 3 wins.
Greer Garson gave the longest acceptance speech in Oscar history she rambled on fort 5 1/2 minutes.