Disney Classics In Order - No. 6 Saludos Amigos

We’re entering a slightly strange run of films here. They’re not the one that many people remember and are definitely outside the format of the regular Disney animated features, being more a collection of shorts (sometimes themed, sometimes not so much) produced during and immediately after the Second World War.

Saludos Amigos (1943)
Dir. Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske and Bill Roberts
Based Upon:- A trip to South America...

The One Where
Disney animators go on a jolly to South America in order to bolster US relationships with countries being courted by Nazi Germany (no, really).

General Viewing Notes
It’s a very odd film and is almost ludicrously short (clocking in at an ultra-minimal 42 minutes). It’s a mixture of live action and animation featuring crowd-pleasers Donald Duck and Goofy and is more like an animated travelogue. It also has slightly more the fell of something Warner Bros would do with the constant breaking of the fourth wall (but in a safer, less anarchic way than the Looney Tunes cartoons).

Disney Tropes
None really - it’s not like any of the other films so far (not even Fantasia, the other outlier) so you've not got much by way of trope material here.

Things You Notice As An Adult
- It feels a little like the film was produced as a justification for sending the animators off on a lovely holiday to various South American countries. Almost as if this was the assignment to prove that there was some educational worth in their visit (“What I Did On My South American Holiday”).
- Jose Carioca, the Brazilian parrot character introduced in this film, speaks largely in untranslated Portugese which feels quite refreshing.

Classic Songs - Are They?
There are two songs during the “Aquarela do Brasil” (“Watercolour Of Brazil”) segment ("Brazil" and "Tico-Tico no Fubá") but it’s not really a song-and-dance sort of film in the same way as the others.

Any Good Then?
It’s a diverting enough piece but feels very throwaway, partly due to unusual origins, structure and length. Interesting to see something different from what will become the standard Disney format in future. Is it one I;d watch again? Probably not but it doesn’t outstay its welcome (I’m looking at you, Bambi).

Next One Of These
Another lesser known effort from the war years.