DT-Saludos Amigos~42 and The Three Caballeros~44

Sep 1, 201224 min read

Deviation Actions

Duckyworth

Published: Sep 1, 2012

2.4K Views

Gallery Watch Me Note Me Journals

Hello everybody!

Today, I'll be sharing my views on two underrated Disney films - Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros, released in 1942 and 1944 consecutively.

Both of these films are very similar, so I'll critique them both together.

I was really curious to see a package 1940's Disney film, and The Three Caballeros and Saludos Amigos exceeded expectations with their humour, two new funny characters (Jose and Panchito) and educational aspects. Personally, I think it is better, and a rare gem indeed, if a film acts to not only entertain, but educate the audience at the same time. Sure back then, the films may have simply been propaganda to get Latin countries to support the allies in WWII, but looking at them now, past that.. They still have charm.

I think it was nice to watch films that can have great animation, characters and music which can also be relatively peaceful when compare to the other Disney films of the time.....
We all need a break from things like Snow White's Evil Queen turning into an old hag, Pinocchio encountering FIVE villains in the same film (Honest John, Gideon, Stromboli, the Coachman and Monstro), and Fantasia having intimidating dinosaurs and Chernabog segments...

The Three Caballeros film starts off with the first of many hilarious puns - Donald Duck's birthday is on Friday the 13th.

First joke works = good sign. The films are also split into numerous stories, like a penguin who wants to move to the Tropics, a gaucho and his flying donkey, Goofy as a gaucho (leading to one of the funniest Goofy moments ever - him accidentally sitting on his spurs

), Donald being shown around Latin America, a family of planes delivering important mail (which I think inspired the upcoming Disney Pixar film 'Planes') and the birds of South America. All of these have great jokes in them and I love the educational bits they have in, as I have an appreciation for children's films and cartoons that educate as well as entertain, giving the cartoon more of a point than to simply give you something to look at.

The characters Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles are really funny, and have really nice voices as well - the voice actors for these two did a really great job.

However, at times, Jose can be REALLY tricky to listen to, as it is very hard to figure out what he is saying most of the time, even with the help of subtitles!

For example, I thought 'Baia' was Brazil in a Brazillian accent, but I then learnt that it's a place in Brazil...

Two things that are really overlooked is the animation and the music. The fact that a film as early as 1944 can have animated and live-action characters interacting with each other is really cool, and this was more than FORTY years before Who Framed Roger Rabbit, so, although it obviously improved over 40 years, it is still pretty amazing for it's time.

And the animation in both films is impressive, and there is a cute joke in Saludos Amigos that shows Jose being drawn for the first time, and I thought that was a nice touch.

The music is also very pleasent, and surprisingly catchy and memorable. Especially Jose's song, 'Baia' in The Three Caballeros- it's such a beautiful song, and when played over Fantasia-style drawings of Brazil, it is actually quite relaxing and soothing...

It's the same with the music in the 'A Watercolour Of Brazil' segment in Saludos Amigos- yeah, is it me, or is Jose a music magnet, wherever he goes, great music follows? Well, he does play his umbrella like a trumpet, so it kind of makes sense... In a Disney way..

And of course, seeing Donald Duck going gaga over ladies reminds me of Pyro... and that just made me laugh even more.

Now of course, there are some negative points. Both of these films are significantly shorter than many other Disney films of the time (Saludos Amigos is only FORTY MINUTES LONG!!

), which may be a bit disappointing for some people. There are also many ethically insensitive elements in both of these films, like many of the characters being racist stereotypes. Thirdly, both films just seem to end abruptly - the endings just come out of nowhere when you're getting into the final part!

But, those are all nitpicks, in my opinion. It was in the 40's, the Second World War, no less, so money was probably tight for the Disney company, the Americans really wanted help from Latin America in the war, and there were many racist assumptions back then, so I'll let all of these errors off as minor flaws. And, it is nice to see some classic Disney, with some retro cartoon elements thrown in (the houses and inanimate objects actually DANCE in The Three Caballeros while in Baia - it is literally a house party.

)

In my opinion, these films are sadly overlooked, and deserve a larger audience.

If you haven't seen them, I highly recommend these films - I promise you won't regret viewing them.

I have also prepared a list of some films I will definately share my views on below - They are in no particular order, but I have more ideas for some than others, and I will be adding to this list.