SALUDOS AMIGOS
When you think of Disney films, “Saludos Amigos” is probably not the first one to come to mind. It's only 42 minutes long, making it the shortest feature-length Disney film to date. According to Oscar eligibility rules a film only has to be 40 minutes long to count as a feature film, so “Saludos Amigos” just barely passes the mark. There is no through-line plot. It's half animated and half documentary about the Disney animators going to South America to get inspiration for cartoons. The four cartoons they came up with were “Lake Titicaca”, starring Donald Duck, “Pedro”, about a young airplane and his first journey across the deadly Andes Mountains to get the mail, “El Gaucho Goofy”, which is along the same vein as other cartoons where Goofy teaches the audience how to do something, and “Aquarela de Brasil”, which is in the style of Disney's Silly Symphonies.
I read online that these four cartoons were originally supposed to be shown separately, but were put together with the documentary footage because it was believed that they would only be of interest in the country that they were about. I don't know if that's a justified fear or not. Movies from other countries and about other countries are shown here and can be quite popular. American movies are always very popular overseas. But oh well, it wasn't my decision to make. It was of nice to see the footage of the Disney animators learning about South American culture, even if it did make the entire film seem a little cobbled together. The animation is wonderful. It's classic Disney—Very funny and featuring characters that we all know and love.
This movie was nominated for three Oscars. It didn't win any of them. The first nomination was for Best Original Song for the title song. Honestly it's not that impressive. It's one of TEN nominees that year, and it just doesn't hold up to the other songs, many of which have become standards. The other nominees were 'Happiness is a Thing Called Joe' from “Cabin in the Sky”, 'Say a Prayer for the Boys Over There' from “Hers to Hold”, 'Change of Heart' from “Hit Parade of 1943”, 'My Shining Hour' from “The Sky's the Limit”, 'You'd be So Nice to Come Home To' from “Something to Shout About”, 'We Musn't Say Goodbye' from “Stage Door Canteen”, 'That Old Black Magic' from “Star Spangled Rhythm”, and 'They're Either Too Old or Too Young', from “Thank Your Lucky Stars”. The winning song was 'You'll Never Know' from “Hello Frisco, Hello”.
The second nomination was for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. Disney films are always known for their delightful scores, but this movie just gets lost in the field of ten nominees. The winner was “This is the Army”. Other nominees were “Coney Island”, “Hit Parade of 1943”, “The Phantom of the Opera”, “The Sky's the Limit”, “Something to Shout About”, “Stage Door Canteen”, “Star Spangled Rhythm”, and “Thousands Cheer”.
The third nomination was for Outstanding Sound Recording. In this year they nominated an insane amount of films for each category. “Saludos Amigos” was one of TWELVE nominees! The winner was “This Land is Mine”. Other nominees were “Hangmen Also Die!”, “In Old Oklahoma”, “Madame Curie”, “The North Star”, “Phantom of the Opera”, “Riding High”, “Sahara”, “So This is Washington”, “Song of Bernadette”, and “This is the Army”.
Originally Written on June 2, 2008
When you think of Disney films, “Saludos Amigos” is probably not the first one to come to mind. It's only 42 minutes long, making it the shortest feature-length Disney film to date. According to Oscar eligibility rules a film only has to be 40 minutes long to count as a feature film, so “Saludos Amigos” just barely passes the mark. There is no through-line plot. It's half animated and half documentary about the Disney animators going to South America to get inspiration for cartoons. The four cartoons they came up with were “Lake Titicaca”, starring Donald Duck, “Pedro”, about a young airplane and his first journey across the deadly Andes Mountains to get the mail, “El Gaucho Goofy”, which is along the same vein as other cartoons where Goofy teaches the audience how to do something, and “Aquarela de Brasil”, which is in the style of Disney's Silly Symphonies.
I read online that these four cartoons were originally supposed to be shown separately, but were put together with the documentary footage because it was believed that they would only be of interest in the country that they were about. I don't know if that's a justified fear or not. Movies from other countries and about other countries are shown here and can be quite popular. American movies are always very popular overseas. But oh well, it wasn't my decision to make. It was of nice to see the footage of the Disney animators learning about South American culture, even if it did make the entire film seem a little cobbled together. The animation is wonderful. It's classic Disney—Very funny and featuring characters that we all know and love.
This movie was nominated for three Oscars. It didn't win any of them. The first nomination was for Best Original Song for the title song. Honestly it's not that impressive. It's one of TEN nominees that year, and it just doesn't hold up to the other songs, many of which have become standards. The other nominees were 'Happiness is a Thing Called Joe' from “Cabin in the Sky”, 'Say a Prayer for the Boys Over There' from “Hers to Hold”, 'Change of Heart' from “Hit Parade of 1943”, 'My Shining Hour' from “The Sky's the Limit”, 'You'd be So Nice to Come Home To' from “Something to Shout About”, 'We Musn't Say Goodbye' from “Stage Door Canteen”, 'That Old Black Magic' from “Star Spangled Rhythm”, and 'They're Either Too Old or Too Young', from “Thank Your Lucky Stars”. The winning song was 'You'll Never Know' from “Hello Frisco, Hello”.
The second nomination was for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. Disney films are always known for their delightful scores, but this movie just gets lost in the field of ten nominees. The winner was “This is the Army”. Other nominees were “Coney Island”, “Hit Parade of 1943”, “The Phantom of the Opera”, “The Sky's the Limit”, “Something to Shout About”, “Stage Door Canteen”, “Star Spangled Rhythm”, and “Thousands Cheer”.
The third nomination was for Outstanding Sound Recording. In this year they nominated an insane amount of films for each category. “Saludos Amigos” was one of TWELVE nominees! The winner was “This Land is Mine”. Other nominees were “Hangmen Also Die!”, “In Old Oklahoma”, “Madame Curie”, “The North Star”, “Phantom of the Opera”, “Riding High”, “Sahara”, “So This is Washington”, “Song of Bernadette”, and “This is the Army”.
Originally Written on June 2, 2008
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