Melody Time

1948
Approved
1h 15m

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

7.2K

YOUR RATING

An anthology of animated vignettes set to contemporary music.

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Hand-Drawn Animation Animation Comedy Family Musical

An anthology of animated vignettes set to contemporary music.An anthology of animated vignettes set to contemporary music.An anthology of animated vignettes set to contemporary music.

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win total

Top cast24

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Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers…

Trigger

Trigger The Smartest Horse in the Movies

Dennis Day

Narrator
(voice)
…

Laverne Andrews

Andrews Sisters
(singing voice)
(as Andrews Sisters)

Maxene Andrews

Andrews Sisters
(singing voice)
(as Andrews Sisters)

Patty Andrews

Andrews Sisters
(singing voice)
(as Andrews Sisters)

Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians

Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians
(singing voice)

Freddy Martin

Self
(credit only)

Ethel Smith

self - Organist

Frances Langford

Frances Langford
(singing voice)

Buddy Clark

Buddy Clark - Master of Ceremonies
(voice)

Pat Brady

Singing cowboy
(as Sons of the Pioneers)

Hugh Farr

Singing cowboy
(as Sons of the Pioneers)

Bob Nolan

Singing cowboy
(as Sons of the Pioneers)

Lloyd Perryman

Singing cowboy
(as Sons of the Pioneers)

Tim Spencer

Singing cowboy
(as Sons of the Pioneers)

Ginger Dinning

Dinning Sisters
(singing voice)
(as The Dinning Sisters)

Jean Dinning

Dinning Sisters
(singing voice)
(as The Dinning Sisters)

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Because of the controversy about cowboys smoking, the "Pecos Bill" segment was heavily edited for release on DVD. In the original film, Bill is seen smoking a cigarette in several sequences. The cigarette was edited out in each case, resulting in the removal of almost the entire tornado sequence and some odd hand and mouth movements for Bill throughout. These scenes have since been restored in a recent American Blu-ray release.

Goofs
At the end of Pecos Bill (1948), when Pecos and Widowmaker go back to live with the coyotes, it's seen that Pecos has removed his clothes and left them in a pile in the desert and Widowmaker has removed his horseshoes. However, Widowmaker lost his horseshoes earlier in the cartoon when he was bucking around when Slue-Foot Sue was riding him and a cowboy was seen being hit in the head by the horseshoes.

Quotes
[introduction to "Blame It On the Samba"]
Master of Ceremonies: The intoxicating rhythm of the samba. A talented miss serves a musical cocktail with a true Latin American fling. So if three boisterous birds of a feather fall under the influence of this torrid tropical tempo, don't blame them, blame it on the rhythm of the samba.

Alternate versions
The November 2021 Blu-ray (a Disney Movie Club exclusive) contains the unaltered Pecos Bill segment, along with the original RKO logo and mono soundtrack. This version is also available on Disney+.

Connections
Edited into Contrast in Rhythm (1955)

Soundtracks
Melody Time
Written by George David Weiss (as George Weiss) and Bennie Benjamin
Performed by Buddy Clark

Disney animation with music shorts (again)

Following on the heels of 'Fantasia' (which used classical music to accompany animated shorts) and 'Make Mine Music' (which used popular songs and recital instead), comes another musical anthology, 'Melody Time', the weakest of the three.

The Andrews Sisters perform 'Little Toot' to give life to a charming tale about a mischievous tug-boat who eventually redeems himself; while Roy Rogers performs the dullest piece of the film, 'Pecos Bill'. In-between we have a mixed bag - a choral version of the croaky old poem 'Trees'; a hot samba with Ethel Smith and Donald Duck; 'Bumble-Boogie' (which has a bee trying to escape from the musical cacophony which is Freddy Martin's orchestra and The Flight of the Bumble Bee); and the tale of Johnny Appleseed.

OK to pass the time but does not have anything on the scale of 'The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At The Met' or 'The Nutcracker Suite' from the previous films.