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Saludos Amigos

Saludos Amigos (1943)

February. 06,1943
|
6
|
NR
| Adventure Animation Music

A whimsical blend of live action and animation, "Saludos Amigos" is a colorful kaleidoscope of art, adventure and music set to a toe-tapping samba beat. From high Andes peaks and Argentina's pampas to the sights and sounds of Rio de Janeiro, your international traveling companions are none other than those famous funny friends, Donald Duck and Goofy. They keep things lively as Donald encounters a stubborn llama and "El Gaucho" Goofy tries on the cowboy way of life....South American-style.

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John T. Ryan
1943/02/06

ALTHOUGH THE EFFECT of this animation/live action hybrid was less spectacular than Disney's other efforts, such as SNOW WHITE, FANTASIA, BAMBI and DUMBO; it certainly was a success. Both at the Box Office and in critical praise, SALUDOS ANIGOS was adjudged a winner; both domestically and in the overseas marketplaces.SUCCESS IN THE third area of its reasons for existence were even more overwhelmingly effective than had been anticipated by anyone. The behind the scenes genesis of the film was an alliance between Disney and the United States Department of State. Presents us with a most perfect example of collaboration between the Private Sector and the Public in the form of the U.S. Federal Government, Roosevelt Administration.UNLIKE MOST SUCH experimentations, this one worked and paid big dividends for both parties.IN MMAKING SHORT work of a long story, the State Department underwrote a good will tour by Walt and a group of his artists, musicians and writers. The tour was of South America with stops in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Chile and some others. The purpose was two fold. One being as a sort of bulwark against the growing fascination with Fascism on the Conytinent; with the other's being an extended junket by the Disney Company in discovering the customs, manner of dress, language, literature and music of the many countries and regions of South America. Both ends were highly successful.THE SCENARIO FOLLOWS the real life tour of the Disney crew and uses the tour by airplane as the link between four animated segments. The first finds American tourist, Donald Duck, replete with faithful camera, visiting the Bolivia-Peru border at Lake Titicaca. The second finds a story very much like LITTLE TOOT (the tugboat); but has at its center a family of anthropomorphic airplanes whose job is to fly the mail over the Andes Mountains. The third examines how the Argentine Gaucho is the South American equivalent of the Cowboy of the Old West. Segment four brings Donald Duck to Rio de Janero in Brazil; where he meets and interacts with Portuguese speaking Parrot, Jose Carioca.ONE FURTHER OBSERVATION which we found was regarding the format that they used in framing the individual story segments. As a central dramatic device, Disney chose that of the touring artisans being moved about the continent from one country to another their charter airliner; much in the same manner that the real tour did. THE FICTIONAL MOVIE flight reminded us of our 4th grade geography book. In it one character "Peter Martin" was privy to his father's trans-global flight in which the two (along with us 9 year olds) visited all of the continents save for Antarctica.THE GREAT STORY of behind the scenes story of SALUDOS AMIGOS and its sequel, THE THREE CABALEROS, is told in the 2008 documentary film, WALT & EL GRUPO.

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Robert Reynolds
1943/02/07

This is the sixth animated feature done by the Walt Disney animation studio. There will be spoilers ahead:Prior to US entry into World War II, the US Department of State got Disney to go on a goodwill tour of South America due to the popularity of Disney's characters in Latin America.Material gathered there was used to make this film, which proved to be sufficiently popular that Disney made a second film (The Three Caballeros) in the same vein.At just over 41 minutes in length, this is just barely of feature length. Composed of live action footage and animation, it covers visits to the four countries of Peru, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. Each section of the film describes what the Disney artists found in each country as inspiration, followed by short animated sequences based on the visits. Brief live action/animated transitions of flights are used to lead into the sections.The first animated segment, "Lake Titicaca", shows Donald Duck visiting Peru as a tourist and interacting with a boy and his llama. It's typical Donald Duck and is rather funny. The highlight is Donald and the llama crossing a suspension bridge.The second segment, "Pedro", concerns a little plane named Pedro and his flight to carry the mail over the mountains in Chile. It's a fairly standard short of the "small hero faces adversity and wins through" variety and is the weakest segment, mostly because the other three are more entertaining. It's still fairly solid.The third segment is Argentina and its gauchos. The live action footage of gauchos leads into a Goofy short, "El Gaucho Goofy" and it follows the pattern of other Goofy shorts. The best part here is the slow motion footage of Goofy in action at the tail end of the short.The fourth and by far the best animated segment is "Aquarela do Brasil" ("Watercolor of Brazil") which is the most lushly beautiful animation of the film. Donald makes his return in this and it also introduces Jose Carioca. The animation starts out as a series of watercolor drawings which become animated and things morph from one thing to another. The animation is fantastic and the music is marvelous. Donald meets Jose, who is awed at meeting "Pato Donald" and takes Donald out to see the sights and to dance the samba. Thje segment is too short and leaves me wanting more.This is available on DVD and is well worth watching. Recommended.

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Horst in Translation ([email protected])
1943/02/08

The Disney movie "Saludos Amigos", which runs for little under 45 minutes, came out in 1942 when World War II was in full force and a certain movie called Casablanca hit theaters as well. Basically, this Disney work is a collection of four cartoons, each under 10 minutes. Between these cartoons, we find out some information about life in South America at that point. I did not like the introduction about cartoonists traveling down south, but the other sequences between the cartoons very informative and certainly worth a watch already for the contemporary historical documents they are.The four cartoons were all created by different directors and also work as stand-alone films. The first is about Donald experiencing South American in his usual slapstick fashion. We see his struggles with a llama and with dizzy heights. The second is about little mail plane who suddenly gets called to action after his parents suffer from high oil pressure. I found the ending a bit too melodramatic, but everything else about this short film is very good, possibly my favorite from the quartet. The third is another how-to short film featuring Goofy about how Argentinians/Gauchos live. I like especially the sports-related Goofy shorts, but this one did not do too much for me. Finally, Donald is back and meets a Brazilian bird. A fruitful collaboration as these two caballeros join two years later for "The Three Caballeros" with another bird not seen yet in this short film. Also, I would like to emphasize one scene, where a bee gets swallowed by a carnivorous plant, then transforms into Donald and spits out the bee again. This example that the bee is not just gone shows how family-friendly these cartoons were and really neglected the presence of death completely unlike animated films these days."Saludos Amigos" scored three Oscar-nominations in the music/sound categories, which is fairly uncommon for a short film looking at today's standards. It did not win an Oscar, but its success was probably one of the main reasons for the sequel. Worth a watch for cartoon enthusiasts or people interested in the history of South America. Lots of Latin music included here as well.

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TheLittleSongbird
1943/02/09

I have been a huge Disney fan for as long as I can remember, and I enjoyed Saludos Amigos. I did think it could have been longer(just a bit), one or two parts could have been better paced and Pedro the Aeroplane in my opinion isn't that funny and takes me out of the setting. That said, the animation is very lush with gorgeous colours and colourful settings and backgrounds. Plus all the characters are drawn very well. The title song is also memorable and the score is marvellous with some catchy rhythms. There are several entertaining sequences, Goofy comes very close to stealing the movie, and there is a hilarious meeting with a pesky llama. Donald himself is great with a wonderful cantankerous attitude, but as he teaches him to samba Jose Carioca steals the show as he is funny and delightfully chirpy. Overall, entertaining if not among the best of Disney. 7/10 Bethany Cox

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