Once Upon a Wintertime (1948)

I grew up watching this as a part of the 1983 Disney Channel Christmas special. I wasn't born until 1989, but my parents taped it back when it aired, along with several other classic Christmas cartoons, and we watched the tape every Christmas. I always enjoyed this cartoon. It has a charming and old-fashioned Christmas feel with the horse-drawn sleigh, clothing, and music. I also love the interplay of the animals, almost more than the people. While the idea of the females having a temper tantrum and then fainting at the sight of danger is a terrible, tired stereotype, if you understand the context of the times in which this cartoon was made, you can overlook it. Once Upon a Wintertime will always be a Christmas Classic.

"Once Upon a Wintertime" is an American 8-minute cartoon from 1948, so this one will have its 70th anniversary next year already. It is a Disney production by Oscar winner Hamilton Luske and apparently this one here is an extract of a full feature film named "Melody Time". It's about a pair of (tiny) humans dancing on the ice and they are joined in here by a whole lot of animals. The looks for this one are pretty good overall and you can see it's from the Golden Age of Animation. Story-wise it is so-so. Cuteness prevails and the more dramatic parts, i.e. the breaking ice, the danger of drowning etc. are not really too memorable. But the music makes up for that I would say. It's not just a good watch, also a good listen. Maybe the kinda lack of a plot kept it from becoming another Oscar nomination for Disney. It's all good though. Quite enjoyable from start to finish I must say. In my opinion, you should see it, preferrable these days during the holidays. Definitely a thumbs-up here.

Once Upon a Wintertime is a truly beautiful short, one of my favourites actually. I know that the song takes up most of the 10 minute short, from Melody Time, but that is forgiven as the whole short is very beautiful. My ONLY complaint is that it drags only slightly. The animation is very nice to look at, with gorgeous winter settings, the idea of the couple in the horse-drawn sleigh, was a very good one. This was a fairly christmassy tradition, in the time the short was set, and I confess it is something I've wanted to do for a while now. I liked the couple who go ice skating, and they argue because the man makes fun of her inability to ice skate, and then has to save her when the ice breaks. I also loved the rabbits, the male rabbit was quite funny, and I loved the majesty of the chestnut mares. I think the main merit of the short is the song, which takes the name of the title of the short. A truly beautiful song, with wonderful lyrics, and was sublimely sung by Frances Langford. I don't know about you, but Langford's singing voice slightly reminds me of that of Judy Garland. She was sensitively accompanied by a very angelic choir, that two or three minutes in, have their turn to shine. Overall, a beautiful Christmas short, very imaginative and fairly idealistic, with a wonderfully romantic ending. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Originally released as part of the omnibus animated feature Melody Time (1948), Walt Disney made Once Upon a Wintertime as a separate short subject five years later. With the score consisting entirely of Francis Langford's rendition of the title song with a very long instrumental bridge, we watch a young adult couple riding on a sleigh accompanied by a similar male and female rabbit one down below on the blades. Then some little argument ensues before some thrilling thin ice danger brings everyone to a crescendo before the romantic happy ending ensues. Beautiful animation throughout and one gets that warm feeling nearly the entire time despite the cold setting. Well worth seeking out on YouTube which is where I watched this when I linked from the Saturday Morning Blog.