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Saludos Amigos
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by Walt Disney Video
Sales Rank: 10953
Price: $14.99
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The first of two features Walt Disney made at the behest of the Office of Inter-American Affairs, <I>Saludos Amigos</I> consists of four cartoons linked by live-action travel footage. The very funny "Lake Titicaca" finds Donald Duck high in the Bolivian Andes, struggling with a recalcitrant llama. "Pedro," the story of a little airplane replacing his father on a mail run across the Andes, is a variation on "The Little Engine That Could." "El Gaucho Goofy" continues the popular "How To" cartoon series that juxtaposes a deadpan narration with increasing physical mayhem. Here, Goofy demonstrates Pampas-style riding and the use of the bola. The jaunty parrot Jose Carioca makes his debut in "Aquarela do Brasil." Although largely eclipsed by the wilder <I>The Three Caballeros</I> (1944), <I>Saludos Amigos</I> retains its charm. Included in the supplemental material is <I>South of the Border with Disney</I>, which chronicles the Good Will Tour Walt and a group of his artists made in 1941. The 16mm footage has darkened, but this featurette offers rare glimpses of some of these artists at work, including Frank Thomas, Norm Ferguson, and Mary Blair, whose stylized drawings set the look for much of <I>Saludos Amigos</I> and <I>Caballeros</I>. <I>--Charles Solomon</i>
Viewer Reviews
This movie was one of two movies made at the request of the Office of Inter-American Affairs during World War II. The goal of the trip that created this movie was to help improve relations with South America during the war. Some countries in South America had little reason to be friendly with the United States during the war, and some of these countries had relatively friendly relations with the Axis powers. Walt Disney's goodwill trip was a relatively low-key way for the United States to show South Americans how friendly the Unites States was.
There are three problems with this "full-length" animated feature. First, the animation is actually four cartoons that Disney wove into the visit by Walt Disney and a team of artists to South America. The second problem is that this feature is only 42 minutes long, which is well short of feature length. The 75 minutes shown on the box includes a documentary titled "South of the Border with Disney." The third problem with this "full-length" animated feature is that it is very dated. South America has changed a lot in the six-plus decades since this movie was initially released. The result of these problems is that the movie falls well short of being a "must-have," unless you are a die-hard Disney fan and you must have everything created by Disney.
This DVD does have two redeeming features.
First, the four cartoons woven into this feature are cute and clever. "Lake Titicaca" shows Donald Duck in various locations in South America. Donald shows some interesting and exciting aspects of riding a llama on suspension bridges, among other things. This short is funny, clever and worth watching multiple times. "El Gaucho Goofy" has Goofy showing the similarity between American cowboys and South American gauchos. The demonstration is hilarious. "Pedro" is similar to "The Little Engine That Could," only Pedro is a small mail plane rather than a train. This short is quite clever and is one of the best reasons to have this DVD. The fourth short is "Aquarela do Brasil," or "Watercolor of Brazil." Donald Duck and José Carioca experience the wonders of 1942 Brazil in colorful and clever ways.
Second, the film shows Disney and a team of artists in action as they gather information and sketch scenes. Though this portion of the feature is dated, fans of Disney Studios and Disney artists may find scenes of their favorite artists from this era that they would be unable to find anywhere else.
I am a huge fan of Disney movies, with a collection of probably more than 300 movies. There are parts of this one that I like a lot. However, most modern audiences will consider this "feature" to be four cartoons connected by a lot of boring stuff. You may want to consider just how valuable this feature is to your collection considering how difficult and relatively expensive it will be to add it to your collection.
Good luck!
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