Obscure Disney
I’ve been catching up on an informative and neatly written vintage Disney-centric weblog called Passport to Dreams Old and New, found via The Disney Blog. One part that especially stuck out was the recent post on lesser-known Disney shorts and films. Check it out, then by all means check out the films she wrote about.
In an effort to further my Disney education, I recently viewed for the first time Make Mine Music, the first of three mishmashy Fantasia knockoffs the company produced in the late ’40s. While Fantasia boasted Stokowski and majestic dinosaurs, this one had Dinah Shore singing over twee silhouettes of ballet dancers. Quite a comedown, although the film does have some nifty highlights (mainly the swing dancing and “Casey at the Bat” segments). I was disappointed, however, to find that the DVD was missing an entire segment. The hillbilly parody “The Martins and the Coys” was apparently left off due to its depiction of violent gunplay. Or perhaps they were afraid of offending hillbillies. Whatever. The fact that Disney put out a censored product is several times more offensive to me than anything the segment could possibly have. Wise up, Disney Co.!
