Make Mine Music (1946)

Directed by Joe Grant. Starring (voices) Sterling Holloway, Nelson Eddy, Jerry Colonna.

Third of Disney’s six anthology animated films produced during and immediately after the war, and as suggested by the title, songs serve as key inspirations for each segment—popular contemporary styles as opposed to the classic compositions from Fantasia. A patchy affair overall; the more narrative-based and “traditionally” entertaining vignettes work best: an exaggerated re-telling of the “Casey at the Bat” poem, a fantasy about a singing whale and the theater producer determined to catch it, a quickie about feuding backwoods families inspired by the Hatfields and the McCoys (“The Martins and the Coys”), and, best of all, an interpretation of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” piece. The rest are more akin to tone poems and lyrical interludes, but lack the magic, majesty and artistry of the aforementioned Fantasia. Features vocal/musical performances from Benny Goodman, Dinah Shore, the King’s Men, and the Andrews Sisters, among others. Most video releases omit the “Martins and the Coys” segment entirely, presumably because of the, ahem, lethal gunplay and suggestions of domestic violence (as depicted, pretty harmless stuff, in this critic’s opinion). The “Casey at the Bat” bit inspired a shortie sequel several years later: Casey Bats Again.

58/100