A musical fantasy in ten parts.
Released in 1946, Make Mine Musicnote is the 8th film in the Disney Animated Canon.
In light of World War II, a large portion of Disney's animators were drafted. In order to keep making movies, Disney had to settle with releasing package films. Make Mine Music is the first of these films (Although Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros can be included too, they were a product of the government wanting to make friends with South America, not because of a lack of animators.) Unlike most other Disney animated features from before the age of home video, this was never given a theatrical re-release. Sometimes, however, the individual segments were each tacked onto another Disney release. It is also the last one from Walt Disney's lifetime to be released on home video, and the only one absent from Disney+.note
As the name implies, the movie is a music-based Animated Anthology in a similar vein to Fantasia, divided into 10 separate shorts. As with many of the Disney package films of this period, the segments would occasionally be aired separately as part of various Disney anthology TV shows and VHS releases in the 80s and 90s. The shorts that make up the film consist of the following:
- The Martins and the Coys: "A rustic ballad" about two Feuding Families, the Martins and the Coys, whose feud eventually kills all but one member of each family, Gracie Martin and Henry Coy. The two survivors fall in love.
- Blue Bayou is an unused Fantasia segment, originally set to Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune.( The unabridged Clair de Lune version was eventually restored as a separate short.)
- All the Cats Join In is about a group of teenagers, or "hep cats," who get together at the local malt shop and dance around. Most of the scenery and characters are drawn by an artist with a pencil, in a similar style to Aquarela do Brasil from Saludos Amigos
- Without You is a song about lost love, with accompanying visuals. The lovers in question are never shown.
- Casey at the Bat is the classic story of the over-confident all-star.
- Two Silhouettes features two live-action silhouettes dancing to ballet music. Dinah Shore performed the song.
- Peter and the Wolf is an adaptation of the Sergei Prokofiev composition about a young boy who sets out to kill the local wolf.
- After You've Gone is about a set of musical instruments that come to life and begin dancing.
- Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet is the story of two love-struck hats in a department store that become separated when Alice is purchased.
- The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At the Met is about an incredibly gifted whale named Willie, that can not only sing Opera, but sing in three distinct voices at once thanks to his three uvulas. When he hears impresario Tetti-Tatti note is searching for him, he eagerly jumps at the call, unaware that Tetti-Tatti is actually hunting him because he thinks Willie has swallowed an undiscovered opera singer as opposed to being the singer.
These shorts provide examples of:
- Academic Alpha Bitch: Implied. All the Cats Join In has a brief shot of a stereotypically nerdy-looking girl (Nerd Glasses, carrying loads of books, wearing a school uniform worn by no one else) who appears just long enough to turn up her nose at the cool kids headed to the malt shop.
- Actor Allusion: Nelson Eddy performed all the voices in "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing At The Met". At one point Willie the Whale sings one of Eddy's signature songs, "Shortnin Bread".
- Adaptation Expansion: See Disneyfication below.
- Added Alliterative Appeal: Some of the headlines from "The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At The Met":"Seaman Sites Singing Sea Monster! 'Stone Sober' Salt Swears!"
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: In All the Cats Join In, the teenage girl gives her younger sister one after beating her to the phone.
- Alliterative Title: Make Mine Music!.
- Animal Gender-Bender: While it’s unclear exactly what species of duck Sonia is supposed to be, her brightly colored feathers would be more expected on a male duck, the green coloration being reminiscent of a mallard duck. This despite being female, which would normally have duller gray or brown colors.
- Animated Musical: Many songs are used to help move the story forward, with Casey and the Bat, "Without You", "The Martins and the Coys" and "Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet" being well-known examples from the film.
- Artistic License – Biology: The eponymous wolf in the Peter and the Wolf short can roar like a lion.
- Banister Slide: "All The Cats Join In". After the teenage girl walks down the stairs to her house, the animator draws a railing. The girl's Annoying Younger Sibling younger sister jumps up on the railing and slides down it.
- Big Red Devil: In "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met", Willie dresses like this while playing Mephistophiles in Faust.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: The hunters from Peter and the Wolf : Misha (big), Yasha (thin) and Vladimir (short).
- Bird-Poop Gag: In "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met", there are seagulls in the audience. The spectators below them wear their programs on their heads for fear of being pooped on.
- Bittersweet Ending: Willie's been harpooned and killed, but he continues to sing in heaven. Since it's the last segment of the movie, it can be seen as this for the movie as a whole.
- Bloodless Carnage: Despite "The Martins and the Coys" featuring dozens of deaths, not a single drop of blood is seen onscreen. In fact, the short notably skips a certain verse from the original novelty song:"Oh, the Martins and the Coys, they was reckless mountain boys
But old Grandpa Coy has gone where angels live
When they found him on the mountain,
He was bleedin' like a fountain
'Cause they punctured him 'til he looked like a sieve" - Bowdlerise:
- The Martins and the Coys was removed from the original Gold Classic Collection VHS and DVD release of the movie, and the Disney Movie Club Exclusive Blu-ray, for excessive gunplay.
- Some versions also digitally erase some side boob in All the Cats Join In (more info at The Other Wiki here
; see also video here).
- Cat Up a Tree: Subverted. In this case, Ivan is up the tree not as a Distressed Dude, but so that he can finally capture the wolf.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Martins wear blue and have red hair, while the Coys wear red and have black hair (though Henry is curiously blond).
- Dagwood Sandwich: The soda jerk in All the Cats Join In seems to make one (complete with toothpick and olive), but it's really a stack of sandwiches that he slides down the counter so everyone can take one (leaving the last guy with only the toothpick and olive).
- Dead Hat Shot: From Peter and the Wolf:
- In the short, the wolf chases the duck into a tree, and comes out with feathers flying, licking its chops. Subverted when the duck turns up alive at the end.
- Again subverted with a literal Dead Hat Shot greeting the three hunters, who immediately assume Peter's been killed.
- Disney Death: Despite Sonia's spirit entering the pearly gates, this image is just Peter and friends' imagination. It's notable as being one of the earliest examples of the trope, following Snow White's and Pinocchio's, and possibly the first ever straight example of the trope, as both Snow White and Pinocchio were more or less dead and revived afterwards, whereas Sonia was alive the whole time.
- Disneyfication:
- The story of Peter and the Wolf is changed around a bit, giving names to the various characters among other things. Most significantly, the duck, which is devoured by the wolf in the original story, is alive and well at the end, being in hiding after the wolf attacks it.
- Downplayed for Casey at the Bat. While most of the climax (including the Downer Ending) is kept word-for-word, the earlier verses are rewritten to accompany more cartoony antics. A sung chorus is also added.
- Downer Ending: Two shorts end on a bad note for the protagonist, though of the Played for Laughs sort.
- Casey At The Bat ends on one, just like the poem. "There is no joy in Mudville. For Mighty Casey has struck out." Though there is a sequel short that gives Casey a happy ending.
- Willie the opera-singing whale who is harpooned to death by Tetti-Tatti. Because this is the final segment of the movie, it could be seen as one for the movie as a whole, although it is more of a Bittersweet Ending, as we see the whale has gone onto heaven, still singing.
- Down to the Last Play: Casey At The Bat. Just like in the poem, it’s deconstructed- Casey intentionally lets the first two pitches by and doesn't swing at them so he can look better, but strikes out instead. He doesn’t take it well.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Johnnie Fedora goes through a lot to try and reunite with Alice Bluebonnet after they are both sold. They're able to be together in the end, albeit having both been discarded by their former owners and had holes cut in them, as the hats of the iceman's horses.
- Emotional Bruiser: The hunters in Peter and the Wolf start crying rather messily when it briefly looks like Peter got eaten alive by the wolf.
- Everybody Cries: This trope is used twice during Peter and the Wolf. In the first instance, Peter, Ivan, and Sasha cry over Sonia's apparent demise at the hands of the wolf. In the second instance, Misha, Yasha, and Vladimir burst out crying when it briefly looks like Peter has been eaten by the wolf.
- Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: In the opening of The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At the Met, the newspaper headlining the singing whale is being hocked by a newsboy who shouts this phrase.
- Fake-Out Opening: The title card and name of All the Cats Join In suggests the short will be about cats. The artist even starts drawing a cat before abruptly erasing it and drawing a human instead.
- Fanservice:
- In All the Cats Join In, there's a sequence in which a teenage girl strips down and takes a shower, then gets dressed. Although no "naughty bits" appear, the scene is surprisingly explicit for a Disney film.
- Gracie from The Martins And The Coys. That skirt sure flaps around a lot ...
- Feuding Families: The Martins and the Coys; the spirits of the departed family members aren't thrilled when the last survivors of each get together, but they perk up when it turns out their marriage is incredibly troubled.
- Happily Ever After: Played with oddly in The Martins and The Coys where the spirits of the two respective families are initially appalled at the idea of the two families living Happily Ever After... then come Gracie and Henry's marital spats.
- Hit Flash: Happens when Henry runs back into the house, only to run into Gracie's fist.
- Incredibly Long Note: Nelson Eddy begins "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing At the Met" with a long operatic note that causes a powerful wind storm where various papers are seen blowing around, and even a witch on a broomstick.
- Indy Hat Roll: Sascha barely escapes being eaten by the wolf, but when he notices his hat is missing, he flies back into the back of his mouth to retrieve it.
- Inelegant Blubbering:
- In Peter and the Wolf, the hunters cry in this manner when they think that Peter has been killed by the wolf.
- In the ending of "Casey at the Bat," Casey also blubbers after striking out at a major baseball game.
- In "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met", Willie cries whale-sized tears while performing "Vesti la Giubba" from Pagliacci
- Insane Troll Logic: Tetti-Tatti concludes that a whale swallowed an opera singer, and that's how he can sing. After all, he recalls discovering a couple of the greatest opera singers at nautical-themed locations, so that has to be the case... right?
- Inspector Javert: Tetti-Tatti, who is determined to harpoon Willie and save the (non-existent) opera singers he supposedly swallowed.
- Just Here for Godzilla: Invoked Trope in "Casey at the Bat". An original musical intro to the poem admits that none of the women in the Mudville area know anything about baseball, but they show up for every home game just to watch Casey knock one into the bleachers.
- Leitmotif: As explained at the beginning of Peter and the Wolf:
- Peter: The string quartet
- Sascha: Flute
- Sonia: Oboe
- Ivan: Clarinet
- Grandfather: Bassoon
- Hunters' gunshots: Drums
- Wolf: French horns
- Lighter and Fluffier: This applies to Peter and the Wolf, somewhat, mainly because Sonia the duck isn't eaten by the wolf after all.
- Mickey Mousing: Oddly, Peter And The Wolf spends the first two minutes explaining how this works, and which characters are represented by which instruments in case you didn't know, or couldn't figure it out by watching.note
- Mood Whiplash: "The Whale That Wanted To Sing At The Met" has Willie meeting Tetti-Tatti's expedition and singing to them. Everybody is overjoyed and even sing along (and are occasionally punching Tetti-Tatti as he alone tries to shoot) and Willie is hired and is singing at the Met and getting magazine covers and first-page articles in newspapers... and then boom! Turns out that while everybody else was distracted with Willie's singing, Tetti-Tatti finally got a clear shot with his harpoon gun and shot him and is screaming a victorious "I got him! I got him!" while the other whalers are wrestling him to the ground and Willie is thrashing around in his death throes.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: In Peter & the Wolf, the wolf is listed separately from the other characters, having a visual introduction rather than having his leitmotif described (it is never mentioned in the film that French horns are used for the wolf, unlike every other character). The narrator simply states, "There is also a wolf", in contrast to the fanfare he gave all of the other characters. This was likely to emphasize the wolf's lack of personality.
- Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You: At the end of Peter and the Wolf, after the wolf has been captured, Sascha is seen crying over Sonia's death when the duck comes out of hiding and joins him and crying for a few seconds before Sascha notices that Sonia is alive.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The short doesn't show how Peter manages to subdue and tie up the wolf.
- Outfit Decoy: In "Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet", one of Johnnie's adventures while he's searching for Alice is to be used as the hat-on-a-stick during a gang shootout.
- The Pearly Gates:
- When Sonia the duck is seemingly eaten by the wolf in "Peter and the Wolf", the others imagine her waving goodbye as she is about to cross the gates to Heaven.
- At the end of "The Whale who Wanted to Sing at the Met", Willie the whale is singing to a packed house in Heaven; the final shot is of a "Sold Out" sign on the Pearly Gates.
- Poor Communication Kills: Literally. If only Willie had been able to talk to Tetti-Tatti, the impresario wouldn't have killed him in a misguided attempt to "rescue" the opera singers he believed the whale had swallowed.
- Quaking with Fear:
- In "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met", as Willie performs as Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust, the Firemen tremble before him.
- In "Casey at the Bat", just like in the original story, one of the pitchers trembles at the knees when he got nervous.
- In "Peter and the Wolf", the camera itself does this when the wolf snaps and snarls at the audience.
- Ripped from the Headlines: The Martins and the Coys segment is a loose adaptation of the real-life Hatfield–McCoy feud from the Mid-to-Late 19th Century.
- Sexy Silhouette: Not in Two Silhouettes, as one may assume, but in All the Cats Join In, when the teenage girl goes to take a shower and strips down behind the screen door, where we can only see her naked silhouette.
- Silly Reason for War: While the Martins and Coys were never keen on each other to begin with, their feud, which near-completely wiped out both families (whose animosity towards each other carries over into the afterlife), was sparked after Grandpa Coy mistakenly stole eggs from the Martins' hen house while he was drunk.
- Solo Duet: Willie can sing in multiple voices: Tenor, baritone, and bass.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Sonia the Duck manages to evade the wolf and survive. In the original story, the duck gets eaten, although she's said to be still alive inside the wolf's belly because she was Swallowed Whole.
- Spinning Paper: The opening of The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At the Met, as we are told about the discovery of said whale. Worst News Judgment Ever is averted as the stories about Willie begin in small columns at the back of the paper, gradually becoming a front page story as the story gains notoriety.
- Stock Scream: Goofy's scream is used while the Martins were shooting Grandpa Coy.
- Stock Sound Effect: Dopey's crying from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is used twice when Sasha mourns for Sonia's apparent death.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: At first it seems that Peter and the Wolf will end with a Bittersweet Ending since although the wolf has been caught, Sasha is unable to enjoy the victory due to being too distraught by Sonia's apparent death at the hands of the wolf. Only it turns out that Sonia wasn't eaten alive by the wolf and was in fact hiding within the hollow trunk of a tree the entire time. As soon as Sonia reveals herself to be alive and well, Sasha gleefully embraces her and the segment ends with the two avians rushing off to join in the celebration of Peter's victory over the wolf.
- Winds Are Ghosts: In The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met, after Willie is harpooned, the moment of his death is indicated by a gust of wind rising up from the sea toward the sky.
- Word Salad Title: It's safe to say that Make Mine Music has confused a lot of kids, especially if they haven't yet learned alternate syntax and don't know that "mine" here is a pronoun, not an adjectival noun (i.e., "As for me, I'll take some music"). There have probably been a lot of mistaken notions that the title refers to making music while mining (which really is done in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs!).