My Disney Movie Marathon: Films from 1937-1949

I've gotten through about a decade of Disney movies and thought it'd be a good time to share my thoughts! From this set, I was unfamiliar with most of them and so had no nostalgic feelings or memories that I feared would be crushed.

Anyway... here we go:

  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937): For Disney's first movie, this one actually holds up. I like the songs, the Evil Queen is delightfully evil. I forgot she had a crow for a pet (and seems to set off the trend of villains always having some animal as a pet, often a bird). I also forgot that she dies by falling from a cliff. The dwarves were ridiculous and silly. Snow White was kind and compassionate, and somewhat dopey. But overall, for 1937... it's not a bad movie. It's a classic I'd share with my kids one day.
  • Pinnochio (1940): So we all know the classic song, When You Wish Upon a Star and I also had memories of I've Got No Strings to Hold Me Down, but other than that I didn't really remember much about this movie. I only slightly remembered about Cleo (the fish) and Figaro (the kitten) and I had absolutely no recollection of them being swallowed by a whale! It was quite the adventure. One thing I noted is that Pinnochio's growing nose is a very small plot point, and it only happens once in the whole movie. I wonder how that became the thing we remember most about our wooden little boy?
  • Fantasia (1940): I watched this a lot as a kid. We had the VHS and since my dad is a big classical music fan, I think he appreciated the bit of culture it injected into us. My favorites are the bits with the flying horses and cupids and centaurs and stuff. As well as the scene that has the dancing hippos, elephants, ostriches, and crocodiles. There is a really creepy ending that I forgot about... featuring Satan riling up his demons and stuff, but it ends with a beautiful rendition of Ave Maria. But I'd definitely skip that last bit with little kids. Disney+ does have a note that this film contains "outdated depictions"... which I think refers to the scene using The Nutcracker's Suite.
  • Dumbo (1941): I LOVED this movie as a kid. And I still loved it now. Dumbo is just the cutest little thing ever. And watching him overcome his disability of having large ears makes me smile. Having a hero is with a clear, visible disability or physical "flaw" is rare in a Disney film, so that's a bit special. Granted the clowns get Dumbo drunk and he has a whole hallucination/dream (although Pink Elephants on Parade was a favorite of mine as a kid)... and you could question some of the song lyrics of the dark-skinned workers setting up the tent at the beginning... and the crows have a "black-ccent" even though the actors are all white... but overall, this one holds up for me (Disney+ does says this may contain "outdated depictions"). Plus, it gives us one of the best lullabies out there: Baby Mine.
  • Bambi (1942): Want to make your kids hate hunters and camping? This is a great movie to show them. I mean, the humans ruin Bambi's life. Killing his mother. And then starting a fire that almost kills him and his wife. I mean... raise your hand if this was the movie that taught you about death? But there are also a lot of funny parts too. And it's a great movie to process life cycles and changing seasons and stuff. I really like the song Little April Shower and would totally add that to any Disney playlist.
  • Saludos Amigos (1943): This is the era when Disney stops creating movies with a plot and began doing anthology movies. This one takes us to South America and gives us a tour of some of the countries and the cultures. One friend felt it was a "Wikipedia" production... what Disney wants us to think about Latin America versus an authentic portrayal BUT... they do include live-action clips of the artists exploring and drawing what they see. And there is a clear partnership with some local talent with music and stuff. So overall, I thought it was a good little film to whet your curiosity, although I should note that Disney+ does say it "may contain outdated cultural depictions."
  • Three Cabelleros (1945): Same feelings as above. Expect this one is just focused on Brazil and Mexico. They still use some local talent from both countries for the music and songs, plus have some live-action clips that include local dancers and stuff. I had seen this as a child but remembered nothing except the title song. What I found highly offensive? Donald Duck was a womanizer and chased skirts the whole time. I wanted to slap him. Some of the little cartoon stories were cute, but I'd pick Saludos Amigos over this one.
  • Make Mine Music (1946): This one is actually not on Disney+. So I had to turn to YouTube clips to watch each little cartoon vignette that makes up this anthology film. The quality wasn't great, but it got the job done. Reminds me a bit of Fantasia... the way they take a popular song/classical piece and then build an animation story around it. There are some absolutely ridiculous stories, but that's kind of the fun of them. My favorite might be the story about the whale that sings opera. 
  • Fun and Fancy Free (1947): Welcome back Jiminy Cricket! He is our guide through two stories: one about Bongo the Bear and the other about Mickey and the Beanstalk. I actually had seen Mickey and the Beanstalk a lot cause we had a redone version that was released with a different narrator and without the creepy interjection of ventriloquist dolls. A bit weird, but overall it's fine.
  • Melody Time (1948): A lot like Make Mine Music, this is an anthology of a lot of little stories put together. This one had The Legend of Johnny Appleseed and the story of Pecos Bill that I thought were both kind of fun. The Andrews Sisters perform the music for Little Toot. And I'd say that all the other little stories were cute in their own right too. A lot more storytelling than music appreciation (in comparison to Fantasia and Make Mine Music).
  • The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad (1949): Don't let the title fool you... these are two separate stories told in one film. You get Mr. Toad's story first... told by some British guy. And then Bing Crosby tells the story of Ichabod Crane. I didn't find any characters especially likable and it was unsurprising to me that this wasn't famous and that I had never seen it before. 


From this list, the ones that I had seen before held up for me (except for The Three Cabelleros). They were what I remembered/expected for that most part. And I'd totally revisit them again (again, except for The Three Cabelleros). 

From the ones I had never seen before... I didn't find any new favorites, but none of them were necessarily disappointing. I think that I'm just not really a fan of anthology films, which is era had a lot of. 

I'm now down to seven Disney/Pixar movies that I've never seen. And now I get to dive into nostalgia with some of my childhood favorites like Cinderella (the first Disney movie my family ever owned, and I think our second movie ever... after The Sound of Music). 

Had you seen all of these old Disney films? Any favorites from this list?

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