Garv’s Picks of the Week: Make Mine Music and Melody Time (Disney Movie Club Exclusives)
For the release week of November 2nd:
Garv’s Picks of the Week: Make Mine Music and Melody Time [Blu-ray / Disney Movie Club]: We tend to think of the Walt Disney corporation as a juggernaut today, but during the years of World War II, the company was in poor financial shape, which wasn’t helped by the loss of much of the foreign market. After Bambi (1942), the studio shut down production on full-length animated features. Instead, they focused on more inexpensive package films, which grouped multiple animated shorts and sometimes included live action sequences. These films are mostly forgotten today, but two of them, Make Mine Music (1946) and Melody Time (1948) are getting individual Blu-ray releases this week. Make Mine Music features nine shorts, including the “Casey at the Bat” and “Peter and the Wolf.” Melody Time features seven shorts, including “Johnny Appleseed” and “Pecos Bill.” Both of the discs also include three bonus animated shorts in the extras. These Blu-rays are exclusive to the Disney Movie Club, so they cannot be purchased at standard retailers. If you are interested in joining the club, it can be found through this link.
Additional Titles of Interest —
The Beast Must Die [Blu-ray / Flicker Alley]: Two restored, Argentinian film noirs are coming to Blu-ray through a partnership between Flicker Alley and the Film Noir Foundation. Both include introductions by Eddie Mueller, the host of “Noir Alley” on TCM. This one stars Narciso Ibáñez Menta as a mystery writer who investigates the hit-and-run murder of his nine-year-old son.
The Bitter Stems [Blu-ray / Flicker Alley]: In the second of the Argentinian releases, an disillusioned reporter (Carlos Cores) and a Hungarian immigrant (Vassili Lambrinos) set up a fraudulent journalism correspondence school. When the money starts rolling in, so do the double-crosses.
The Secret of the Blue Room [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: This 1933 pre-code mystery thriller from Universal’s horror factory is about scares and murder for those who spend the night in the “blue room” of a European mansion. Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stuart, Paul Lukas, and Edward Arnold star.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: Claude Rains stars in the 1935 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ final, unfinished novel.
The Mad Doctor [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: Basil Rathbone is the titular doctor in this 1941 thriller. His practice is all about killing his wives for their money and covering it up.
The Guns of Navarone [4K UHD / Sony]: I love a good 1960s World War II “men on a mission” film. This classic, starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn, gets a 4K UHD upgrade.
El Mariachi / Desperado / Once Upon a Time in Mexico [Blu-ray / Sony]: Robert Rodriguez’s “Mexico Trilogy” has its moments, but the pictures are pretty uneven overall. If you’re going to pick them up, I suggest you do so in this bargain three-in-one set.
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Has Pecos Bill been uncensored? I seem to recall that some versions of Melody Time removed any references to him smoking.
I haven’t picked up the discs yet myself. From what I’ve read on the forums at Blu-ray.com, MELODY TIME is uncensored, including Pecos Bill. However, MAKE MINE MUSIC is said to have a few censored shots.