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Saludos Amigos [1943]


RRP: £17.99
Our Price: £3.95 (subject to change)

Mainly of historical interest.
Review date: 2006-01-18 Rating: 6 out of 10

In 1942 with the lucrative European market lost because of war Disney could not afford lavish animated features like Snow White and Bambi and turned to a series of popular versions of Fantasia with a Latin American flavour embedding live footage within the animation.

Therefore looking at “Saludos Amigos” as current entertainment one asks “what the hell!” but take an historical perspective, sixty four years ago there was no television, no cheap travel, therefore the material in this film would have been novel to the audiences.

The film is notable for the introduction of Jose Carioca and plots his development.

However the accompanying filmed record of the research trip by the Disney studio to South America is fascinating, was this generally released I wonder. I provides a real insight into the Disney machine in operation and great footage of the interior of a propeller airliner (DC7?). The washed out quality of the colour puzzled me at first, then I realised it was almost certainly filmed on 16mm with very early colour stock. For me this documentary is the reason for owning the DVD.

For those of us with an historical outlook it is intriguing, for others best avoided and almost certainly will not be appreciated by the children.

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Reviews


Short simple and Effective
Review date: 2002-11-05 Rating: 8 out of 10

Although not one of the most well known of the Disney films this film is one of the classics and rightly so. It is not as long as a standard film, only 40 minutes but it is still as entertaining. The film is split into four main sections to tell four stories all about south America. The film was made in the early 1940's during the second world war as the war had cut off a lot of oversea markets and so this alonh with the feature "The Three Caballeros" was made to bring in some profit and to add to relations with South America.
The first segment sees Donald Duck exploring Lake Titticaca and trying to get to grip with native traditions. The second segment sees Goffy as El Gaucho Goofy a sort of south american cowboy and he has to get to grips with his horse. In the next section, we see a story about Pedro the mail plane who has to brave the mountains in order to get the mail through. The final sequence is the first appearance of José carioca, a character who would go on to star in many more films and cartoons including "The Three Caballeros. He teaches Donald about the music of Latin America. The DVD comes with another theatrical film released to theatres a 30 minute documentary of the film was made with footage from the research trip.
This film is known as a "Package Film" as it is made up from segments and was one of many released during the wartime as they were easier and cheaper to produce and they are often forgotten because they are"package films", but I have found that many of these films contain the best stories animation special effects and gags.

Not one of Disney's best, but quite interesting
Review date: 2000-11-19 Rating: 6 out of 10

Saludos Amigos was inspired by the Disney studio's trip toSouth America in 1941.... The movie includes some live footage showing Disney and his staff doing sketches during the trip. There are four main parts in the movie - Lake Titicaca (an under-average Donald Duck short), Pedro (a nice story about a mail plane), El Gaucho Goofy (a quite funny short where Goofy learns how to be a gaucho) and Aquarela do Brazil (where a brush paints the backgrounds as Donald Duck and a parrot called Joe Carioca visit Rio de Janerio). Saludos Amigos' running time just over 40 minutes which makes it Disney's shortest "feature". The picture quality and the colours are very well restored, though a scene where Goofy smokes a cigar has been deleted, which might upset Disney collectors.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Fred Shields
Clarence Nash
José Oliveira
Pinto Colvig
Walt Disney

Creators:
Fred Shields (Primary Contributor)
José Oliveira (Primary Contributor)
Dick Huemer (Writer)
Harry Reeves (Writer)
Homer Brightman (Writer)
Joe Grant (Writer)
Ralph Wright (Writer)
Roy Williams (Writer)

Recording label: Walt Disney Home Video
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Home Video
EAN: 5017188885171
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2002-08-12
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audience rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region code: 2
Running time: 40 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1943-02-06
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: Portuguese (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired)
Language: English (Subtitled)

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