Melody Time (1948)

Why, Disney, WHY???

I was SO looking forward to this. I was born in the late 50's and grew up watching Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill on The Wonderful World of Disney. The opportunity to introduce my son to a cowboy who rode the cyclone was just too good to be true. Turns out, it really WAS too good to be true.

Why has Disney decided to hack up all their old stuff? Why can't they leave the old films as they were created? Everyone KNOWS the times were different. What's next? Will the ever-present pipe be digitally removed from all the Popeye the Sailor cartoons? Will Tom and Jerry be edited to hit each other with foam bats instead of pots, pans, irons and the occasional safe? I know those aren't Disney products, but what if the whole industry starts following their lead?

Come on, Disney!! Your body of work is incredible! I would even consider it the common man's art. Whether it's cartoons or live action movies like Mary Poppins or Song of the South, don't go CHANGING them. You don't see people putting more clothes on the Venus de Milo or Da Vinci's David because children might see them. They are what they are. Put a disclaimer on your films if you must, or put a revised version alongside the original, but LEAVE THE ORIGINAL ALONE!

And speaking of Song of the South (where you can't find an original copy of the movie OR the book anymore) will you also be getting rid of Peter Pan due to the way it depicts pirates and Native Americans? Will we lose the whole "What Makes a Red Man Red" song? And what about the scenes in Dumbo clearly depicting all the clowns getting drunk? We don't want revisionist versions of the movies. We want to share with our kids the movies we grew up with.

It's terribly disappointing to buy a product only to discover it's not as advertised. If you tell me it's Pecos Bill, I expect it to be the Pecos Bill I saw as a child. Want to remake it entirely? Fine! But don't change the old one. Truth in advertising, people! June 26, 2008

Pecos Bill

It was great fun seeing and hearing Pecos Bill again. About 55 years ago I had a "book" with pictures to follow the story of Pecos Bill while listening to 45 records. I had never seen the short movie. I don't remember his cigarette until reading other reviews. The other shorts were fun too. March 6, 2008

LOVE THIS ONE, BOUGHT IT, BUT...PLEASE, ENOUGH

political correctness which is so lame today anyway (removing Pecos Bill's cigarette), if anyone knows about or has seen some of the video games out now that show hearts being ripped out, massacres everywhere, this is a kitten's picnic by comparison, even with the cigarette.
As I sat writhing in agony watching the Whoopie Goldberg apologia before the start of every single Looney Tunes cartoon on one DVD set I own, I just had to wonder; WHY???? YES< we KNOW about the older times and the way things were then, we KNOW. PLEASE don't keep telling us what we already know.
Now having said that, I do love this collection and it is worth buying as is until they become more reasonable and independent in their thinking and treatment of us, the audience/consumer/customer.
One can only hope and pray we get these great classics as is, uncut and as they were meant to be seen in their entirety; this misguided PC and censorship has to stop somewhere, sometime, but until it does, we have to suck it up and get the cartoons we love so much.
P.S. WHERE is Song of the South???? January 9, 2008

Clipped wings can't fly

They've cut it up - it's not the real deal. Unless you like watching R movies cut for TV, or eating cereal without milk, or non-alcoholic beer, or "mild" salsa, don't buy this desecration. November 4, 2007

Melody Time

I purchased this dvd as a music teacher and it has some segments that will be good to use with my classes. Others were not as useful, because they're not so music specific. I particularly wanted Blame It on the Samba and Johnny Appleseed. September 27, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...