Les Trois Caballeros

Most everything about this neat little movie has been said by previous posters, except this.

The motivation for making it was, of all things, the US State Department! The US was deeply involved in fighting World War Two. At this point in time the average American knew almost NOTHING about South America, and the Nazi government was busy making business and political connections there, especially in Paraguay... there, transplanted Germans were a well established colony. They were aiding Hitler's war effort with the operation of industrial concerns, as well as providing espionage support.

South America promised to become a new battlefront if German successes and infiltration continued. The region produced vital strategic raw materials, key among them rubber.

Our strongest ally in the region was Brazil. The US Navy had a number of installations there, both sea and air. The Brazilian Navy worked closely with US forces in hunting U-boats in the Atlantic narrows; a number of US Navy vessels were transferred to them. American air bases (the largest of which was at Recife) provides home base for American aircraft, both fixed wing and lighter than air blimps, to provide air support coverage to trans Atlantic convoy operations.

The State department felt it would be a good idea to familiarize Americans with the land, people, and way of life of South America, and called on Disney to produce THE THREE CABALLEROS. The movie was, first and foremost, a TEACHING TOOL for both military forces and the general public during a global war.

BTW... I love the crazy little bird too! HE'S the best part of the film!

There are two other Disney films made for the Government that I'd LOVE to find copies of.

One is VICTORY THROUGH AIR POWER, another WW2 product.

The other is one that I saw back in Basic Training in the 1970s. Believe it or not, the Walt Disney studios produced a military training film on the prevention of VENEREAL DISEASE!!! The unfortunate Lady dispensing said commodity bore a VERY striking resemblance to Snow White!

Because of that film I can never view SNOW WHITE in quite the same way ever again!

Walt Disney's outreach to the South American market resulted in a couple of films--SALUDOS AMIGOS was the first, and THE THREE CABALLEROS came next. To make a comparison, I'd have to see "SA" again, but I do recall that it had some charming musical sequences.

The same is true of THE THREE CABALLEROS, especially when the musical score includes the title song (delightully done by Panchito, Jose Carioca and Donald Duck), and repeated throughout, and ballads such as YOU BELONG TO MY HEART and HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO BAIA? All of them are performed with some fantastic art work and animation combining live action and cartoon characters.

The last fifteen minutes seems to be scrambling for a way to keep the viewer's attention with some explosive fireworks and a dazzling display of surrealism, minus any conception of a way to end the movie on a high note. The film itself is uneven, offering typical Disney animation for the flying donkey sequence and then resorting to over-the-top fireworks that outdo the Pink Elephants number from DUMBO.

But it's hard to resist the bouncy South American flavor of the score and the charming characterizations of Donald, Panchito and Jose Carioca. The stylized conception of a Mexican Christmas by artist Mary Blair is a standout among the art work involved here, although later the piñata sequence is a bit overwhelming in effects.

The dazzling color and the music make it worth watching at least once, although it's hard to make a comparison between this and other Disney full-length features. Some of the action is fast and furious but the sort of thing that will appeal to very young children.

Summing up: You will either love it or hate it, but if you're a Disney fan you should see it at least once.

Wildly colorful, almost hallucinogenic offering from Walt Disney plays like "Fantasia" on speed. Though not much more than a hodgepodge of story ideas, the film mixes live-action with animation in saluting Mexican and South American cultures. Donald Duck is the star this time, and his title musical number alongside Joe Carioca and Panchito is a head-swirling collage of colors. The Disney animators were obviously full of inspiration, but the entire movie plays like that drunken elephant sequence from "Dumbo": manic, fruity, sometimes quite fabulous. Entertaining to be sure, and better than its predecessor "Saludos Amigos", but certainly odd and never very popular from the 1940s through the 1960s since Disney rarely circulated it as a whole. *** from ****

A lot of things can be said about this movie, but no one can say it is dull. Disney's Donald Duck takes us on a scenic and musical tour of Latin America with episodes in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. It begins in a lively tempo and speeds up until it explodes in fireworks at the end.

It was a big and necessary hit for Disney at the time but, in a way, it's too bad the film couldn't have been released about 1968, when so many youngsters were doing acid and weed, because this is one trippy movie. It belongs right up there with "2001: A Space Odyssey." A live figure may begin to dance and sing through a cartoon village. Soon Donald Duck joins the dance. Then the lamp posts begin to sway rhythmically, and soon the buildings are bouncing up and down, and then the moon darts from side to side. The viewer may twitch a bit too, because some of the rhythm is very catchy. America gave the world jazz, and Latin America gave us the samba, the conga, the bossa nova, the tango, Carmen Miranda, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and the transplanted Manuel de Falla. And the piñata.

It's a pageant of color and music. All but one of the tunes are converted from earlier Latin American songs and they're very catchy. Two made the Hit Parade, which was a big deal at the time -- "Baia", "Brazil", and "You Belong To My Heart." It's unsophisticated cornball resembling nothing real but you can't find the exit.

President Roosevelt was all in favor of making a movie like this, for several reasons, none of them musical. He called it "the good neighbor policy." South American countries were a supply source for the Allies. We needed access to airfield like Recife in Brazil to shorten the hop to Europe. And few of us found is a sound idea to encourage the pro-Nazi population of countries like Paraguay and Argentina.

See it -- and have yourself an extended myoclonic spasm.

Funny, people nowadays don't seem to realize that this was a World War II propaganda film -- only one comment below makes that point. Many such features and shorts were turned out during this time, and not just from Disney; Warner Bros., MGM and others did as well. Keep this in mind and it makes a little more sense. Even more of the fractured, surreal nature of this film is explainable when viewed in the context of other Disney animated features of this time. "Fantasia" (of course), "Dumbo," "Pinocchio" and other movies contained what seemed like drug- or alcohol-induced sequences (maybe someone with more intimate knowledge of Disney productions of the time can shed some light on those!). Disney also seemed eager to experiment with blending of animation and live action during this time ("Song of the South"). Anyway, this was aimed primarily at engendering better relations between North Americans and our ostensible allies in Latin America. The animation is very good and some of the music (especially the title song) is memorable. Watch it for what it is and enjoy!