Once Upon a Wintertime

This is one of quite a few shorts from "Melody Time" an animated Disney film featuring short animated "episodes". This is the first one - and not the best. It is sweet, well-animated and includes good singing - but it is a bit too silly - and there are other shorts in Melody Time that succeed further than this does.

In this particular one, two lovers, in the wintertime (duh) are riding a carriage to a lake, so that they can skate together. As the two young lovers begin to skate, two rabbit lovers join them and unfortunately, things seem to go wrong between both couples...

To watch this, watch the whole of "Melody Time". As far as I know, it is easily available - and completely worth watching. Enjoy "Once Upon a Wintertime"! :-)

Once Upon a Wintertime is a truly beautiful short, one of my favourites actually. I know that the song takes up most of the 10 minute short, from Melody Time, but that is forgiven as the whole short is very beautiful. My ONLY complaint is that it drags only slightly. The animation is very nice to look at, with gorgeous winter settings, the idea of the couple in the horse-drawn sleigh, was a very good one. This was a fairly christmassy tradition, in the time the short was set, and I confess it is something I've wanted to do for a while now. I liked the couple who go ice skating, and they argue because the man makes fun of her inability to ice skate, and then has to save her when the ice breaks. I also loved the rabbits, the male rabbit was quite funny, and I loved the majesty of the chestnut mares. I think the main merit of the short is the song, which takes the name of the title of the short. A truly beautiful song, with wonderful lyrics, and was sublimely sung by Frances Langford. I don't know about you, but Langford's singing voice slightly reminds me of that of Judy Garland. She was sensitively accompanied by a very angelic choir, that two or three minutes in, have their turn to shine. Overall, a beautiful Christmas short, very imaginative and fairly idealistic, with a wonderfully romantic ending. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Originally released as part of the omnibus animated feature Melody Time (1948), Walt Disney made Once Upon a Wintertime as a separate short subject five years later. With the score consisting entirely of Francis Langford's rendition of the title song with a very long instrumental bridge, we watch a young adult couple riding on a sleigh accompanied by a similar male and female rabbit one down below on the blades. Then some little argument ensues before some thrilling thin ice danger brings everyone to a crescendo before the romantic happy ending ensues. Beautiful animation throughout and one gets that warm feeling nearly the entire time despite the cold setting. Well worth seeking out on YouTube which is where I watched this when I linked from the Saturday Morning Blog.

Once Upon A Wintertime is a classic Disney short. I can remember watching the film every Christmas when I was little. The short was featured on a number of Disney holiday releases in the 80s/90s. Part of the Disney magic is being able to capture the attention of viewers and have a sense reliability to characters...even animals. This short, although created early in the Disney Studios history, was able to showcase the talents of the artist......without a word being spoken (minus the song). For all the Disney nerds out there, Once Upon A Wintertime was, in part, a Mary Blair piece.

This cartoon was originally part of Melody Time, an animated anthology of musical cartoons made by Disney. It's a sweet little story about a couple in love at wintertime taking a sleigh ride and playing around on the ice. There's also a very cute rabbit couple. It's got a cozy seasonal vibe to it that I liked. The animation is colorful and lovely to look at. Frances Langford sings the title song and she has a beautiful voice. It's only a few minutes out of your life so really what's the harm in trying it out? If possible, I'd recommend watching it in Melody Time as you get to see many other musical cartoons as well.