Brave mécanicien

A Walt Disney Cartoon.

THE BRAVE ENGINEER Casey Jones won't let anything stop him from getting his mail train to Frisco on time.

The American Tall Tale hero comes to comic life in this funny, fast moving little film. Boisterous radio comedian Jerry Colonna is the perfect singing narrator, his special brand of silliness completely in tune with the tone of the cartoon. Look fast early on for the name of Ward Kimball on the engine yard schedule sheet - this zany Disney animator was a tremendous train enthusiast.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Fun cartoon from Disney that's loosely based on real-life train engineer Casey Jones. The story finds Casey determined to get his cargo to its destination on time, despite all the obstacles that stand in his way. It's very cute and fun with wonderful voice work from Jerry Colonna. I'm a sucker for train stories so it has that added value for me. I read that this cartoon has been censored now by Disney, specifically the scene with the robbers being edited out because they have guns. A textbook example of the stupidity of political correctness and 21st century Disney's cowardice. Thankfully I did not watch that version.

Some of the pacing did feel a tad rushed in places, however The Brave Engineer is still really fun. The animation is lusciously coloured and beautifully drawn, and the music is catchy, especially the song, helped by the lively singing. The Brave Engineer has some hilarious commentary, some terrifically paced and never dull action, while the story is always engaging. The characters are zany and likable, and I personally thought Jerry Colonna's voice work was one of The Brave Engineer's best assets(though I can understand as his delivery and his style of humour can be seen as an acquired taste). True, it is not always subtle, but you can tell that a lot of enthusiasm went into it and it is immensely enjoyable as a result.

Overall, a really fun short with everything I love about Disney evident. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This is the story of the engineer Casey Jones and his insane efforts to make sure he delivers the mail on time. The train sequences are very goofy--a major plus.

This cartoon short from Disney is well worth seeing but I must warn you about two major distractions--the singing and, more importantly, the narration by Jerry Colonna. As for the singing, my feeling is many will like it and just as many won't. But the narration--that is something many, many will struggle with, as Colonna's shtick was to deliver his lines in an ear-piercing manner. It's a shame, as other than that it's a cute little cartoon...with VERY annoying narration.

By the way, look carefully at the scene where the conductor jumps off the train. Despite this, in the next scene you can STILL see him standing on top of the train!!

I haven't seen this since I was at most eleven, on a VHS compilation of Disney shorts, at the babysitter's house. I always had a memory of the collision course bit, so this morning I decided to try to find this film. I distinctly remembered the contrast between the frenzied musical theme over Casey's train screaming down the hill, & the weary but menacing theme over the uphill freight.

The film is rated rather poorly here on IMDb, but I don't see why. It is a tragic/comedic animated short produced by Disney in 01950 - what more do you want? It could have been made a little longer, mind you - but its runtime is long enough for a child's attention span.