The first in a long line of Disney propaganda films, Saludos Amigos was commisioned by the US goverment during World War II to stir up more support for our Latin American allies, sort of. Disney and his animators did indeed go to South America for the purpos of making quasi-propaganda, but never intended to make a feature. According to Leonard Maltin's excellent book The Disney Films, the goverment complained that each of the four shorts was of limited use, because each was set in a specific country. Disney combined his shorts with 16mm documentary footage that had been shot of the trip, apparently for private "home movie" purposes. Add some narration to string the film together and you have-what? A movie obviously cobbled together, some of which are funny (which more than you can say than it's sequel, The Three Calleberos) and some of which fall flat.
For me, the highlight of Saludos Amigos is the Donald Duck cartoon, where the hapless avain gets altitude sickness at Lake Tititicaca and ends up being run over by a donkey. This sequence is genuinly funny and shows why Donald was there best character. Not as sucessful but still fun is the Goofy short, a mock instructional film where the dog demonstrates how to be a callebero, which as the announcer tells us is a sort of South American version of a cowboy. Another segment involving Jose Carioca, a Brazilian parrot is modereratly amusing, mostly because it also features Donald Duck. One segment, however, falls completly flat, an obnioxsly cloying tale of Pedro, an airplane who flies to close to mountain.
The documentary footage is interesting but ultimatley clashes with the cartoons. It is a different sort of experince to see Disney and his animator having fun and working than it is to see their creations, and the studio would eventually get much better at integrating this content.
The film is entertainig while you watch it, but not that memtorable afterwards. I was tempted to give it three stars just for the quality of the Donald Duck cartoon, but there doesn't seem to be enough of substance here to merit that. The movie awfully short for a feature, but was a suprise hit upon its release. I suppose the movie can be admired for entertaining Americans on the home front when they desperatly needed it, and for encouraging them to learn about other cultures. But even if it did what it intended to do at the time, is that enough for a recamendation? Unfortanley, no.
Saludos Amigos (1942)