Saludos Amigos (1942)

Disney animators tour South America and present four animated shorts inspired by their trip.

Directors:

Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney,

Writers:

Ted Sears (story), William Cottrell (story),

Stars:

Fred Shields, José Oliveira, Pinto Colvig

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Fred Shields	...	Narrator
José Oliveira	...	Joe Carioca (voice) (archive footage)

Storyline

Live-action segments show members of the Disney staff touring South America and recording their impressions in sketches. These segue into four animated sections: "Lake Titicaca" depicts tourist Donald Duck's troubles with a stubborn llama; "Pedro" tells of a little mail plane's adventures flying over the treacherous Andes; "El Gaucho Goofy" transplants an American cowboy into the Argentine pampas; and in "Aquarela do Brasil," Jose Carioca shows Donald the sights and sounds of Rio de Janiero.

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Plot Keywords:

jose carioca | tourist | lake titicaca | trip | cowboy | 

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Taglines:

Walt Disney goes South American in his gayest musical Technicolor feature

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Family | Fantasy | Music

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Portuguese

Release Date:

6 February 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hello Friends

Filming Locations:

Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min 42 min (video release)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The "Pedro" segment "inspired" the Chilean cartoonist _René Ríos Boettiger_ ("Pepo") to create, in 1949, his most famous character: "Condorito", which became one of the most popular comic strip characters around the world.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: Here's an unusual expedition: artists, musicians and writers setting out for a trip through Latin America to find new personalities, music and dances for their cartoon films. So, adios, Hollywood, and saludos, amigos.

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Crazy Credits

With sincere appreciation for the courtesy and cooperation shown us by the artists, musicians and our many friends in Latin America - (signed) Walt Disney

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Connections

Referenced in The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Saludos Amigos"
Lyrics by Ned Washington
Music by Charles Wolcott
Sung during the opening credits

User Reviews

Unremarkable mixture of animation/live action - routine Disney.

This 43 minute feature has lain in the Disney vaults for almost sixty years. Although one or two of the cartoon segments within have appeared on the Disney television shows, the work itself entered a state of oblivion, not undeserved. It is a live-action travelogue to South America, inserted into which are four cartoons: Goofy as a gaucho, Donald as a tourist, Pedro (a mail carrying junior plane) and Donald with Joe Carioca dancing the samba. Accompanying it is a 30 minute 16 mm travelogue of the tour (in reverse order), utilizing more local detail. This work inexplicably garnered three Oscar noms: Sound, Scoring and Song - all undeserved. Probably it was honored due to its goodwill efforts in acknowledging our South American neighbors continued opposition to Naziism - so can be counted as propaganda. The Academy chose to nominate the forgettable title song, appearing only under the credits, and not the hit parade song (Tico, Tico) from the film - dumb Academy. This is harmless for kids but a piece of boring fluff for adults - certainly not worth buying, but maybe a rental or two for the young set may be in order. Newly released on video 5/00.