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| The Three Caba-leer-os |
Following the success of 1942’s Saludos Amigos, Walt Disney Productions received many requests from representatives of Latin American countries seeking representation in a follow-up production. Disney’s artists were quick to comply, creating a second “package film” that featured the Galapagos Islands, Uruguay and Brazil - but focusing primarily on Mexico. Perhaps feeling liberated following the settlement of the 1941 artists strike and subsequent unionization of the studio (and taking advantage of an increasingly despondent and absent Walt,) the remaining animators let loose a number of artistic and emotional frustrations on this latest project. The results are truly a sight to behold: rather than focus on straight-forward storytelling or charming characters, The Three Caballeros instead pushed boundaries of technical wizardry and go-for-broke artistic spectacle. Awaiting a straightforward travelogue like Saludos Amigos, what met expectant audiences was instead one of the most abstract, manic and bizarre productions Disney’s animation department ever produced.
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| Sex, Ducks and Videotape |
Please forgive the overly-long plot summary that follows; I think it’s important for anyone who hasn't seen the film to get an idea of how bonkers it gets.
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| I'm getting out before this movie gets weird... |
The film is structured around Donald Duck (Clarence Nash, as always) opening up a large package of presents “from his friends in Latin America” on his birthday - stated as being on Friday the 13th. The film starts off tamely enough, with the brief “Cold-Blooded Penguin” segment. This story of a penguin who sails north along the coast of South America, seeking warmth in the Galapagos Islands, is your average Disney short-subject fodder. Featuring cartoon penguins and narration by good-ol’ Sterling Holloway, the opening seems like a missing Saludos Amigos segment. In all likelihood, this short was meant to simultaneously draw audiences in with it's cutesy cartoon story, and also lower their expectations. Likewise, the following "Little Gauchito" segment, which follows a young Uruguayan boy who befriends a flying burro while hunting for condors (NO!), is an entertaining though forgettable affair. Still, it has its moments, such as when the environments change around the characters whenever the forgetful narrator loses track of the story.
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| My little burrito |
The film picks up steam when Saludos Amigos’ José Carioca returns (voiced again by José Oliveira,) emerging from a pop-up book and serenading Donald with the song "Have You Been to Bahia?" This sequence is a slow-paced respite, featuring some vibrant artwork displaying the serene and beautiful Brazilian coast. José and Donald are then transported into the book, where they take a fast-paced train ride through eye-popping oil-crayon-on-black “storybook” imagery. They emerge in Bahia, and partake in a lengthy song-and-dance routine with a live action Aurora Miranda (sister of Carmen.) It’s here where the technical razzle-dazzle kicks in, with the live actors and animated characters interacting pretty believably for a film of its age. It’s also here where Donald, after being kissed by Aurora, first starts showing his libido by jealously trying to whack her human suitors with a mallet; José has to tell Donald to cool off, stating “you are a wolf, my friend.” Two of the human suitors, meanwhile, face off for Aurora's affections and briefly transform into fighting gamecocks.
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| Aurora apparently only dates Gondoliers |
José, who was able to magically transport Donald and himself to Bahia with ease, is shown to grow back to normal size once they leave the pop-up book. Donald, however, can’t perform so easily, and instead inflates himself into many bulbous, balloon-like shapes. It’s only after José shares some of his “black magic” that Donald can increase in size.
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| Donald Dick |
By now we’re 41 minutes into the film, and Donald is finally presented with his gift from Mexico. After a brief sequence in which the screen explodes into Mexican blanket-art patterns, out pops the red Rooster Panchito Pistoles (voiced by Joaquin Garay,) who fires off his guns, tosses the others a pair of sombreros, and declares they "are now three gay caballeros … yeeeeAAAAAAAAWWWW!!!!” What follows is the moment everyone's been anticipating from the start: the show-stopping title song - which may be the single most delirious sequence Disney’s ever made. Particularly zany is the song’s end, where Donald and José attempt to stop Panchito from sustaining the high note by rapidly dousing him with water, spraying him with bug-killer, throwing him in a coffin, sawing a hole in the floor, planting a hedge in front of him, setting it on fire, dumping garbage on him and finally threatening him with an axe and a cannon.
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| I think he swallowed the worm! |
The film then rests a moment, as Panchito tells his fellow caballeros the story of "Las Posadas." This Mexican Christmas ritual is visualized by lovely paintings by artist Mary Blair, the flames on the children’s candles displaying the only onscreen animation. This portion segues into a song about Mexico City, represented in a series of impressionistic paintings (as opposed to the documentary-like footage which Saludos Amigos presented modern cities of South America with.)
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| The Small World children have escaped! |
Panchito then presents Donald and José with a picture-book of Mexico, in which the photos come to life through live-action footage. The trio hop aboard a magical flying sarape, and travel into the book to tour Pátzcuaro and Veracruz (where Donald unsuccessfully tries to dance with more live women - until his wingmen José and Panchito assist him.) Next they fly to the sunkissed beaches of Acapulco, whereupon sighting a number of “bathing beauties” waving from the shoreline, Donald really looses his shit. He first uses the magic sarape as a dive-bomber, attempting to tackle the young women; then he chases the screaming sunbathers up and down the beach on foot, as they attempt to escape the clutches of the grab-ass duck (as he cries “come here, my little enchiladas!”) Panchito and José have to rip the “little wolf in ducks clothing” away from the beach, Donald inadvertently kissing José in the struggle. “Don' do that,” the parrot scolds.
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| C'mon, who wants to fuck a duck? |
The final portion of the film is a freakish fever dream, in which Donald completely gives in to his raging hormones. Following an onscreen appearance by songstress Dora Luz performing the song “You Belong to My Heart,” the accompanying imagery mutates from a dreamy star-scape into visions of flowers, Donald buzzing around like a bee, pollinating some blossoms and diving headfirst into others (which is accompanied by a curiously ‘moist’ sound effect.) Women's faces appear in several of the flowers, and a random whispering male voice hisses “purdy girls, purdy girls, purdy girls” as Donald continues to pant and drool, his eyelids drooping heavily. Occasionally, disturbing doppelgängers of Donald, José and Panchito appear to disrupt the reverie, such as when their bodies appear atop pairs of shapely women's legs, the title song screeching on the soundtrack like a skipping, sped-up record.
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| Va-va-voom |
The action slows momentarily, as Donald dances with a young woman dressed like a Mexican charro. She uses a riding crop to make some noticeably phallic cacti sprout from the ground and begin marching in formation. Everything comes to a sudden and frenetic head as Donald stuffs himself inside a giant toy bull, and furiously attempts to gore his fellow caballeros. Panchito taunts him in a matador’s outfit while José splits into several tiny José’s, cheering him on. The film ends, rather suddenly, as José sticks dynamite up Donald’s butt, and the ensuing explosions make fireworks appear in the sky, writing-out “The End” in Spanish, Portuguese and English.
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What what (in the butt)
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If you got through all that, it’s clear that this movie goes increasingly bananas as it plays out. The film is filled with bizarre, metaphorically sexual imagery that builds and builds until the crazed release during the climax. The “female form” is present everywhere, always the target of the lascivious gaze of the male characters, filmmakers and assumed audience. Donald, acting as the id to José’s ego and Panchito’s superego, seems like he’s going through a confused sexual awakening; at one point he molds himself into a voluptuous feminine shape, until he's discouraged by José. His Latin friends, always suave and able to control magic that Donald can't seem to perform, alternately encourage and confound his libidinous behavior. It’s easy to imagine the whole thing as some kind of “Donald’s wet dream,” as we seem to continually move in and out of the duck’s mind - though it’s strange that this is attached to an examination of Latin American culture. Unless the whole travelogue motif is just a disguise for a Lost Weekend style tale of Donald’s wild and crazy vacation south of the border?
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| I freakin' looooove you, man ... |
Beyond the crazy psychosexual imagery, The Three Caballeros sees Disney experimenting with the animated medium, sometimes breaking it’s own rules. At one point we’re introduced to the nutty Aracuan Bird, who pops in and out of the film - sometimes literally, as he is seen to run beyond the sprockets of the film reel itself, until pulled back by José’s umbrella. Up to this point, Disney had always paid fairly strict adherence to realist film conventions in their full-length features, insomuch as animated drawings can. Here, though, spatial relations are thrown out the window. Likewise, as the studio’s first full-on mixing of animation and live action, the filmmakers were not hesitant to go all-in, having Donald and his friends interact with live actors and props. The use of color is also notable, the artists mix of media and strikingly bold palette having seen no equal since Fantasia.
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| Cock-a-doodle-doo |
As alluded to above, reaction to the film was pretty mixed. Audiences and critics alike were perplexed by what they were seeing. Many accused the studio of falling back on special effects to cover up weak storytelling. I’ve personally never understood why a primarily visual medium should be enslaved by storytelling conventions, especially when there’s such innovation involved. Some also objected to the films sexual dynamics. In fact, the statements of a few squeamish critics seem to be the earliest examples I can find of the “Disney brand” being one that should always be "safe" for young children. I don’t doubt that it was this film that made Walt sit up and take notice, putting a clamp down on “the boys” at the studio. After a few more so-so “package films,” Walt decided to put more time and money into the animated features of the 1950s, resulting in some well-produced and fondly remembered (though increasingly dull) productions.
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| Nectar of the Gods... |
Many of the reasons the film was initially looked down upon are why I’ve come to appreciate The Three Caballeros so much. Going into the film, one expects a tame cartoon; it’s an old Disney movie with Donald Duck, after all. Instead, you’re slowly submerged into a surreal technicolor orgy of insanity. I first discovered this movie a couple years ago, and I find myself inexplicably drawn to it far more than other, more familiar animated films. Others can have their Peter Pan and Little Mermaid comfort foods - I’ve come to prefer this singularly bizarre artistic creation; one that revels in it’s own inappropriateness so much that you can’t help but stare, wondering just how the hell they got away with it.
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| ¡Adios, amigos! |
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