The Three Caballeros (1944)


Now let's look at the follow up to Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros.

The Movie:

 The Three Caballeros is the 7th movie in the Disney Animated Canon and the 2nd film of the Package Era.  Like its predecessor, this movie was intended to help foster good will with the nations of Latin America, this time adding Mexico to the mix.  The film debuted in Mexico City in December 1944, and was released in the US the following February.  The Three Caballeros garnered two Oscar nominations, one for sound and one for song score.

Like the other package films, The Three Caballeros consists of multiple segments, but unlike most of the others, they are not as well-defined, with the segments and transitions bleeding into one another through the use of the character of Donald Duck.  The movie opens with Donald receiving a birthday package from his friends in Latin America, holding three gifts.

The first gift is a movie called Aves Raras (Strange Birds).  This movie includes the segments:

1. The Cold-Blooded Penguin - A self-contained story narrated by Sterling Holloway, about a penguin named Pedro who travels from Antarctica up the coast of South America to a more tropical environment.

A transition discusses the birds of South America, introducing the recurring character of the Aracuan.  This leads to:

2. The Flying Gauchito - The story of a young boy from Uruguay who discovers a flying donkey named Burrito.

Donald's second gift is a pop-up book featuring scenes of the Brazilian state of Bahia and Donald's friend from the previous movie, José Carioca    It features the segment:

 3. Baia - Donald and José interact with live-action samba dancers, including singer Aurora Miranda.

Donald then turns to his third gift, which explodes into a scene of Mexican music, a la the soundwave in Fantasia.  From this chaos emerges Panchito Pistoles, who along with Donald and José forms the title trio.  Here they sing the title song.  Panchito then leads Donald on a tour of Mexican culture with:

4. Las Posadas - A telling of a Mexican Christmas tradition where children reenact the story of Mary and Joseph.

5. Mexico - A tour of Mexico via a flying sarape, with Donald lusting after the women on the beach of Acapulco.

6. You Belong to My Heart - Donald lusting after singer Dora Luz, whose head appears via live action.  This bleeds into:

7. Donald's Surreal Reverie - As the song continues, Donald enters a Disney Acid Sequence where he lusts after dancer Carmen Molina in some bizarre live-action/animation combinations.

Ok, this movie is odd.  It tries to provide edutainment along the lines of its predecessor, but it drops the travelogue format.  The first with the self-contained segments plays similarly, but then the movie just meanders through the other ideas.  The title trio don't even meet up until about halfway through the movie.  And the ending just gets weird.

Now, the music in this movie is great.  Most of it is traditional music or pre-existing songs with new English lyrics.  The song "Mexico," composed by Charles Wolcott and Ray Gilbert and sung by Carlos Ramirez, is the only completely original song in the movie.  Even the title track is new lyrics combined with a tune by Manuel Esperón.  The soundtrack makes this movie worth watching.

Presence in the Parks:

 The title trio of The Three Caballeros have gained popularity as a defined group.  And thus, they have made a presence in the parks.

In 2007, the trio took over the boat ride El Rio del Tiempo in the Mexico Pavillion in Epcot, with the ride renamed Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros.  While the ride still shows aspects of Mexican culture and history, new animatronics and animation of the title trio were inserted in different places.  José and Panchito are meetable characters in the Mexico Pavilion.














Various sights from the Mexico Pavilion, Epcot, May 2015

The trio also appears at Disneyland as inserted characters in It's a Small World and in the parade.  In the Magic Kingdom, Caballero Donald is a card in the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

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