Disney Daze: The Three Caballeros

Martha Mayıs 31, 2021

The Three Caballeros (1944)

Disney Animated Classic Number 7

Starring: Clarence Nash, José Oliveira, Joaquin Garay, Aurora Miranda, Fred Shields, Sterling Holloway, Frank Graham, Carmen Molina & Dora Luz

Directed by: Norman Ferguson

Rating: ★★★

A direct sequel to Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeroscontinues the studio’s goodwill message to South America, having been inspired by these countries when Walt Disney and his colleagues were sent there by the US government as ambassadors to build bridges between the continents. Also, due to America’s involvement with World War Two, a studio strike, and financial problems, Disney decided to continue to make ‘package films’ (anthology movies) throughout the rest of the 1940s to keep costs down.

Introducing the world famous Three Caballeros! (I hadn't heard of them either)

Just like Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros switches between live action and animation and is clearly split into specific ‘sections’ built around individual countries within South American. However, unlike Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros has a more of a ‘story’ element to it, with Donald Duck (Nash) as the central character.

The film opens with Donald Duck’s birthday, and he is sent many gifts from his friends: but in particular he receives special presents from those that he knows in South America. So with every present he opens, come more surprises.

Pablo the Penguin is a great character- all he wants is to be warm!

The first gift is a projector, and Donald is treated to a heart-warming and inspired story about a penguin from Antarctica who hates the cold weather and wants to relocate to Ecuador. This quickly becomes an ‘educational’ and slightly funny movie about the birds of South America, such as toucans, flamingos and the (fictional) Aracuan Bird, who comes out of the screen and causes trouble throughout the movie. The final film we see from this gift is about a small child from Uruguay and his flying donkey, Burrito. This cartoon may be short, but it is incredibly memorable and instantly likeable.

The flying donkey is awesome...

After the projector movies finish, Donald opens his second present, which contains none other than Saludos Amigos’ breakout star, José Carioca (Oliveira), a green Brazilian parrot, who is incredibly determined to teach Donald about his beloved country. He sings a serene and beautifully animated song about Baía, and then Yayá (Miranda), a Brazilian singer, dances with them and her band, which is, at times, a clunky crossover of live action and animation. It might not look great, but at least they were trying something different.

Donald and Jose meet Yaya

Once the party ends, which you think it never will, Donald opens his third present to reveal Panchito Pistoles (Garay), a Mexican rooster, who is also dogged in his plight to educate us about his native country. Before he does so, they sing the title song ‘The Three Caballeros’, which unfortunately describes the trio as three ‘gay’ Caballeros. I must note, for younger readers, that ‘gay’ in the 40s meant ‘happy’, but because of the new meaning of the word, this entire song has some certain connotations to it that it never would have had back then. But trust me when I say that we are made very aware moments later on that they are not in fact gay in the modern meaning of the word, as almost the entire time that Donald spends in Mexico he is chasing after live action women- something that is particularly uncomfortable to watch as Donald seems to have an incredibly active libido.

Pablo just wants to be warm!

The first story that Panchito indulges us with is about Las Posadas, a Christmas tradition in Mexico which utilises a piñata. This part of Panchito’s story is interesting and educational, but once this is over, and the Three Caballeros go on a magic carpet (or flying serape) ride around various sites in Mexico, the film quickly takes a bizarre turn for the worst. As soon as they arrive on the (real, although clearly a set) beach of Acapulco, Donald begins his hunt for women in bikinis, and uses the magic carpet to attack them. This goes on for way too long, and is obviously just an excuse to show scantily clad women running around a beach. It was the end of a World War, so I guess we can forgive Disney for giving the male audience members a special 'treat'.

Yes: The Three Caballeros think it is acceptable behaviour to chase women on a beach with their flying carpet...

Once away from the crowds of screaming barely clothed women, Panchito shows Donald the skies over Mexico, and Dora Luz, as a star, sings a now famous song ‘You Belong To My Heart’, which was originally a famous Mexican Bolera song, but become a huge hit in English speaking countries as a result of this movie. The song itself is a pretty excellent tune, and this touching moment is ruined by Donald’s infatuation for Luz’s floating face, as, once he is kissed, Donald is thrown into a psychedelic nightmare more visually insane than the ‘Pink Elephants On Parade’ sequence in Dumbo, and ends after Donald dances with a woman (Molina) and her army of phallic cacti, because Panchito and José interrupt. The three have a bull fight, and then stick fireworks up Donald’s arse, and as soon as they explode, the movie abruptly ends.

Dora Luz sings 'You Belong To My Heart', a beautiful ballad

Up until the magic carpet ride, the movie is actually pretty excellent. I absolutely loved the penguin and donkey story as they are charming, funny and heart-warming, and the song about Baia is really moving as it plays over some beautiful images. The Yaya scene is fun and interesting, and the story about Christmas is educational. But the magic carpet ride is overly long, because the three spend their time dancing and chasing women, and this quickly becomes monotonous and dull. The song You Belong To My Heart almost saves the movie from itself, but as soon as it rapidly descends into an awful and off the wall mess after Donald gets drunk from drinking flower nectar, it seals The Three Caballeros' fate as having an almost entirely terrible third act. If the sequence about Mexico had been shortened and this hallucination cut, then I would have awarded The Three Cabarellos four stars, because the first two thirds really is excellent. Unfortunately, unlike Saludos Amigos, the film doesn’t know when to end, and sometimes less is more, as the final third plunges the movie into tediously boring and ridiculously crazy disarray.

The Three Caballeros celebrate... by bullfighting and using fireworks for dangerous purposes...

In spite of this, The Three Caballeros, like its predecessor, is essentially a celebration of Latin American culture, and is pretty educational (if, in fact, what they are ‘teaching’ us is true). The innocent and archaic use of the term gay is funny in hindsight, even though seeing the three running around together and claiming that they are ‘never apart’ creates a whole new meaning to what they were originally implying.

They're Three Caballeros, Three Gay Caballeros...

The Three Caballeros is a very happy, upbeat, escapist movie where nothing bad happens and everyone is nice to one another (except for when Panchito and José shove fireworks up Donald’s backside- but in all fairness, after the way he was behaving with the women, he kind of deserved it).

Just in case you didn't believe me, here's photographic proof!!

It’s nice to see a film that is celebratory of different places and communities and isn’t riddled with politically correct propaganda, and, on the whole, The Three Caballeros is fun and interesting to watch. I really enjoyed it- especially the donkey and penguin, who are great characters and have great stories. The only problem with this movie is that it made me wish that I had a flying donkey of my own!