Cumulative rating:	(1 rating submitted)

Synopsis

---

Your Host, Donald Duck (Clip used in "Adventureland" segment)

Make Mine Music

Music for Everybody

United States

Willie the Operatic Whale

Make Mine Music

Germany

Willie the Operatic Whale

Italy

Willie, the Operatic Whale

Musica Maestro

United States

The Prince and the Pauper

Japan

Make Mine Music

Peter and the Wolf and Bongo

United States

Make Mine Music

United States

Make Mine Music

Animation Type: Standard (Hand-drawn-Cel) Animation

Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1

Cinematographic Format: Spherical

Color Type: Technicolor

Negative Type: 35mm

Original Language: English

Print Type: 35mm

Sound Type: Mono: RCA Sound Recording

Reviews and Comments

From Angie :

This is one cartoon that I really remember from being a kid. I recently heard one of the songs he sang in this show and it brought back memories. Now I MUST see it again!

From Keith Thrash :

I consider this Disney's greatest short film, a taut, highly inventive, and very amusing parody of "Citizen Kane" (especially with the shot of the fence at the end). It presents the opera selections in a respectful way, yet is playful with the subject in way that resembles Warner Brothers, rather than with the solemn treatment in Fantasia (with the exception of the hippo/alligator ballet). I get chills near the end when the snippet of Wagner is heard, and with the clouded heaven finale, it soars from the ridiculous to the sublime -- one of the most emotionally sweeping sequences on film, animated or live. I rate it a 10.

From Grace :

This is another best "Make Mine Music" short that Walt Disney has ever created. Its very interesting and it'll imagine a real whale singing at a opera house around the world. Its very funny and brings you the spirit of opera.

From Mary Anne :

I have two VCR tapes I would like to have transferred to a DVD. One is of photos of my parents set to music. The other is my Willie the Whale video. I have loved that piece since I saw it in my childhood. I wish I had the whole soundtrack of that wonderful voice of Nelson Eddy singing all three of Willie's voices. It was and still is a thrill to hear. And the story still can almost bring tears to my eyes.

From Keith B. :

I first remember seeing Willie the Whale at least 42-43 years ago on The Wonderful World of Color. I was about 4 years old and I loved whales! (brace yourselves for this one). Here I was sitting on the floor watching this cartoon about this wonderful singing whale when suddenly I was hit right between the eyes with a trauma that made Bambi's mother pale in comparison. I looked up and my mother and older sister were crying their eyes out as well. Years later, I was about 12 and I saw it again and sure as Pavlov, it hit me again! MANY years later, I was at a party of a cartoon collector who had hundreds of cartoons on 16mm reels and I asked him if he had this cartoon. About 15 minutes later, I was responsible for ruining the party because I requested a cartoon that had everyone in tears! Excuse me, I have to find some kleenex.

From Laura Cross :

I absolutely adore this cartoon. Do you know why? Because I myself enjoy opera. You know despite the film's tragic ending, there are some lighter moments. For example, Willie the Whale is first heard singing his own rendition of "Shortenin' Bread." Also, in one of Willie's dreams, while playing Pagliacci, the impresario and musicians are all wearing raincoats and umbrellas. And when Willie gets harpooned, the sailors attack Tetti Tatti. I'd say that serves the impresario right, not understanding Willie's miracle voice. But at the very end, Willie is shown singing in heaven. That's good to know, because I think that's where all the great opera stars, say Caruso for example, went when they passed away.

From drrichardh :

I'm 68 years old and back when I was a child one of my aunt's owned a 78 rpm record set (three disks) by RCA that contained the full soundtrack of this short. The inside cover contained the complete script including thumbnail frames from the film and citations for the operatic pieces being sung. The only problem was that one of the disk was missing. This missing disk covered sides 2 and 5 so when listening there was a big gap in the story. (Thank heavens for the printed script) My aunt was sure she had the missing disk somewhere and promised to give it to me when she found it.

It took two years for her to find it but when she did she remembered me and saw that I got it.

As a child I had not seen Make Mine Music so I was always curious as to why the end music for the recording suddenly changed character. It wasn't until, as an adult, I was able to buy the DVD of Make Mine Music that I discovered the recording included not only the ending of the short but the end credit playout for the feature!

Nelson Eddy does an outstanding job as narrator and singer. I was captivated by his work on the records so when I finally was able to see the animation that accompany his work, it became clear that this is a masterpiece. This wonderful cartoon IS an mini-opera. It relates a tale of many emotions and like most operas ends tragically for the hero. But for me it helped engender a life long appreciation of opera and great storytelling.

From Mike :

This was always one of my favorite Disney shorts. The scenes of Willie singing opera were amazing I only wished it was really happening in the short. I laughed at the scenes of the seagull showing the sailors how many voices they're hearing. Even though this is a tragic story, I do like the end scene of Willie being an angel at the end.

From Maurice :

I remember seeing this for the 1st time - and wondering why I never heard that type of music before. It is how I became interested and later into an opera buff. To this day, (and I am 70) every time I watch this, I get tears when Willie sings in the 100 voices - truly a masterpiece.

From Stephanie Lloyd :

Why do I love The Whale that Wanted to Sing at the Met? It is one of the most sincere tearjerkers of all the animated shorts I have ever seen. The way the water was animated and the montage method they used towards the end were very effective, but the key to the success of this piece, to my mind, is the music, namely the exceptional voice of the late great Nelson Eddy. Supplying all of the human voices, Nelson sang a variety of difficult popular and operatic pieces in his own voice, then added even more that were also his voice, but sped up to get high tenor and even soprano, still recognizably singing opera. Utilizing what was rather state-of-the-art techniques, he sang duet and trios with himself and finished the whole thing with his voice multiplied a hundred time to create an entire choir. From a recording standpoint, it was a technological masterpiece.

That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it.