Fred Shields

A whimsical blend of live action and animation, "Saludos Amigos" is a colorful kaleidoscope of art, adventure and music set to a toe-tapping samba beat. From high Andes peaks and Argentina's pampas to the sights and sounds of Rio de Janeiro, your international traveling companions are none other than those famous funny friends, Donald Duck and Goofy. They keep things lively as Donald encounters a stubborn llama and "El Gaucho" Goofy tries on the cowboy way of life....South American-style.

For Donald's birthday he receives a box with three gifts inside. The gifts, a movie projector, a pop-up book, and a pinata, each take Donald on wild adventures through Mexico and South America.

Goofy shows us the national pastime. After a brief overview, we have a demonstration of the many possible pitches. On to the World Series, where we go through an eventful inning, culminating in a baseball that disintegrates when being hit.

This generous collection includes 46 of the 48 shorts that starred Goofy between 1939 and 1961 (but none of the great Mickey-Donald-Goofy films from the mid-'30s). The "How to Ride a Horse" sequence in The Reluctant Dragon (1941) set the pattern for many of these cartoons. An elegant narrator (artist John Ployardt) explains a sport that Goofy attempts to demonstrate. The character that animator Art Babbitt described in a 1935 lecture (quoted in the DVD bonus material) as an easygoing dimbulb gave way to an enthusiastic but spectacularly maladroit figure. One of the funniest entries in the series, "Hockey Homicide," contains several studio in-jokes: dueling stars Icebox Bertino and Fearless Ferguson, and referee Clean-Game Kinney are named for artists Al Bertino, Norm Ferguson, and director Jack Kinney.

Big game hunter Goofy and his trusty elephant search for a tiger to hunt.

American cowboy Goofy gets taken mysteriously to the Argentine pampas to learn the ways of the native gaucho.

Goofy shows us, in his inimitable way, the fundamentals of golf, guided as usual by the somewhat sarcastic narrator.

Donald is trying to collect a condor's egg when the condor returns. He hides inside an empty egg and regrets this when the large, warm mother returns. He regrets it even more when he "hatches" and mama encourages him to fly. And mama proves to be even more protective than Donald would like.

Goofy demonstrates a number of crazy vehicles.

Animated documentary promoting timely filing and payment of Federal income taxes, demonstrated by Donald Duck's difficulties with his tax return.

Mickey and Pluto make a short stopover on a South American flight. Mickey throws Pluto's ball into the jungle, and he chases it but it looks exactly the same as an armadillo that's rolled up into a ball. This, of course, greatly confuses Pluto for a while. But he eventually makes friends with the armadillo. He chases the critter into a cave right behind his ball, and rips the ball apart thinking it's the armadillo, which makes him very sad until the armadillo shows up again.

Donald is visiting South America, where he is first overcome by altitude sickness. He spends some time in the picturesque market. Then he takes a llama up into the mountains, with exciting results.

Donald Duck deals with income taxes and their benefit to the American war effort in this inspirational documentary short animated film.

A brave gaucho lad arms himself with a knife and bolo. He leaves the floor of the pampas and climbs into the mountains looking for prey. In a nest he discovers a flying burro. He captures it and, after several close calls, tames the creature, and he takes it back to town where he enters the burro, with himself on its back, in a horse race. If they win, it means a prize of 1,000 pesos. Can the burro get its act together long enough to fly in a straight line and win? It's the stuff of legends.

Pedro, a small airplane from Chile, engaging in his very first flight to pick up air mail from Mendoza, with near disastrous results.

In 1925, during the occupation of Haiti, a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant was stationed in charge of the small island of La Gonave. He befriended the natives and was so popular that they named him King Faustin I and installed him as their ruler. He ruled the island for three years, then left and returned to make this documentary.

It is thanks to this film that the Marquis gained notoriety with a wider audience. The film is the result of film footage shot between May 1926 and June 1930 in several South American countries. Departing from Guayaquil, he first went to the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific. Upon returning to the capital of Ecuador, chance brought him to the Ocaina Indians, the Boro, the Napo, the Jivaro and the Piro. He explored the Incan mines of Machu Picchu, discovered only a few years prior, and ended his journey on the famed Guano islands. The musical score, inspired by traditional Indian music, was created by Maurice Jaubert.

World War II propaganda film on the importance of American farming. A morale booster film stressing the abudance of American agricultural output.

The Building of a Tire is a 1946 Disney animated short film. It was sponsored by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company.