The Three Caballeros

The Three Caballeros is a 1945 animated movie produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. The movie premiered in Mexico City on December 12, 1944 and was released on February 3, 1945. The 7th animated movie in the Disney animated features canon, it shows an adventure through parts of Latin America, combining live-action and animation. This is the second of the Disney package movies of the 1940s.

The movie is made up as a series of self-contained segments, strung together by the device of Donald Duck opening birthday gifts from his Latin American friends. Several Latin American stars of the movie's time appear, including singers Aurora Miranda (sister of Carmen Miranda) and Dora Luz, as well as dancer Carmen Molina. It again starred Donald Duck, who in the course of the movie is joined by old friend José Carioca, the cigar-smoking parrot from Saludos Amigos (1943) representing Brazil, and later makes a new friend, a rooster, Panchito Pistoles, representing Mexico.

The music of the Mexican part of the movie was written by Mexican composer Manuel Esperon, who wrote the score for over 540 Mexican movies in the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. Walt Disney, after having seen his success in the Mexican movie industry, called him personally to ask him to participate in the movie. The main song for the Mexican part is "Ay Jalisco, No Te Rajes!", one of Esperon's most famous songs. The movie received two Academy Award nominations for Original Music Score and Best Sound.

The Three Caballeros was re-issued to theaters on April 15, 1977. For this re-issue, the film was edited significantly and re-released in featuretteform at 41 minutes, to accompany a re-issue of Never a Dull Moment.

 Plot 
It is Donald Duck's birthday. He receives three presents. The first present is a movie projector, which shows him a documentary on birds. The next present is a book given to Donald by Jose Carioca himself. This book takes them to Bahia. The third present is a piñata given to Donald by Panchito Pistoles. In the piñata, there are many surprises. The celebration ends with Donald Duck being fired away by firecrackers in the shape of a bull (the firecrackers are lit by Jose with his cigar).

Throughout the movie, we see a voiceless character called the Aracuan Bird at random moments. He usually bothers everyone, sometimes stealing Jose's cigar. His most famous gag is when he re-routes the train by drawing new tracks. He returns three years later in Disney's Melody Time.

 Cast 
 Clarence Nash - Donald Duck 
 José Oliveira - José Carioca
 Joaquin Garay - Panchito Pistoles
 Aurora Miranda
 Carmen Molina
 Dora Luz
 Sterling Holloway - Narrator (The Cold-Blooded Penguin)
 Frank Graham - Narrator
 Fred Shields - Narrator
 Nestor Amarale
 Almirante
 Trío Calaveras
 Trío Ascencio del Río
 Padua Hills Players
 Carlos Ramírez (singing voice) - México

 Titles in other languages 
 Chinese: 三骑士
 Dutch: De Drie Caballeros
 Finnish: 3 Caballeroa
 French: Les Trois Caballeros
 German: Die Drei Caballeros (also Donald Erobert Mexico)
 Italian: I Tre Caballeros
 Japanese: 三人の騎士 (San'nin no Kishi)
 Portuguese: Você Já Foi à Bahia? (Have you ever gone to Bahia?)
 Russian: Три кабальеро
 Spanish: Los Tres Caballeros
 Swedish: Tre caballeros (also Kalle Anka i Sydamerika)

 References 

 Other websites 

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Category:1945 musical movies
Category:Disney animated movies
Category:American family movies
Category:American musical movies
Category:Movies composed by Charles Wolcott
Category:Movies composed by Edward H. Plumb
Category:Movies composed by Paul Smith
Category:Movies directed by Norman Ferguson
Category:Movies about penguins
Category:Movies set in Antarctica
Category:Movies about mammals
Category:Movies directed by Clyde Geronimi
Category:Movies set in Uruguay