Music Land is a Silly Symphony that debuted on October 5, 1935. Along with Symphony Hour, the short was released on the Walt Disney Mini Classics and Disney Favorite Stories VHS releases of Peter and the Wolf. It is a loose retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet with anthropomorphic musical instruments.
Synopsis[]
The short begins by showing a map of Music Land, before zooming in to show the Land of Symphony. The Land of Symphony is a classical-themed kingdom, where the princess (an anthropomorphized violin) grows bored with the slow ballroom dancing and sneaks out.
Across the Sea of Discord, the Isle of Jazz is a jazz-themed kingdom alive with hot jazz music and dancing, but the prince (an alto saxophone) takes little interest in it. Sneaking out, he spots the princess across the sea with the aid of a clarinet-telescope, and instantly falls in love with her. He quickly travels across the sea on a xylophone boat to meet her.
Their flirting is interrupted, however, when the princess' mother (a cello) of the Land of Symphony sends her guards to lock the prince in a metronome prison tower. To escape this predicament, he writes a note for help (the melody of The Prisoner's Song) and passes it to a bird, which brings it to his father (a bass saxophone), who raises the battle cry - a jazz version of the military tune Assembly (bugle call).
The Isle of Jazz deploys its multi-piece band as artillery, bombarding the Land of Symphony with explosive musical notes to a jazz/swing number. The Land of Symphony returns fire via organ pipes that rotate into cannons, launching musical interceptors to the refrains of Wagner's The Ride of the Valkyries like the 4th of July Fireworks.
The princess intervenes to stop the war by waving the flag of surrender, but falls into the sea when a symphony note hits her boat. The prince struggles to escape his cell, but an explosive note helps him by landing next to it and blowing it up, and he rushes to save her, but ends up struggling as well. Both parents see what is happening, and quickly cease fire to rescue their children. When they finally save their children, separate them from each other, and start to glare at each other, the king starts taking a liking to the queen, and decide to make peace via handshake. The story ends on a happy note with a double wedding, between the prince and princess, and the king and queen, presided over by a double bass minister, as the citizens of both lands dance on the newly built Bridge of Harmony and a rainbow with musical notes all over appears over it in the sky.
Releases[]
Television[]
- Disneyland, episode #5.24: "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom"
- Donald's Quack Attack, episode #4.
Home video[]
VHS[]
- Walt Disney Cartoon Classics: Limited Gold Editions - The Disney Dream Factory: 1933-38
- Walt Disney Mini Classics: Peter and the Wolf
- Disney Favorite Stories: Peter and the Wolf
Laserdisc[]
- Walt Disney Mini Classics: The Prince and the Pauper
DVD[]
- Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies
- Walt Disney's Classic Cartoon Favorites: Extreme Music Fun
- Make Mine Music (Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection)
Blu-ray[]
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Diamond Edition
- Beauty and the Beast: Diamond Edition
- Bonus on Make Mine Music
Trivia[]
- Music Land appears as one of the projector transition levels in Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.
- The opening music from this short is heard on Disney Favorite Stories video promos and "Feature Program" bumper.
- According to the Walt Disney Presents episode Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom, the names of the characters are as follows: the queen of the Land of Symphony is known as Queen Cello. Her daughter is named Princess Fideladee. The ruler of the Isle of Jazz is named King Sax while the prince is named Max.
- In addition, the music was re-orchestrated by George Bruns.
- The King of the Isle of Jazz is a caricature of bandleader Paul Whiteman, the so-called "King of Jazz".
- An advertisement for Music Land later appeared as a sponsor in the House of Mouse episode, "Music Day".
- The Prince of the Isle of Jazz reappears in the The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse episode, "The Big Good Wolf".
- The Simpsons season 25 episode "The Kids is All Right" parodied this short for the couch gag.
- Max's note to King Sax later appears in an expanded form in Trail Mix-Up as the end credits, arranged by Bruce Broughton.
Gallery[]
