This cartoon was originally part of Melody Time, an animated anthology of musical cartoons made by Disney. It's a sweet little story about a couple in love at wintertime taking a sleigh ride and playing around on the ice. There's also a very cute rabbit couple. It's got a cozy seasonal vibe to it that I liked. The animation is colorful and lovely to look at. Frances Langford sings the title song and she has a beautiful voice. It's only a few minutes out of your life so really what's the harm in trying it out? If possible, I'd recommend watching it in Melody Time as you get to see many other musical cartoons as well.

This is the first short that was used to make up the full-length film from Disney, "Melody Time". Following WWII, Disney Studio was a mess--a terrible strike and the war (where many of the workers were drafted and many more were assigned to wartime animation work) decimated the studio and many of the old animators were gone. As a result, Disney did not get back to making traditional animated feature films for several years. In the meantime, their 'full-length' films were really odd compilations of shorts--and of a rather lackluster quality compared to earlier and later work.The animation style and quality of this short is hardly reminiscent of classic Disney (such as "Snow White" or "Bambi"). Gone are the lovely detailed backgrounds and fine drawn characters. Instead, splashy solid color backgrounds and super-simplistic drawings filled this cartoon--such that it's hard to recognize it as a Disney product.As for story, it's only fair--and something that seems intended for older audiences. The film has no dialog and has singing by Frances Langford. The story consists of two young lovers cavorting about--ice skating and enjoying the great frozen outdoors. Later, the simplistically drawn lady nearly falls down a simplistic waterfall and is saved by her simplistically drawn boyfriend--then away they zip through the simplistic countryside on a simplistic sleigh. If you haven't guessed, the word for the day is 'simplistic'--a great description of this fair cartoon that is easy to skip.

Once Upon a Wintertime is a truly beautiful short, one of my favourites actually. I know that the song takes up most of the 10 minute short, from Melody Time, but that is forgiven as the whole short is very beautiful. My ONLY complaint is that it drags only slightly. The animation is very nice to look at, with gorgeous winter settings, the idea of the couple in the horse-drawn sleigh, was a very good one. This was a fairly christmassy tradition, in the time the short was set, and I confess it is something I've wanted to do for a while now. I liked the couple who go ice skating, and they argue because the man makes fun of her inability to ice skate, and then has to save her when the ice breaks. I also loved the rabbits, the male rabbit was quite funny, and I loved the majesty of the chestnut mares. I think the main merit of the short is the song, which takes the name of the title of the short. A truly beautiful song, with wonderful lyrics, and was sublimely sung by Frances Langford. I don't know about you, but Langford's singing voice slightly reminds me of that of Judy Garland. She was sensitively accompanied by a very angelic choir, that two or three minutes in, have their turn to shine. Overall, a beautiful Christmas short, very imaginative and fairly idealistic, with a wonderfully romantic ending. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Originally released as part of the omnibus animated feature Melody Time (1948), Walt Disney made Once Upon a Wintertime as a separate short subject five years later. With the score consisting entirely of Francis Langford's rendition of the title song with a very long instrumental bridge, we watch a young adult couple riding on a sleigh accompanied by a similar male and female rabbit one down below on the blades. Then some little argument ensues before some thrilling thin ice danger brings everyone to a crescendo before the romantic happy ending ensues. Beautiful animation throughout and one gets that warm feeling nearly the entire time despite the cold setting. Well worth seeking out on YouTube which is where I watched this when I linked from the Saturday Morning Blog.