Saludos Amigos - videos, teasers and stills from filming

All videos, teasers and footage from the filming of the film "Saludos Amigos"

Saludos Amigos (1942)

Timing: 0:42 (42 min)

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All about film

Video 1

Photo 38

Actors and characters

English

1:29

In early 1941, before the United States entered World War II, the U.S. Department tasked Disney with leading a goodwill tour of South America. There, he was to create a film to be shown in the U.S., Central and South America as part of the Good Neighbor Policy. Disney was chosen for this because several Latin American governments had close ties with Nazi Germany, and the U.S. government wanted to counter these ties. Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters were very popular in Latin America, so Walt Disney was to act as an ambassador. Disney and a group of around twenty composers, artists, technicians, and others went on the tour, with the assistance of Nelson Rockefeller. They visited Brazil and Argentina, as well as Chile and Peru.
The cartoon includes documentary footage showing modern Latin American cities with skyscrapers and fashionably dressed residents. This surprised many contemporary American viewers, who associated such a lifestyle only with the United States and Europe, and helped to change their perception of Latin America. Film historian Alfred Charles Richard Jr. noted that "Saludos Amigos" did more to cement a commonality of interests between the peoples of the Americas in a few months than the State Department had in fifty years.
The film inspired Chilean artist René Ríos Boettiger to create Condorito, who became one of the most famous animated characters in Latin America.

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