The Brave Engineer

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The Brave Engineer
The Brave Engineer Poster.jpg
Directed byJack Kinney[1]
Story byDick Kinney
Dick Shaw
Based onThe Ballad of Casey Jones by Eddie Newton
T. Lawrence Seibert
Produced byWalt Disney
StarringThe King's Men
Narrated byJerry Colonna
Music byKen Darby
Animation byMilt Kahl
Fred Moore
Al Bertino
Layouts byDon DaGradi
Backgrounds byRay Huffine
Production
company
Walt Disney Productions
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
March 3, 1950
Running time
7 min. 38 sec.
CountryUnited States

The Brave Engineer is a 1950 Walt Disney-produced animated short film,[2] based on the exploits of legendary railroad engineer John Luther "Casey" Jones.[3] It is narrated by comic Jerry Colonna and is a comedically madcap fanciful re-telling[4] of the story[5] related in the Wallace Saunders ballad, later made famous by Eddie Newton and T. Lawrence Seibert. It was also released fifty years after Jones was killed.

This short has appeared on many television programs and specials such as Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1954), The Mouse Factory (1972), Good Morning, Mickey! (1983), Walt Disney Cartoon Classics (1983), DTV (1984), Disney's Sing Along Songs (1986), American Folk Heroes, Disney's Rootin' Tootin' Roundup (1989), Mickey's Mouse Tracks (1992), Donald's Quack Attack (1992), Sing Me a Story with Belle (1995), The Ink and Paint Club (1997), Walt Disney Treasures (2001), and Disney's American Legends (2001).

Plot[]

The cartoon opens to a railroad yard where "all the trains are fast asleep." The sun rises, and engineer Casey Jones wakes from his slumber in the cab of his engine, Johnny, No. 2, an American Standard 4-4-0 tender engine, that is hauling a train consisting of a mail car and the No. 53 caboose known as the Western Mail. His train begins the journey, and Casey is intent on making his schedule at all costs. The Western Mail is repeatedly delayed along the journey.

Casey is confronted by a variety of obstacles along the way. He has to paddle his train through flooded wetlands, stop for a cow crossing the tracks, and save a woman who was tied up on the tracks by a stereotypical villain character. Another villain destroys a span of tracks, and Casey has to get the Western Mail across a gorge without those tracks. He fights off a group of criminals who climb onto the cab of the engine in an attempt to rob the train.

To make up for lost time, Casey runs Johny, well past his mechanical limits. While focusing completely on repairing Johnny, he drives the Western Mail at full speed down a hill on a collision course with another train, which is a double headed slow freight train with No. 77 and No. 75, two American Mastodon 4-8-0 tender engines, Zeb and Zeek, who are pulling it. The conductor attempts to warn Casey, but fails, and jumps off the train when Casey doesn't notice it until it is too late, causing the two trains to collide with a large explosion. The conductor and other railroad employees are able to jump clear of the collision and explosion. The Western Mail is almost completely destroyed, but Casey arrives at his destination, with the remains of Johnny, almost on time.

Differences between the cartoon and real life[]

  • The Brave Engineer depicts the wreck near Vaughan, Mississippi as a head-on collision with the Western Mail steaming one way and another train steaming the other way, in an Ozark-like mountain range. In the real accident, Casey's engine had struck the rear end of a train, which was stopped on the tracks, due to a broken air line, and didn't occur in a mountain area.
  • The accident takes place in broad daylight and clear conditions in the cartoon. The real-life wreck occurred at night during a rain storm.
  • The Brave Engineer ends with Casey only mildly injured after the wreck on the remains of his damaged engine, Johnny. In real life, he was critically injured, and did not survive the accident.
  • Casey operates No. 2 single handed in the cartoon. Sim Webb was with Casey before the crash in real life.
  • Johnny No. 2 is an American Standard 4-4-0 tender engine on the Western Mail in the cartoon. Casey's real engine was an American 4-6-0 engine No. 382 nicknamed "Ole 382" and "Cannonball" since No. 99, an American 4-6-0 tender engine, is doiled up as a replica of that engine, which was originally scrapped in 1935.
  • Zeb and Zeek No. 77 and No. 75 are two American Mastodon 4-8-0 tender engines in the cartoon on the other train.

Home media[]

The short was released on December 6, 2005 on Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities - Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s.[6]

Additional releases include:

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ AllMovie
  2. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 153. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
  3. ^ FilmAffinity
  4. ^ Letterboxd
  5. ^ MUBI
  6. ^ "Disney Rarities - Celebrated Shorts: 1920s - 1960s DVD Review". DVD Dizzy. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  7. ^ American Legends (Video 2001) - IMDB

External links[]

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