Johnny Appleseed is a bio-fiction animated feature from Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

, using the nickname of Johnny Appleseed

Johnny Appleseed

Johnny Appleseed , born John Chapman, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois...

, a real-life American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 frontier

Frontier

A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...

sman born as John Chapman.

Synopsis

In the movie, Johnny Appleseed is a farmer, watching others go west, and wishing he could, too. In real life, Johnny Appleseed was apprenticed as a teenager to an orchardist, but he's footloose and fancy-free; he heads for the frontier, and his parents and siblings follow later. In the movie, Johnny Appleseed is inspired by an angel to abandon his farm, go west, and plant apple seeds everywhere he goes. In real life, Johnny Appleseed's angel was a young man he befriended and supported financially, who he caught romancing another man. In reality, Johnny was a commercial nurseryman, planting nurseries where he believes families will settle in a year or two, so that he would have young trees available for sale when the settlers arrive. The angel tells Johnny that he has all that he needs to go out West: a bag of seeds to plant, a Bible, and a pot that he can use for a hat. In the movie, Johnny Appleseed befriends a skunk, and thereafter, all animals instinctively trust him. In truth, Johnny Appleseed is known to have been attacked by bears and snakes. In the movie, Johnny is clean, and walks easily through a well-manicured parklike frontier in beautiful weather. However, the reality was that he was often barefoot and wore rags in blizzards, and braved disease-ridden swamps.

In the end, after walking hundreds of miles and planting apple trees all along the way, Johnny finally rests for the last time under a tree; his angel appears before him, and tells Johnny that it's time to go. Johnny gets up, scared at first upon realizing he's dead, but refuses to go to his final resting place, believing that his work is not done yet. However, the angel tells him that, where they're headed, they're low on apple trees, so Johnny picks up his seed bag and happily agrees to go with him.

Prior release

The film was originally a sequence in Disney's Melody Time

Melody Time

Melody Time is a 1948 animated feature produced by Walt Disney and released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on May 27, 1948. Made up of several sequences set to popular music and folk music, the film is, like Make Mine Music before it, the popular music version of Fantasia Melody Time is a 1948...

. It was originally released May 27, 1948. It was re-released in Disney's American Legends

Disney's American Legends

Disney's American Legends is a home video release narrated by James Earl Jones and which features the following Walt Disney Feature Animation animated short subjects:*Johnny Appleseed released in 1948*The Brave Engineer released in 1950...

, on February 12, 2002.