The Story of Anyburg U.S.A.
The city of Anyburg decides its traffic situation has gotten out of hand, so it puts the automobile on trial. The trial (conducted in rhyme) starts with a car that was in a hit-and-run accident, followed by a sports car whose sins are peeling rubber and general hot-rodding, followed by a heap, on trial for lack of safety. Next, a number of safety equipment designers testify that, despite their best efforts, the accident rate keeps rising. Through all this, the defense lawyer declines to ask questions. A highway designer bemoans the problems on his beautiful roads. At last, defense. He shows a number of scenarios, pointing out that the real problem isn’t the car but the driver. Everyone left the courtroom, declaring the car not guilty, and drove politely again, for a little while.
A town puts the motor car on trial, and the whole case is argued in verse. Disney made a run of these traffic-and-safety films in the 1950s as car ownership exploded, and this is the most stylish of them — the flat, angular courtroom design is genuinely handsome, and the verdict is sharper than you expect.