Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (film)
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a landmark animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Productions, premiering on December 21, 1937. It is notable for being the first full-length animated film in the Disney canon, which set the stage for future animated storytelling. Based on the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale, the film tells the story of Snow White, a princess who befriends seven dwarfs while escaping the jealousy of her evil stepmother. The production was innovative, overcoming numerous technical challenges to create a rich visual experience, incorporating depth, shadows, and realistic human movements.
Initially, many in the film industry expected the project to fail, including Disney's own family members, due to its high production cost of $1.5 million. However, the film premiered to critical acclaim and became an immediate box office success, resonating with audiences and influencing the perception of animated films. Its legacy includes not only its artistic achievements but also its role in legitimizing fantasy as a genre appreciated by both children and adults. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" remains a culturally significant work, recognized for its emotional impact and celebrated as one of the greatest animated films in history.
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (film)
Identification Animated Disney film about a princess sheltered by dwarfs and brought back to life by her true love’s kiss
Producer Walt Disney
Date Released in 1937
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs set a precedent for both the film industry and Walt Disney Studios. It was the first animated feature-length film to be made in the United States, the first produced using “cel” (an abbreviation of celluloid) animation, and the first to employ full color in all its sequences. For Disney, it marked a turn from gag-driven shorts to a film with a full plot, good production values, and serious attention to mood and artistry.
The Walt Disney Company had considerable success during the late 1910’s and the 1920’s with short cartoon films featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and its trademark character Mickey Mouse. However, the income potential of this format was severely limited. As sound tracks became standard in most cinema, entrepreneur Walt Disney began to dream of longer films, with room for character development, complex plots, and the visual richness this expanding medium began to discover. As early as 1932, Disney began brainstorming a production that would use all these techniques in a new type of animated film. By this time, the Disney Studios employed a staff of artists. The company assembled a task force to work out character sketches and comedic sequences for a story based on the old German fairy tale “Snow White,” as told in the Brothers Grimm’s folktale anthology.
Coming off success with funny animal stories, Disney had an initial idea to build much of the story around the characters of individual dwarfs and “sight gags” based on their reactions and personalities. Some fifty-odd names were suggested for dwarfs, with each name tied into personality traits of the individual little men. Only gradually did Disney see the possibilities of a richer, more poignant story that incorporated some of the complexities of myth.
The design and filming processes were full of technical challenges. For scenes with many characters, larger animation and cel boards had to be devised. In short cartoons, the animation techniques had not needed to create the effects of depth and shadows, but these were essential for this story. Drawing human figures for film was not advanced either; by holding classes for illustrators and assigning each artist to a specific character, the company made great strides in animated techniques. Realistic depiction of human movements had not been tried before in animation. The studio filmed actors going through action sequences and used these as starting points for artists drawing the sequence. Throughout, directors and artists aimed for a mixture of quaintness and quasi-realism in the scenes.
Actual production began in early 1936. Because of all the preliminary work, the filming took about only a year. Even so, every day’s work seemed to bring a new challenge. From the beginning, many in the film industry expected Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to be a failure. Even Disney’s brother, Roy Disney, and his wife originally were against the project. The final production cost came out to about $1.5 million, an enormous amount by the standards of the time. However, Disney’s own faith in the film never flagged. It premiered at the Cathay Circle Theater in Hollywood on December 21, 1937, and was an immediate hit, with an audience that glittered with film-industry celebrities. The film was released to the public the following spring. Its reception by children and the general public was equally enthusiastic.
Impact
The era of the 1930’s was one of great film-industry creativity. Many of the films most admired in the twenty-first century were produced during this decade. Films became an American art form, gaining in complexity both stylistically and in terms of theme. They became the recreation of choice for millions who flocked to watch and provided an escape from, and contrast to, their mundane troubles. Even so, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was unique in the advances it introduced in animation and in legitimizing fantasy as a genre for both adult and child audiences. Certain scenes in the film come across as sheer magic because of their mood and emotional impact. By all accounts, the film deserved its 1998 ranking by the American Film Institute as the greatest animated film of all time.
Bibliography
Detweiler, Craig. Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the Twentieth Century. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2008.
Finch, Christopher. The Art of Walt Disney. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2004.