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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American film based on the eponymous European fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full length animated feature to be produced by Walt Disney, and the first in movie history. It is also the first Walt Disney Animated Classic.
Walt Disney's Snow White premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater on December 21, 1937, and the film was released to theaters by RKO Radio Pictures on February 4, 1938. The story was adapted by storyboard artists Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears and Webb Smith from the German fairy tale Snow White by the Brothers Grimm. David Hand was the supervising director, while William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen directed the film's individual sequences.
Snow White was one of only two animated films to rank in the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films of all time in 1997 (the other being Disney's Fantasia), ranking number 49. It achieved a higher ranking (#34) in the list's 2007 update, this time being the only traditionally animated film on the list. The following year AFI would name the film as the the greatest animated film of all time
In 1989, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Plot
The film begins with a prologue:
- Once upon a time there lived a lovely little princess named Snow White. Her vain and wicked stepmother the Queen feared that some day Snow White's beauty would surpass her own. So she dressed the little Princess in rags and forced her to work as a Scullery Maid. Each day the vain Queen consulted her Magic Mirror, 'Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?' and as long as the Mirror answered, 'You are the fairest one of all,' Snow White was safe from the Queen's cruel jealousy.
One day, however, the Magic Mirror informs the queen that Snow White, despite her rags, is now the fairest in the land. In addition, the queen observes the arrival of a prince, who serenades the young girl as she gathers water from a well to scrub the grounds. These events fuel the queen's jealousy, and she orders her huntsman to take Snow White into the woods and kill her. As proof, the queen requires the huntsman to bring back the dead girl's heart in a jeweled box. The kind-hearted huntsman refuses to commit this murder, and instead urges Snow White to flee into the woods and never come back. The huntsman brings back a pig's heart for the queen instead.
The frightened princess finds herself lost in the woods and terrified by numerous glowing eyes peering from within the trees and the brush. These are revealed to be the eyes of friendly woodland creatures who befriend Snow White and lead her to a cottage deep in the forest. Finding seven small chairs in the cottage's dining room, Snow White assumes the cottage is the home of seven children—"Seven untidy children," she notes, as she finds the cottage in disarray. The princess and the animals band together and clean the cottage, hoping that the good deed will convince the children to let Snow White stay with them.
But it soon becomes apparent that the woodland cottage belongs not to seven children but to seven adult dwarfs, who spend their days working in a nearby diamond mine. Upon returning home at the end of the working day, they are alarmed to find their cottage clean and surmise that a monstrous intruder has invaded their home. The dwarfs then come upon Snow White upstairs, asleep in one of their beds. The princess awakens, introduces herself, and the dwarfs, save for one aptly named Grumpy, welcome her as a house guest, particularly after they learn she can cook and has already prepared dinner. They are less pleased, however, at Snow White's insistence that they wash up before eating, something they have never done and only do after much apprehension. In a comical scene, the dwarfs are forced to wash Grumpy themselves, as he was refusing to do so himself.
The magic mirror informs the queen that the heart in the box is of a pig, and that Snow White is alive and still the fairest in the land. In a rage she descends to the castle's dungeon, where she transforms herself into a grizzled old hag, and poisons an apple which, when given to Snow White, will cause her to fall into the 'Sleeping Death'. The only antidote to this spell is that Snow White can be awakened by "love's first kiss". The queen, however, is confident that this will not happen as "the dwarves will think she's dead" and that "she'll be buried alive!". The next morning, after the dwarves have left for the mine, she travels to the cottage, knowing that Snow White will be alone "with a harmless old peddler woman". When she reaches the house, Snow White's animal friends sense that the old hag is really the queen in disguise, and so they try to stop her from giving the poisoned apple to Snow White, by knocking it from her hand. They then rush off to the diamond mine, to try and bring the dwarves back to the cottage before the apple is bitten into. However, the queen manages to force the apple onto Snow White by pretending that it is a "magic wishing apple", and "one bite, and all your dreams will come true". She bites into the apple and falls lifelessly onto the floor. The queen rejoices in her victory; "now I'll be fairest in the land!" she cackles. But as she retreats from the cottage, a violent storm erupts, and the dwarves, who have just arrived, chase her through the woods and up the cliffs, where she is eventually trapped on a high-up precipice. As the dwarves climb towards her, she uses a branch to try and lever a huge boulder off the cliff onto the dwarves, yelling "I'll fix ya! I'll crush your bones!". However a large lightning bolt strikes and destroys the precipice, sending the old hag tumbling to her death with the bolder falling backwards to crush her.
After witnessing the Queen's death, the dwarfs return to their cottage and find Snow White unconcious. Thinking that she may be dead. they cannot bear to bury her; they instead build for her a glass coffin trimmed with gold in a clearing in the forest. The dwarfs and the woodland creatures keep watch over Snow White through the autumn, winter, and spring. One day, the prince learns of her plight and visits her coffin. Captivated by her beauty, he kisses Snow White, waking her up with "love's first kiss", the only possible cure for the sleeping death. The dwarfs and animals all rejoice as Snow White and the prince ride off into the sunset, where the couple lives happily ever after in the prince's castle.
Voice cast of characters
Walt Disney introduces each of the Seven Dwarfs in a scene from the original 1937 Snow White theatrical trailer.
- Adriana Caselotti as Princess Snow White: Snow White was the daughter of a great king whose wife died when the daughter was very young. Her wicked stepmother forced her to work as a scullery maid in the castle. Despite this, she retains a cheerful but naive demeanor. Virginia Davis, who starred in Disney's "Alice" series, was considered for the role of Snow White, but was rejected. Deanna Durbin was also considered, but was rejected because her voice was "too mature" for the role. Both a child and a mother-figure.
- Lucille La Verne as The Queen/Witch: The Queen is the stepmother of Snow White. Once her magic mirror tells her that Snow White is fairer than she is, she immediately enlists Humbert the huntsman to kill her in the woods. After she discovers that Snow White did not die, she disguises herself as an old hag and uses a poisoned apple in order to kill Snow White. While recording the voice of the Queen as the hag, Walt Disney was not happy with the voice Lucille La Verne was producing. After several retakes La Verne asked if she could go to the bathroom. When she returned and tried again to do the voice, she performed it perfectly. Amazed, Disney asked how she had achieved it. La Verne replied that she had removed her false teeth.
- Roy Atwell as Doc: Doc is considered the leader of the seven dwarfs, and is presumably the oldest. He wears glasses and often mixes up his words. His job in the dwarfs' mine is to check the authenticity of the many gems. Joe Twerp, who was famous for confusing words, was considered for the role, but only played Doc in the radio version of the movie.
- Pinto Colvig as Grumpy: Grumpy is as his name suggests him to be. He has the biggest nose of the seven and he automatically disapproves of Snow White for the mere fact that she is a woman. However, though initially too proud to show it, deep down he cares perhaps the most for her safety. He repeatedly warns her of the threat posed by the Queen and rushes to Snow White's aid upon realizing that she is in danger, leading the charge himself.
- Otis Harlan as Happy: Happy is the joyous dwarf. He is the fattest of the seven and is always laughing.
- Pinto Colvig as Sleepy: Sleepy is always tired, as attested by his heavy eyelids, and therefore usually appears laconic even in the direst situations. His job at the mine is to haul all the diamonds and rubies by cart to Doc for inspection. He has the longest beard of the seven. Usually he is pestered by a fly, who appears as a background character. (Sterling Holloway was considered for the role).
- Scotty Mattraw as Bashful: Bashful is the shyest of the dwarfs, and is therefore often embarrassed by the presence of any attention directed at him. He frequently annoys Grumpy, though not as much as Doc. In Walt Disney's own words, according to one of the film's original theatrical trailers, Bashful is "secretly in love with Snow White".
- Billy Gilbert as Sneezy:[2] Sneezy's name is earned by his extraordinarily powerful sneezes, which are seen blowing objects (including his brothers) across a room. He has the shortest beard of the seven (besides the beardless Dopey). The cause of his sneezes is hay fever.
- Eddie Collins as Dopey:[3] Dopey is the only dwarf to have no beard at all; he is presumably the youngest of the seven. As his name suggests, Dopey is clumsy. His clumsiness provides comic relief to some of the plot. He is a mute, or at any rate never speaks and does not know whether he can (according to Happy "he never tried"). His job at the mine is to clean up all the unusable jewels and lock up the vault. He is always seen last in line whenever the dwarfs walk to and from work. Although he is scared at times, he can also be very brave, especially when Snow White is in danger. (Mel Blanc was considered for the role.)
- Moroni Olsen as The Magic Mirror: The Slave of the Magic Mirror appears as a green mask in clouds of smoke. The Queen regularly asks him who is the fairest in the land.
- Stuart Buchanan as Humbert the Huntsman: The Huntsman is a kind-hearted person who cannot bear to kill Snow White, even when the Queen orders him to take the princess's heart.
- Harry Stockwell as the Prince (a.k.a. Prince Ferdinand): The Prince first sees Snow White singing at her wishing well. He immediately falls in love with her and her voice. He later reappears to revive her.
Unvoiced characters include Snow White's animal friends, the Queen's raven, and the vultures who follow the Witch. However, although the animals did not have human speaking voices, their natural calls were very lifelike, and were all voiced by champion whistler and animal mimic A. Purves Pullen, who would provide bird and animal calls for Disney films (including numerous Pluto cartoons) for several decades. Pullen also produced the bird calls for the Enchanted Tiki Room attractions at Disney theme parks. During the 1940s and 1950s, he performed as "Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath" with the comedy band Spike Jones & His City Slickers.
Production
Development on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs began in early 1934, and in June 1934, Walt Disney announced the production of his first feature to the New York Times.[4] Before Snow White, the Disney studio had been primarily involved in the production of highly successful animated short subjects in the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies series. Disney hoped to expand his studio's prestige and revenues by moving into features, and estimated that Snow White could be produced for a budget of $250,000 - ten times the budget of an average Silly Symphony.
Walt Disney had to fight to get the film produced. Both his brother Roy Disney and his wife Lillian attempted to talk him out of it, and the Hollywood movie industry mockingly referred to the film as "Disney's Folly" while it was in production. He even had to mortgage his house to help finance the film's production, which eventually ran up a total cost of just over $1.5 million, a massive sum for a feature film in 1937.
Snow White, which spent three years in production, was the end result of Walt Disney's plan to improve the production quality of his studio's output, and also to find a source of income other than short subjects. Many animation techniques which later became standards were developed or improved for the film, including the animation of realistic humans (with and without the help of the rotoscope), effective character animation (taking characters that look similar — the dwarfs, in this case — and making them distinct characters through their body acting and movement), elaborate effects animation to depict rain, lightning, water, reflections, sparkles, magic, and other objects and phenomena, and the use of the multiplane camera.
The names of the Seven Dwarfs ("Bashful," "Doc," "Dopey," "Grumpy," "Happy," "Sleepy" and "Sneezy") were created for this production, chosen from a pool of about fifty potentials. The one name he always had in mind from the start was Grumpy, or something similar. Blabby, Jumpy, Shifty, and Snoopy were among those that were rejected, along with Awful, Baldy, Biggo-Ego, Biggy, Biggy-Wiggy, Burpy, Busy, Chesty, Cranky, Daffy, Dippy, Dirty, Dizzy, Doleful, Flabby, Gabby, Gloomy, Goopy, Graceful, Helpful, Hoppy, Hotsy, Hungrey, Jaunty, Lazy, Neurtsy, Nifty, Puffy, Sappy, Sneezy-Wheezy, Sniffy, Scrappy, Silly, Soulful, Strutty, Stuffy, Sleazy, Tearful, Thrifty, Tipsy, Titsy, Tubby, Weepy, Wistful, and Woeful.[5].
The songs in Snow White were composed by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey. Paul J. Smith and Leigh Harline composed the incidental music score. Well-known songs from Snow White include "Heigh-Ho," "Some Day My Prince Will Come," and "Whistle While You Work." Because Disney did not have its own music publishing company at this time, the publishing rights for the music and songs were administered through the Bourne Co., which continues to hold these rights. In later years, the Studio was able to acquire back the rights to the music from many of the other films, but not this one. Snow White became the first American film to have a soundtrack album released in conjunction with the feature film. Prior to Snow White, a movie soundtrack recording was unheard of and of little value to a movie studio.
Reaction
Disney's wife, Lillian, told him: "No one's ever gonna pay a dime to see a dwarf picture."[5] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater on December 21, 1937 to a wildly receptive audience, many of whom were the same naysayers who dubbed the film "Disney's Folly." The film received a standing ovation at its completion from a star-studded audience that included such celebrities as Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard, Shirley Temple, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Judy Garland, Ginger Rogers, Jack Benny, Fred MacMurray, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Burns and Allen, Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, John Barrymore, and Marlene Dietrich. Six days later, Walt Disney and his magical seven dwarfs appeared on the cover of Time magazine. The New York Times said "Thank you very much, Mr. Disney." RKO Radio Pictures put the film into general release on February 4, 1938, and it went on to become a major box-office success, making more money than any other motion picture in 1938. In fact, for a short time, Snow White was the highest-grossing film in American cinema history; it was ousted from that spot by Gone with the Wind in 1939. Adjusted for inflation, and incorporating subsequent releases, the film still registers one of the top ten American film moneymakers of all time. [6]
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length animated feature film to be made (not counting the Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons), and won an honorary Academy Award for Walt Disney "as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field." Disney received a full-size Oscar statuette and seven miniature ones, presented to him by 10-year-old child actress Shirley Temple.
The film was also nominated for Best Musical Score. "Some Day My Prince Will Come" has become a jazz standard that has been performed by numerous artists, including Buddy Rich, Lee Wiley, Oscar Peterson, and Miles Davis.
Noted filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein and Charlie Chaplin praised Snow White as a notable achievement in cinema.[7] The film inspired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to produce its own fantasy film, The Wizard of Oz in 1939. The 1943 Merrie Melodies short Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, directed by Bob Clampett, parodies Snow White by presenting the story with an all-black cast singing a jazz score.
Snow White was such a success that Disney went on to produce 18 more full-length animated feature films during his lifetime.[8]
It has been well documentedcitation needed that Adolf Hitler watched this film with a roomful of children, and was delighted by Disney's adaptation of the German fairy tale. Hitler supposedly offered Disney anything he wanted in exchange for Disney's creation of feature-length animated features in Germany. Though this is the basis for the Walt Disney as a Nazi rumors, Disney's biographer Bob Thomas proves that Disney declined Hitler's invitation, and in fact soon entered production on such anti-German projects as Der Fuehrer's Face and Victory Through Air Power.
On February 22, 2008, William Hakvaag, owner of Lofoten War Museum, said he found four watercolor paintings with Disney motifs hidden inside a painting signed "A. Hitler" that he purchased at auction.[9] Three of them featured dwarfs and Hakvaag claims these have been signed by Hitler himself,[9] while the last one was an unsigned painting of Pinocchio.[10]
American Film Institute recognition
Theme parks
Snow White's Scary Adventures is a popular theme park ride at Disneyland (an opening day attraction dating from 1955), Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. Snow White, her Prince, and the Seven Dwarfs are also featured in parades and character appearances throughout the parks.
Ice shows
- Disney on ice began it's touring production of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in 1986. The production toured from 1986 - 1987, and then again from 1994 - 1995, and once more from 2000 - 2001.
- From 2001 - 2002, a shortend verison of the story was presented in the Disney on ice production "Mickey & Minnie's Amazing Journey".
- In 2002, a shortend verison of the story was presented in the Disney on ice production "Princess Classics", and in 2006 in "Princess Wishes". The shows are both currently on tour internationally.
Re-releases, home video, and related products
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was first re-released in 1944, in order to raise revenue for the Disney studio during the World War II period. This re-release set a tradition of re-releasing Disney animated features every seven to ten years, and Snow White was re-released to theaters in 1952, 1958, 1967, 1975, 1983, 1987, and 1993.
Coinciding with the 1987 release, Disney released an authorized novelization of the story, written by children’s author Suzanne Weyn. On October 28, 1994, it was released as the first video in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection. It was the last of the early Disney animated films to be released on home video. Snow White was later released on DVD on October 9, 2001, the first in Disney's Platinum Series line of releases, and featured, across two discs, the digitally restored film, a making-of documentary narrated by Angela Lansbury, an audio commentary by John Canemaker and (via archived audio clips) Walt Disney, and many more special features. It is due to be released again as a Platinum Edition DVD on October 2009, making it the first Disney film to have two different Platinum Edition DVDs.
A Snow White video game was released for the Game Boy Color system. Snow White makes an appearance in the popular PlayStation 2 game Kingdom Hearts as one of the seven fabled Princesses of Heart, and a world based on the movie is slated to feature in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep for the PSP.
Deleted and discarded sequences
Here is a list of deleted scenes and some discarded ideas:
- The Queen holds the Prince in the dungeon, and makes skeletons dance for his amusement. Following that was a scene when the Prince escapes with the help of a fairy. This was planned but never shot, because the animators couldn't draw the Prince correctly, so it was discarded. However, this scene was used in the 1959 film, Sleeping Beauty.
- Snow White's dream, where the Prince and she were dancing on a cloud beneath a sea of stars. This was to accompany "Some Day My Prince Will Come". This was never made.
- The dwarves build Snow White a bed, with the help of woodland creatures. This was created but deleted from the final print.
- The song, "Music in Your Soup", with the Dwarves singing about the soup Snow White has made them. This was also made but deleted.
- The song, "You're Never to Old to Be Young", which was to feature the dwarves. It was replaced with "The Silly Song".
- An argument between Doc and Grumpy arguing whether Snow White should stay or not. It was filmed, but not used.
- The Dwarves think about an idea for a present for Snow White (Happy says a crown of jewels, Bashful, a carriage with seven white horses, Grumpy suggest a mop.) This was deleted.
- The witch brews a potion for the apple using the cauldron, then smoke in the form of skulls rises from the cauldron. This scene was filmed, but cut at the last minute. However, it can be seen on the Platinum Edition DVD release of the film during the "The Making of" segment.
Songs
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Songs written for the film but not used include two songs for the dwarfs: "Music in Your Soup" (the accompanying sequence was completed up to the pencil test stage before being deleted from the film), and "You're Never Too Old to Be Young" (which was replaced by "The Silly Song").
On Classic Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic, this includes "Some Day My Prince Will Come" on the red disc, "Heigh-Ho'" on the blue disc, "The Silly Song (Dwarfs' Yodel Song)" on the green disc, and "I'm Wishing" and "One Song" on the purple disc. On Disney's Greatest Hits, this also includes "Heigh-Ho" on another blue disc and "Some Day My Prince Will Come" on the green disc.
See also
Notes
External links
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