Classic Hollywood is fascinating not only because of its films appear to have quality unattainable by Hollywood films in our times, but also because they have set technical and structural parameters that make them as enjoyable and effective to us as they were to the audience in 1930s and 1940s. First came the sound, then came the colour and the final piece of the puzzle was the animation. Walt Disney, one of the first great masters of film animation and one of the more risk-taking producers of the period, fused all three in the process that would culminate in 1937 with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first animated feature film of his studio. That film turned out not only to be smashing commercial success, but also one of the most groundbreaking and highly regarded films of its time which has set the template that many animation films would follow to this day.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is based on the eponymous fairy tale by Brothers Grimm. Protagonist (voiced by Adriana Caselotti) is princess who left her parents at early age and is now forced to live in the castle ruled by her evil stepmother, the Queen (voiced by Lucille La Verne). Afraid that the Snow White’s beauty will one day outshine hers, vain Queen orders Snow White to wear rags and work as maid. Despite that, Snow White meets and falls in love with Prince (voiced by Harry Stockwell). When Magic Mirror (voiced by Moroni Olsen) tells Queen that Snow White is now the most beautiful woman in her kingdom, she orders Huntsman (voiced by Stuart Buchanan) to take her to woods and kill her. Huntsman, however, can’t do it and instead tells Snow White to run for her life. Snow White feels lost until she is guided by sympathetic animals towards cottage where she would seek shelter. The cottage belongs to group of seven dwarf miners led by Doc (voiced by Roy Atwell),who, upon returning, see that Snow White cleaned and tidied up her place and, with exception of Grumpy (voiced by Pinto Colvig), immediately starts to like her. Their happy life is interrupted when Queen learns about Snow White being alive and decides to kill her by posing as an elderly peddler and offering her poisoned apple.
Walt Disney started to work on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1934, in a time when cinema wasn’t even four decades old. Animated films, although Disney already had great experience in making them, were at the times still all shorts, shown in cinemas together with newsreels and other shorts before “proper” live action feature films. Film animation, just like the film in general in the first decades since Lumiere Brothers, was seen as nothing more as side attraction. Disney, as true visionary, believed that animated films can be not only as effective as live action films but they can be recognised true art. That vision began to take shape during long and painstaking production which also included a lot of financial risks, with Walt Disney having to fight hard to secure loans for 1.5 million US$ of budget, which was extremely large sum for 1930s Hollywood standards. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfes also required a plenty of labour and 570 people worked on animation. Collective nature of the effort can be seen in six different people being credited as directors – David Hand, Perce Pearce, William Cottrell, Larry Morey, Wilfred Jackson and Ben Sharpsteen. It was also recognised by Disney himself who gave thanks to members of his crew in the opening credits, a practice which is extremely rare in Hollywood.
The results of this efforts are impressive even eight and half decades later, when the audience is accustomed to computers being used for animations. Use of cel animation – during which each of the images is to be hand drawn for each frame of the film – required a lot of work, but also a lot of talent. Disney’s artists here worked really hard on making each of those shots look alive which almost all parts of the background or characters moving. This is probably best seen in the scene when distraught Snow White runs through the dark woods and trees and branches in her imagination become living monsters. Today we often take these events for granted, but for the audience in 1937 it looked not only revolutionary but as pure magic.
Technical achievements go hand in hand with the script which was also a collective effort, but nevertheless managed to fuse various elements that would soon become part of Disney formula. The story of Snow White is relatively simple, but told in a way that would appeal both to adults and young children. There is a little bit horror (like scenes in woods obviously inspired by German Expressionist silent films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, there is an obligarory romance and there are likeable musical numbers, like “Some Day My Prince Will Mark” and legendary dwarfs’ anthem “Heigh-Ho”. But the most important ingredient is humour. It can be seen in the way various forest animals – drawn in semi-anthropomorphic terms with large “Disney” eyes – are portrayed, usually with comical emphasis on their physical traits. The biggest and most effective element of the film are dwarfs, each of them being given specific character trait, which is used to great comical effect. It is the dwarfs and not the Snow White who ends up being the most remembered and beloved of film’s characters.
To say that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was smashing commercial success is an understatement. Soon after the premiere it became the most commercially successful sound film in history (only to be soon dethroned by Gone with the Wind). It received nearly universal acclaim by critics and this was confirmed by high praises by Charles Chaplin and Sergei Eisenstein, the most celebrated and authoritative film makers of the time. Its success allowed Disney to continue with making animated features and build an empire that would eventually become the most powerful show business institution in today’s world. Snow White with its popularity continued to be cash cow for studio, with each new generation of children, especially in years before television or home video, being introduced to it via regular re-releases. And, unlike many Hollywood films that reached the same levels of success, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs truly deserved it.
RATING: 9/10 (++++)
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