The Apostle

The Apostle/ El Apóstol:
Release Date: November 9, 1917
Language: Silent Film/Spanish Subtitles
Running Time: 70 Minutes
Director: Quirino Cristiani
Producer: Federico Valle
Writer: Quirino Cristiani


Historical Significance:
-first feature film to use cut-out animation
-first animated feature film ever created


Background/Animation Style and Production:

     Hipólito Irigoyen, the charismatic leader of the Argentinian Radical Party, won the 1916 presidential elections by a large majority, thus ending the long rule of the conservatives. The Radical Party was the party of the lower middle class and the "populist," activist segments of society. Irigoyen was an honest man, but somewhat absentminded; the victim, some said, of unscrupulous associates. Moreover, he and his fellow Radicals lacked the polished style of the conservatives: they tended to be long-winded, with a certain tendency toward demagoguery. All these factors made Irigoyen an ideal target for the young cartoonist, who was eager to make fun of everyone and everything.

     The film, El Apóstol (The Apostle), showed Irigoyen wanting to bring morality to public life and eliminate corruption in Buenos Aires. To accomplish his lofty aims, he ascends to heaven where Jupiter lends the new president his thunderbolts. Irigoyen then hurled the redemptive fire at the city, which made for a most impressive blaze. The audience particularly enjoyed the final sequence, which combined models built by the French architect Andrés Ducaud and special effects.

     El Apóstol had its premiere on November 9, 1917 at the Select Theater (which co-producer Franchini owned). "The film is magnificent," said the review in the newspaper Critica, "and demonstrates the wonderful progress our national cinema has made."La Razon agreed, saying it was, "A graphic work that reveals enormous labor, patience and even genius." A good many other papers praised Valle, the film, and the country. But hardly anyone noticed that Cristiani had the one true claim to authorship: He had conceived the film, made the drawings, and animated the characters. In those days, no one thought of filmmakers--films were spoken of something "produced" by someone.

     Cristiani's life was complicated by the fact that Valle had hired Diógenes Taborda, known as "El Mono" ("The Monkey," as was apparently very ugly), to design characters for the film. El Mono was the most famous humorous cartoonist of the time; a veritable star, his vaguely art nouveau cartoons would sell any journal in which they appeared. But Taborda had no desire to devote his life to something he knew nothing about, and cared to know nothing about. He would make two or three drawings and then turn the rest over to Cristiani, who could do whatever he wanted ... as long as Taborda's name got the largest billing in the credits. Everyone was happy with this arrangement (especially Valle, who was only interested in buying El Mono's popularity), and so the deal had been struck. The friendship between the two artists was sealed when Taborda served as best man at Cristiani's wedding. (The press, who had not heard otherwise, printed the name of Taborda as the artist who made El Apóstol, forgetting the film's humble "animator.")

     El Apóstol was an hour and ten minutes long and was said to be composed of 58,000 drawings, which means 58,000 frames, as the film was made utilizing cutouts. All known copies of the film were lost in a fire in Federico Valle's vaults in 1926.

The Tale of the Fox

The Tale of the Fox/Le Roman de Renard:    

Release Date: Germany: April 10, 1937/France: April 10, 1941  

Language: French/German

Running Time: 65 minutes

Director: Irene Starevich/ Ladislas Starevich

Producer: Louis Nalpas (1929-31)/Roger Richebé (1939-41)

Historical Significance: 

- the third animated feature film to have sound
- stop-motion animation pioneer Ladislas Starevich's first fully animated feature film
- one of the world's first-ever animated feature films and one of the first to use puppet animation

Background:

     The question of animation in the Nazi era has been largely ignored or even falsified. Starewich's Le Roman de Renard,  although it was largely shot in Paris around 1930, has been completely ignored in discussions of "the first feature-length animation film" because it finally received its finishing funds from German sources (since Goethe had written a classic version of the Reynard legend) and had its world premiere in Berlin in April 1937--still eight months before Disney's Snow White (December 1937).

     In fact, dozens of animators worked in Germany before and during the Nazi era, including such relatively forgotten names as Kurt Wiese, Otto Hermann, Hans Zoozmann, Lore Bierling, Toni Rabolt, Harry Jaeger, Kurt Wolfe, Kurt Kiesslich, Curt Schumann, Kurt Stordel, Richard Felgenauer, Bernhard Klein, Paul Peroff, the team of Hedwig and Gerda Otto, the team of Schwab and Gerhardt--as well as such slightly better-known figures as Louis Seel, the Diehl brothers (who made more than fifty puppet films), Rudolf Pfenninger, Wolfgang Kaskeline, Lotte Reiniger, and the Fischinger brothers--Hans and Oskar.

Plot Summary:

     In the kingdom of animals, the fox Renard is used to tricking and fooling everyone. Consequently, the King (a lion), receives more and more complaints. Finally, he orders Renard to be arrested and brought before the throne.

Animation Style and Production:

     The Tale of the Fox, called Le Roman de Renard in France, and Reinecke Fuchs in Germany, was stop-motion animation pioneer Ladislas Starevich's first fully animated feature film. It is based on the tales of Renard the Fox. Although the animation was finished in Paris after an 18-month period (1929-1930), there were major problems with adding a soundtrack to the film. Finally, funding was given for a German soundtrack by the Nazi regime (Goethe had written a classic version of the Renard legend) and this version had its premiere in Berlin in April 1937. Released eight months before Disney's Snow White, it is the world's sixth-ever animated feature film. The film was released in France with a French language soundtrack in 1941. 

Funny Tidbits You Didn't Know:

- As you are aware by reading this post, the German version of this film was funded by the Nazi regime. While I cannot condone the director's need to let them pollute this film, artistically and story-wise, this is film will be featured and discussed on the original French version, as it was meant to be. As the German version has cease to exist, and for personal reasons, I will only focus on this version. Hate the directors, not the movie. 

Movie Links:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PL678BAA1CD650D332&feature=mh_lolz

Fantasia

Fantasia:

Release Date: 11/13/1940

Distributed by: Walt Disney Productions/RKO Radio Productions

Studio: Walt Disney Productions

Running Time: 125 minutes

Director: Multiple Directors Per Segment

Producer: Walt Disney

Historical Significance: 

-first animated movie to combine music and animation, originally an experimental film

-third to be produced by Walt Disney

-third in the Walt Disney Animated Classics canon

Background:
Fantasia, a Disney animated feature-length "concert" film milestone, is an experimental film integrating eight magnificent classical musical compositions with enchanting, exhilarating, and imaginative, artistically-choreographed animation. The conceptual framework of the individual pieces embraces such areas as prehistoric times, the four seasons, nature, hell and heaven, the themes of light vs. darkness and chaos vs. order, dancing animals, classical mythology, and legend.

Program:

Introduction - Live-action photography of members of the orchestra gathering and tuning their instruments. Deems Taylor joins the orchestra to introduce the film's program.
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor – Live-action shots of the orchestra illuminated in blue and gold, backed by superimposed shadows. The number segues into abstract animated patterns, lines, shapes and cloud formations.
Nutcracker Suite – A selection of pieces from the ballet depicts the changing of the seasons from summer to autumn to winter, with no plot. A variety of dances are presented with fairies, fish, flowers, mushrooms, and leaves, including "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," "Chinese Dance," "Dance of the Flutes," "Arabian Dance," "Russian Dance" and "Waltz of the Flowers."
The Sorcerer's Apprentice – Based on Goethe's 1797 poem Der Zauberlehrling. Mickey Mouse, an apprentice of the Sorcerer, Yen Sid, attempts some of his master's magic tricks before knowing how to control them.
The Rite of Spring – A visual history of the earth's beginnings is depicted to selected sections of the ballet, from the planet's formation to the first living creatures, followed by the reign and extinction of the dinosaurs.
Intermission - The musicians depart and the Fantasia title card is revealed. After the intermission there is a brief jam session of jazz music led by the clarinet player as the orchestra members return.
Meet the Soundtrack – A humorously stylized demonstration of how sound is rendered on film. The animated soundtrack, initially a straight white line, changes into different shapes and colors based on the sounds played.
The Pastoral Symphony – A mythical ancient Greek world of centaurs, cupids, fauns and other figures from classical mythology. A gathering for a festival to honor Bacchus, the god of wine, is interrupted by Zeus who creates a storm and throws lightning bolts at the attendees.
Dance of the Hours – A comic ballet featuring Madame Upanova and her ostriches (Morning); Hyacinth Hippo and her servants (Afternoon); Elephanchine and her bubble-blowing elephant troupe (Evening); and Ben Ali Gator and his troop of alligators (Night). The finale sees all the characters dancing together until the palace collapses.
Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria – At midnight the devil Chernabog summons evil spirits and restless souls from their graves. The spirits dance and fly through the air until driven back by the sound of an Angelus bell as night fades into dawn. A chorus is heard singing Ave Maria as a line of robed monks is depicted walking with lighted torches through a forest and into the ruins of a cathedral.

Animation Style and Production:

     From November 1938 to October 1939, artist Oskar Fischinger worked on the film's first segment, the Toccata and Fugue. He was a pioneer in producing abstract animation set to music, but Disney felt his designs were too abstract for a mass audience. Fischinger left the studio in apparent disgust and despair, as he was not used to working in a group and with little control. An Arabian dancer was brought into the studios to study the movements for the goldfish in Arab Dance.
     To obtain ideas for The Rite of Spring, animators studied comets and nebulae at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California and drew portraits of prehistoric animals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. A herd of iguanas and a baby alligator were brought into the studios for observation. In December 1939, Stravinsky visited the studios to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice, hear Stokowski's arrangement of The Rite of Spring and view the sketches, storyboards and models for the segment. For inspiration on the routines in Dance of the Hours, animators studied real life ballet performers including Marge Champion and Irina Baronova.
     Béla Lugosi, most known for his role in Dracula, was brought in to provide reference poses for Chernabog. As animator Bill Tytla disliked the results, he used colleague Wilfred Jackson to pose shirtless which gave him the images he needed. The Ave Maria sequence was completed and spliced into the film just four hours before its premiere. Over 1,000 artists and technicians were used in the making of Fantasia, which features more than 500 characters.

     This Disney production was an ambitious experiment to try to popularize classical music, especially by accompanying it with animation. Originally, the film was to consist of only The Sorcerer's Apprentice segment, but it was expanded to include the full anthology of shorts. And it was slightly controversial for its depiction of bare-breasted centaurettes in the Pastoral Symphony segment and other stereotypical racial depictions. [Adhering to the Hays Production Code and its strict rules, the figures were garlanded with flower bras for cover-up after swimming topless (still uncensored) in a waterfall and pond (seen from a distance). Also, in later releases of the film, in the Pastoral Symphony segment (again), two black Nubian/zebra centaurs who attend the Bacchus celebration were edited out, along with a female pickaninny centaurette with braided hair named Sunflower who shines the hoof of a white female centaurette. The black centaurette was first abruptly cut from the film and as technology improved, the scene was edited or 'resized' by zooming in on the frames with the character in them so that she was not seen in the shot.]
     Other segments, such as Ride Of The Valkyries, Swan of Tuonela, and Flight of the Bumblebee were storyboarded but never fully animated, and thus were never put into production for inclusion in future Fantasia-style releases.

Awards and Nominations:
     At the 14th Academy Awards in 1942, Disney called Fantasia a mistake. "We all make mistakes. Fantasia was one but it was an honest mistake. I shall now rededicate myself to my old ideals"
     Fantasia ranked fifth at the 1940 National Board of Review Awards in the Top Ten Films category. Disney and Stokowski won a Special Award for the film at the 1940 New York Film Critics Circle Awards. Fantasia was the subject of two Academy Honorary Awards on February 26, 1942 — one for Disney, William Garity, John N. A. Hawkins and the RCA Manufacturing Company for their "outstanding contribution to the advancement of the use of sound in motion pictures through the production of Fantasia," and the other to Stokowski "and his associates for their unique achievement in the creation of a new form of visualized music in Walt Disney's production Fantasia, thereby widening the scope of the motion picture as entertainment and as an art form."
     In 1990, Fantasia was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."The film is featured in three lists that rank the greatest American films as determined by the American Film Institute.

Funny Tidbits You Didn't Know:

- The idea behind Fantasia came out of a chance meeting between Walt Disney and conductor Leopold Stokowski, who suggested to Walt that he produce a feature that would match animated sequences to classical music.
- Composer Igor Stravinsky, whose composition provided the inspiration for the musical segment, "Rite of Spring," was the only living composer whose work was used in Fantasia.
- In the Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence, the name of the sorcerer is Yen Sid, which is Disney, spelled backwards.

Movie Links:

http://www.sockshare.com/file/1B2DACA55E476DD3

Pinocchio

Pinocchio

Release Date: 2/7/1940

Distributed by: RKO Radio Pictures

Studio: Walt Disney Productions

Running Time: 88 minutes

Directors: Ben Sharpsteen, Hamilton Luske, Norman Ferguson, 

T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts

Producer: Walt Disney

Country: United States

Language: English

Historical Significance: 

-Second film by Walt Disney Studios

-Groundbreaking advancements in effect animation

Background:

     Production on Pinocchio started in the middle of 1937, during the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Pinocchio was intended to be the studio's third film, after Bambi. However, Bambi proved to be a challenging film to adapt, so Pinocchio was moved ahead in production while Bambi was put on hold.

     The plan for the original film was considerably different from what was released. Numerous characters and plot points, many of which came from the original novel, were used in early drafts. Producer Walt Disney was displeased with the work that was being done and called a halt to the project midway into production so that the concept could be rethought and the characters redesigned.

Plot Summary:

The plot of the film involves an old wood-carver named Geppetto who carves a wooden puppet named Pinocchio being brought to life by a blue fairy, who tells him he can become a real boy if he proves himself "brave, truthful, and unselfish". Thus begin the puppet's adventures to become a real boy, which involve many encounters with a host of unsavory characters.

Voice Cast:

Pinocchio: Dickie Jones

Jiminy Cricket: Cliff Edwards

Mister Geppetto: Christian Rub

Figaro and Cleo (Mute)

John Worthington Foulfellow: Walter Catlett

Gideon (Mute) Originally Mel Blanc, but he provides the sound of Gideon's hiccups 

Stromboli: Charles Judels

The Blue Fairy: Evelyn Venable

The Coachman: Charles Judels

Lampwick: Frankie Darro

Monstro (Mute)

Alexander: Dickie Jones

Animation Style and Production:

     Originally, Pinocchio was to be depicted as a Charlie McCarthy-esque wise guy, equally as rambunctious and sarcastic as the puppet in the original novel. He looked exactly like a real wooden puppet with, among other things, a long pointed nose, a peaked cap, and bare wooden hands. But Walt found that no one could really sympathize with such a character and so the designer Milt Kahl had to redesign the puppet as much as possible. Eventually, they revised the puppet to make him look more like a real boy, with, among other things, a button nose, a child's Tyrolean hat, and standard cartoon character 4-fingered (or 3 and a thumb) hands with Mickey Mouse-type gloves on them. Milt quoted, "I do not think of him as a puppet, I think of him as a little boy". The only parts of him that still looked more or less like a puppet were his arms and legs. In this film, he is still led astray by deceiving characters, but gradually learns bit by bit, and even exhibits his good heart when he is offered to go to Pleasure Island by saying he needs to go home two times, before Honest John and Gideon pick him up themselves and carry him away.

     Additionally, it was at this stage that the character of the cricket was expanded. Jiminy Cricket became central to the story. Originally the cricket was not even in the film. Once added, he was depicted as an actual (that is, less anthropomorphized) cricket with toothed legs and waving antennae. But again Walt wanted something more likable, so Ward Kimball conjured up "a little man with no ears. That was the only thing about him that was like an insect."

     In order for the animators to see how a character looks in three-dimensions, clay models of the characters, known as maquettes were built during the production of the film. The artists also built working models of Geppetto's cuckoo clocks, as well as Stromboli's gypsy wagon and The Coachman's carriage. However since it is difficult to animate a realistic moving vehicle, the wagons were filmed on a miniature set using stop motion. After the carriages were filmed the staff would create photostats (pictures of every frame of the animation), then "ink and paint" the photostats onto animation cels and overlay the cels with those of the characters on the rostrum camera.

     Pinocchio is a ground breaking achievement in effects animation. Effects animators animate everything that is not the characters or the background. This includes smoke from cigars, shadows, magic, rain, and the ocean - none of which had been attempted to an extreme level of realism until this film. Pinocchio remains to this day the standard film for effects animation.

Awards and Nominations:

    Pinocchio won two Academy Awards, one for Best Original Score and one for Best Original Song for the song "When You Wish upon a Star".

Music:

     The songs in Pinocchio were composed by Leigh Harline and Lyrics by Ned Washington. Leigh Harline and Paul J. Smith composed the incidental music score.

"When You Wish upon a Star" - Jiminy Cricket, Chorus

"Little Wooden Head" - Geppetto

"Give a Little Whistle" - Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio

"Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life for Me)" - J. Worthington Foulfellow

"I've Got No Strings" - Pinocchio

"Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life for Me) (reprise)" - J. Worthington Foulfellow

"When You Wish upon a Star (reprise)" - Jiminy Cricket, Chorus

     The album was described as being "recorded from the original soundtrack of the Walt Disney Production Pinocchio". According to Walt Disney Records, "this is the first time the phrase 'original soundtrack' was used to refer to a commercially available movie recording."

     The original version of "When You Wish upon a Star" was sung by Cliff Edwards in the character of Jiminy Cricket and is heard over the opening credits and again in the final scene of the film. The song has since become the theme song to The Walt Disney Company.

Funny Tidbits You Didn't Know:

- Mel Blanc (most famous for voicing many of the characters in Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons), was hired to perform the voice of Gideon the Cat, who was Foulfellow the Fox's sidekick. However, it was eventually decided for Gideon to be mute (just like Dopey, whose whimsical, Harpo Marx-style persona made him one of Snow White's most comic and popular characters). All of Blanc's recorded dialogue in this film was subsequently deleted, save for a solitary hiccup, which was heard three times in the film.

- Pinocchio was a success in the United States alone, however it had poor box office results internationally. The film budget was a total of almost $2.3 million and Disney recouped only a little more than half of the film's cost. This was due to the fact that the film's release in Europe and Asia was delayed because of World War II and its immediate aftermath, which hindered its financial success initially.

Movie Links: 

http://www.putlocker.com/file/F8E2E0152A1DEC13
http://www.sockshare.com/file/XQKRSJAK5S0WGK

Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels

Release Date: 12/22/1939

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Studio: Fleischer Studios

Running Time: 75 Minutes

Director: Dave Fleischer

Producer: Max Fleischer

Historical Significance:

- second cel-animated feature film ever released

- first produced by an American studio other than Walt Disney Productions
- first animated movie to feature rotoscoping

Background:

Max and Dave Fleischer had wanted to produce a feature as early as 1934, but Paramount, who distributed Fleischer's Popeye, Betty Boop, and Screen Songs cartoon shorts, vetoed the idea. However, after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Paramount agreed to allow the Fleischers to make a feature. Paramount offered to build the New York City-based Fleischers a new state-of-the-art animation studio in Miami Beach, Florida, away from the union influence which had polarized the Fleischer Studio after a bitter 1937 labor strike. The Fleischers agreed, and began development on Gulliver's Travels in spring 1938 as construction began on the Miami studio. The Miami Fleischer Studio opened in fall 1938, and the Fleischer staff moved their production headquarters there. 

Plot Summary:

     Gulliver washes ashore on Lilliput and attempts to prevent war between that tiny kingdom and its equally-miniscule rival, Blefiscu, as well as smooth the way for the romance between the Princess and Prince of the opposing lands. In this he is alternately aided and hampered by the Lilliputian town crier and general fussbudget, Gabby. A life-threatening situation develops when the bumbling trio of Blefiscu spies, Sneak, Snoop, and Snitch, manage to steal Gulliver's pistol.

     

Voice Cast:

Gulliver: Sam Parker

Gabby: Pinto Colvig

King Little, Sneak, Snoop, and Snitch: Jack Mercer

King Bombo: Tedd Pierce

Princess Glory: Jessica Dragonette

Prince David: Lanny Ross

Animation Style and Production:

     Paramount wanted Gulliver ready for a Christmas 1939 release, meaning that the film would have to be produced on a timetable that was one-third of that for the production of Disney's Snow White. To meet this deadline, the Fleischer staff was greatly expanded, to the point that the once-spacious new building was overcrowded with employees. Local Miami art schools provided graduates to be trained as ink-and-paint artists and in-betweeners. Animators were lured from the Hollywood animation studios, including Cal Howard, Virgil Ross and Tedd Pierce from Leon Schlesinger Productions, and former Fleischer employees Grim Natwick, Al Eugster, Frank Smith and James Culhane, who had all migrated over to the Disney studio. Factions developed between the East and West Coast animators, who were unaccustomed to each others' habits. The two sides grew further apart after Howard, Pierce, and the other Hollywood storymen decided to discard the New York regime's storyboards, crafting the film's plot over again from scratch.

     Rotoscoping, an animation technique originally developed by the Fleischer Studios, was used throughout Gulliver's Travels to animate Gulliver. The process involves tracing live-action footage frame-by-frame; Sam Parker, the actor who performed the voice of Gulliver, also modeled as the character's live-action reference. Popeye the Sailor had originally been planned to "portray" Gulliver, but these plans were scrapped during pre-production.

Differences from Book:

    The story is based upon the Lilliputian adventures of Gulliver depicted in Jonathan Swift's 18th century novel Gulliver's Travels.

Music:

     Songs in the film include "All's Well", "It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day", and "Faithful Forever", all of which later became standards of Fleischer cartoon scores.

Funny Tidbits You Didn't Know: 

- The film was spun off into two short-lived Fleischer cartoon short series: the Gabby cartoons starring the Pinto Colvig-voiced Lilliputian sidekick of the film, and the Sneak, Snoop and Snitch (Animated Antics) cartoons starring the three villains from the film. 

- Like Snow White before it, Gulliver was a box-office success, and led to the production of another Fleischer/Paramount feature, Mister Bug Goes to Town. However, business-related problems which arose during the production of Mister Bug would result in Paramount's absorption of the Fleischer Studio in 1941, as the studio was in debt from unsuccessful cartoons and the simmering feud between Max and Dave reached new heights, as Dave had wanted to write the score for the film. Gulliver's Travels is now in the public domain, because its copyright was not renewed, and is widely available on home video and DVD.

Movie Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6eyrmYRk1w

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Release Date: 12/21/1937
Distributed by: RKO Radio Productions
Studio: Walt Disney Productions
Running Time: 83 minutes
Supervising Director: David Hand
Producer: Walt Disney

Historical Significance: 
-first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history
-first animated feature film produced in America
-first produced in full color
-first to be produced by Walt Disney
-first in the Walt Disney Animated Classics canon

Background:

     Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the first full-length animated feature in color and with sound, one of Disney's greatest films, and a pioneering classic tale in film history. It was financed due in part to the success of Disney's earlier animated short, The Three Little Pigs (1933). Although dubbed "Disney's Folly" during the three-four year production of the musical animation, Disney realized that he had to expand and alter the format of cartoons.
     It was the first commercially successful film of its kind and a technically brilliant, innovative example of Disney animation. It was the first film with an official soundtrack and the first film to release a motion picture soundtrack album. The story was adapted from the original Brothers Grimms' Fairy Tales, but in a bowdlerized or sanitized version, without overt sexual references or violent content.

Plot Summary:
     The story is a familiar one: raised by a wicked and vain Queen, beautiful Snow White is taken into the forest to be murdered. However, the Huntsman cannot commit the horrible deed, so she flees and finds refuge in the home of seven diamond-mining dwarfs, each with a unique characteristic. When the Queen discovers that Snow White is still alive, she transforms herself into an old hag and brings a poisonous apple to the young girl. A kiss from Prince Charming rouses Snow White from her deep slumber.

Voice Cast:
Snow White: Adriana Caselotti
Queen: Lucille La Verne
Magic Mirror: Moroni Olsen
Doc: Roy Atwell
Happy: Otis Harlan
Bashful: Scotty Mattraw
Sneezy: Billy Gilbert
Sleepy: Pinto Colvig
Grumpy: Pinto Colvig
Dopey (mute)
Prince Charming: Harry Stockwell
Huntsman: Stuart Buchanan

Animation Style and Production:
The risk-taking film made use of the multi-plane camera, the first used in Disney's own animated, Oscar-winning Silly Symphonies short, The Old Mill (1937), to create an illusion of depth. It introduced human characters (the jealous Queen, the Huntsman, the Prince, and Snow White herself) modeled on live actors, and used larger painted cels and drawing boards. It took almost four years and an astronomical (at the time) $1.7 million to create, and was released for its premiere during the Christmas season of 1937.

Awards and Nominations:
Its single nomination was for Best Score. For the film's remarkable achievement, Walt Disney was awarded with an Honorary Oscar - the film was "recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon."

Differences from Fairy Tale:
                  Though Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is similar to the fairy tale version, there are several differences. In the fairy tale, Snow White's mother wishes for a child with "lips as red as blood, hair as dark as the window frame, and skin as white as snow." This does not occur in the film, as Disney's Snow White is shown with only her stepmother, the Queen, and there is no scene of her biological mother.
                  In the fairy tale, Snow White accepts three gifts from the witch (a girdle, a poisoned comb, and the apple), but is rescued from the first two gifts by the dwarfs. When she is offered the apple, she is unwilling to eat it and only accepts after the witch takes a bite of the apple that is not poisoned. However, in the film, Snow White only accepts one gift (the apple) from the witch after she helps the witch inside the dwarfs' house (some of the woodland birds attacked the witch as a warning, which was misinterpreted by Snow White). She bites the apple after being told that the apple is magical and that one bite will make all of her dreams come true (namely marrying the Prince).
                  In the fairy tale, Snow White is not awakened by the prince's kiss. Instead, the prince buys the coffin and Snow White's body from the dwarfs and has it carried with him towards his castle. During the journey, a piece of apple in Snow White's throat becomes dislodged and she awakens.
                  Lastly, in the fairy tale, Snow White faces her stepmother one final time after eating the poisoned apple. The stepmother attends the wedding of Snow White and the prince, but she is stopped from causing further harm by being forced to wear hot iron shoes to her death. In the film, the stepmother (as the witch) is chased up to the top of a mountain by the dwarfs after giving Snow White the poisoned apple: when she tries to dislodge a boulder onto the dwarfs to kill them, lightning strikes the edge she is standing on and she falls to her death, along with the boulder falling and presumably crushing her.

Music:
     The songs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 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 and the Seven Dwarfs 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 Snow White. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became the first American film to have a soundtrack album released in conjunction with the feature film. Prior to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a movie soundtrack recording was unheard of and of little value to a movie studio.

Funny Tidbits You Didn't Know:

-The dwarfs names were chosen from a pool of about fifty potentials, some of which included Jumpy, Deafy, Dizzey, Hickey, Wheezy, Baldy, Gabby, Nifty, Sniffy, Swift, Lazy, Puffy, Stuffy, Tubby, Shorty and Burpy.

-The famous forest scene was one of the scariest scenes ever created by Disney. When the movie was released back in 1937, children were afraid to watch this scene because of the scary eyes that appear towards the end, and because it all seems real. That's why in England, the film got a G-Rating, but it said that younger children should be accompanied by an adult due to some intense and scary scenes.

Movie Links:
http://www.putlocker.com/file/2E5042D1304D7198
http://www.sockshare.com/file/FCF3ECD211079FF0

AniNation begins!

Since summer looks like its going to be boring, I decided to create a blog on animation I guess. Tell me what you think and how I can improve it! Thanks!