Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

   

MPAA Rating	Reason	Running Time	Distributor	Theatrical Release date
G		83 minutes	RKO Pictures	February 8, 1938

The success of Mikey Mouse short films and the Silly Symphonies in the late 1920s and early 1930s led Walt Disney to create something new and truly innovative that many studios and film critics considered a huge gamble, a gamble that would not only pay off, but set the stage for a legacy. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was the first animated film released by Walt Disney Studios (although released thru RKO Pictures at the time). It also inspired girls all over the world to dream that they’re princess that hope to meet their Prince Charming.

Disney was inspired to make it as he watched the 1916 version of “Snow White”, although the movie version was based on a story in Grimn’s Fairy Tales. The story was way violent, but Disney had to tone it down to make it more kid-friendly. The animated film is bookend by live-action scenes of a book being opened and informing the audience of the general backstory. The protagonist Snow White lives with her stepmother, the wicked Queen. The Queen desires to be the most beautiful in all the land, and is jealous that Snow White will one day surpass her in beauty: the Queen forces her to work as a maid, cleaning up various rooms of the mansion and doing yard work. As the animated portion of the film opens, this does happen as the Magic Mirror declares Snow White as being the fairest of the land. Jealous, she quickly hires the Huntsman to kill her. The Huntsman can’t perform the deed, and warns Snow White of the impeding danger. She runs into the woods and ends up in the village where the Seven Dwarfs live.

Each of the Seven Dwarfs has a personality that matches their namesake: there’s Doc, Sneezy, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, Bashful, and Dopey (who, unlike the other dwarves, doesn’t speak). They offer their house as a place for Snow White to escape the wicked wrath of the queen, in which the happiness doesn’t last long.

It was a monumental task to undertake a animated motion picture of this caliber, which was about ten times the budget of one of his short films, but it did actually end up making four times it’s money back. Not a bad risk investment at that time, but the other matter is the passage of time in question: does the first animated film in the Disney library hold up after almost 90 years? Yes and no. I don’t deny that Walt Disney was way ahead of it’s time, and some of the animated sequences were dazzling to behold at that period, some of the animation themselves was a little lacking and outdated, not to mention a few stereotypical scenes that wouldn’t fly nowadays. The musical numbers were good, but somehow despite Snow White declaring that “Someday My Prince Will Come”, the prince is hardly seen: showing up for a few seconds at the beginning and then disappears throughout, but shows up again when Snow White does have her happy ending.

For all the credit “Snow White” gets at being the first animated movie in general (whether being produced by Disney or another company), it does make good use of its 80-minute runtime. It doesn’t quite compare to the films of his library that would come later, but it does showcase some great animation sequences and voice work.