Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an American animated feature film by Walt Disney based on the fairy tale: Snow White by The Brothers' Grimm from 1812. It was the first picture by Disney and the highest grossing animated feature of all time. It became one of the most famous films in history. It was produced by Walt Disney and was starring the voices of: Adriana Caselotti, Lucille La Verne, Roy Atwell, Pinto Colvig, Otis Harlan, Scotty Mattraw, Billy Gilbert, Eddie Collins, Harry Stockwell, Stuart Buchanan and Moroni Olsen. It had the deepest cultural impact of any animated film and made future films of Disney possible.
Plot []
The film opens at a richly decorated storybook which details the story of Princess Snow White. Her mother, the Good Queen, died shortly after Snow White's birth, and her father, the King, remarried. His new and second Queen, who turns out to be The Evil Queen, is extremely jealous of her stepdaughter Snow White's beauty, and the beauty of all the lovely women in the kingdom. She owns a magic mirror, and every day, she asks: "Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" If the Magic Mirror told the Queen that she was the fairest, all was well, but if another lady was named, she'd fly into a jealous rage. She’d summon her huntsman and have her killed.
The Queen's worst fear was that someday, Snow White's beauty would be greater than her own, so she dresses her stepdaughter Snow White in rags and forces her to work as a scullery maid and. The day comes when the Queen calls upon her magic mirror and asks: "Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" The magic mirror tells the Queen: "Rags cannot hide her gentle grace, alas she is more fair thee." The Queen is outraged, and outside the castle courtyard, her stepdaughter Snow White sings to a wishing well as she is overheard by The Prince. He climbs over the wall and sings a ballad to her. The Queen jealously watches them from her window. She summons her huntsman that he shall go into the woods with her and kill her. The huntsman is horrified, but does as the Queen commands. The Queen hands him a jeweled box in which he is to bring back Snow White's heart.
Snow White picking flowers.
Snow White and the huntsman go into the woods where she picks wildflowers. The huntsman attempts to kill her with his knife, but realizes he can't do it and falls on his knees and begs for forgiveness. He tells Snow White the truth about her evil stepmother, the Queen - she's mad and jealous of her and will stop at nothing. He then tells Snow White to run away and hide and never return to the castle . Snow White flees into the forest were she is scared and sees branches of trees trying to grab her feet. She finally collapses in an open space while she cried. Forest animals come to her and attempt to cheer her up. She sings to them and tells the animals she needs a place to sleep, and they lead her to a small wooden cottage in a closely secluded part of the forest. She opens the door and sees that everything is so small that she thinks children live there. However, the cottage is very dirty, and Snow White believes the children who live there have no mother. With the help of the animals she cleans the house. She the goes upstairs and finds seven little beds. The names of the residents are carved into them: Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy and Dopey. Overtaken by sudden sleepiness, she falls over the seven beds. The animals tuck her in and the exhausted princess falls asleep.
In a diamond mine, seven old dwarfs, who are the residents of the home are digging. They all have distinct personalities: Doc is the self proclaimed leader but is very scattered. Grumpy is a very angry, cranky, and impatient. Happy is always upbeat, Bashful always blushes, Sleepy is always very tired, Sneezy always has allergies and Dopey is naive and never speaks. The dwarves march home over the 7 falls singing the famous song: "Heigh-Ho".
The seven dwarves marching home.
When the seven dwarfs arrive home, they find the lights on. They are scared and think a monster might have taken shelter in their home. They go inside attempting to kill whatever it is with their pitchforks, but they find Snow White in their bed and fall in love with her. When Snow White wakes up, she is surprised that they're little men and guesses their names. At first, Grumpy is not happy about having Snow White in their house, but changes his mind after Snow White tells them about her stepmother, the Queen. The dwarfs are horrified and say that the Queen is an evil witch with magical powers. While Snow White cooks soup for supper, she insists them that they go to the outside tub to wash first. They all wash, except Grumpy, who criticizes them. Afterward, the dwarfs grab Grumpy and throw him into the tub and scrub him down. After supper, everyone sings, plays musical instruments, and dances while the forest animals watch from the outside window. Snow White then tells them a story about how someday her prince will come.
Back at the castle, the huntsman has given back the jeweled box to the Queen who again consults her magic mirror, and the magic mirror reveals that Snow White is still alive and lives with the seven dwarfs in their cottage in the forest, and the jeweled box has the heart a pig. The Queen realizes that she's been tricked, and goes downstairs to her hidden laboratory where she worked her black magic. She decides to go herself to the seven dwarfs' cottage and creates a potion that transforms her into an old peddler witch. The Queen then creates a potion for the Poisoned and Red Apple Sleeping Death and uses a rowboat to go to the seven dwarfs' cottage.
The next morning, the seven dwarfs go to work while they warn Snow White about the Evil Queen's sly one. She promises she will not open the door to anyone. With the help of the animals, she bakes a pie for Grumpy when the Queen arrives. She seduces Snow White to let her in. The animals try to fight her off, but Snow White takes a pity on her and lets her enter. The Queen gives Snow White a poisoned and red apple and tells her it is a magic wishing apple. Snow White wishes for the Prince and she bites it. Snow White collapses into a sleeping death as the Queen leaves the cottage. Meanwhile, the animals have warned the seven dwarfs and they hunt down the Queen. They chased after her to a top of a cliff where she attempts to crush them with a boulder. However, where the lightning strikes the edge of a cliff, causing her to fall to her death.
The seven dwarves build a glass coffin for Snow White's body, and they keep a vigil along with the forest animals. Spring comes, and the Prince hears of stories about a princess sleeping in the glass coffin. After finding Snow White, he kisses her and she wakes up. Everyone is overjoyed and the Prince takes Snow White to his castle in the clouds where they live happily ever after.
Cast[]
Adriana Caselotti..........................................................................................................................Snow White (voice)
Lucille La Verne.............................................................................................................The Queen/The Witch (voice)
Harry Stockwell...............................................................................................................................The Prince (voice)
Roy Atwell................................................................................................................................................Doc (voice)
Pinto Colvig...........................................................................................................................Sleepy/Grumpy/Dopey (hiccups) (voice)
Otis Harlan............................................................................................................................................Happy (voice)
Scotty Mattraw.....................................................................................................................................Bashful (voice)
Billy Gilbert..........................................................................................................................................Sneezy (voice)
Eddie Collins...........................................................................Dopey/Chipmunks and Squirrels Sneezes (voice)
Marion Darlington....................................................................................................................Birds (voice)
James MacDonald...................................................................................................................Yodeling (voice)
George Magrill..................,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Doves (voice)
Purv Pullen................................................................................................................................Birds (voice)
Stuart Buchanan........................................................................................................................The Huntsman (voice)
Moroni Olsen..........................................................................................................................The Magic Mirror (voice)
Clarence Nash, James McDonald and Billy Bletcher....................................................The guards (voice)
History[]
The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, vans her hate.
The seven dwarves mourn at Snow White's side.
Walt Disney had the dream to make a feature length animated film for a long time. He had together with his brother Roy founded "The Walt Disney Company" and created such beloved characters as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto. As a teenager he had seen the 1916
version of Snow White and this convinced him he had to choose this story for his big project.
"To me this was the perfect story, I had a witch, a Midwestern Mother princess girl and kind dwarfs."
- Walt Disney
His studio had made several Silly Symphony shorts to test the techniques that where going to be used in the film. In June 1934 production began. Artist Gustaf Tenngren was called aboard as well as designer Albert Hurter. For every joke you made in the picture you got a dollar. Many thought it was not possible to create a feature length cartoon. Newspapers dubbed it: "Disney's folly".
Disney insisted on the use of musical numbers. In 1935 and 1936 these were orchestrated. The songs where:
"I am Wishing"
"The Ballad" "Whistle while you work"
"Whistle while you work"
"The Silly Song" and "Someday my Prince will Come". There was a song cut called: "You're never too old to be young." Many scenes where cut from the picture including a dream sequence with The Prince and Snow White and the idea that the Witch would take the Prince hostage.
The film premiered on December 21 1937. In the audience were Marlene Dietrich and Judy Garland. The film won seven oscars (one for every dwarve), The success of "The One that started it all" paved the way for more beloved Disney films such as: "Pinocchio" (1940), "Fantasia" (1940), "Dumbo" (1941), "Bambi" (1942), "Cinderella" (1950) and "Sleeping Beauty" (1959). Walt Disney died of cancer on December 15 1966.
Trivia Lucille La Verne took her teeth out to accomplish the Witches' voice. []
- The design of Snow White resembled Betty Boop in the beginning of production.
- "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was one of the favorite movies of German war-criminal and dictator Adolf Hitler .
Availability []
The picture was re-released several times. In 1944, 1967, 1987 and 1993 respectively. It became first available on VHS in October 28, 1994 and on DVD in 2001. The film was released on Blu-Ray Diamond Edition in 2009.
Legacy of Disney Decades[]
"Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" has been widely considered one of the most important and best feature films ever made. It is as well one of the most praised work in American cinematic history. It served as an inspiration for many pictures, novels and other works. In Disneyland there is a theme park ride dedicated to the film. The Evil Queen and the Witch, Snow White's evil stepmother, is on #10 of the Best Movie Villains Of All Time. It is known as the greatest animated film of all time.
1940s
- Pinocchio (1940)
- Fantasia (1940)
- Dumbo (1941)
- Bambi (1942)
1950s
- Cinderella (1950)
- Alice in Wonderland (1951)
- Peter Pan (1953)
- Sleeping Beauty (1959)
1960s
- 101 Dalmatians (1961)
- The Sword in the Stone (1963)
- The Jungle Book (1967)
1970s
- The Aristocats (1970)
- Robin Hood (1973)
- Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh (1977)
- The Rescuers (1977)
1980s
- The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
- The Brave Little Toaster (1987)
- Oliver and Company (1988)
- The Little Mermaid (1989)
1990s
- Beauty and the Beast (1991)
- Aladdin (1992)
- The Lion King (1994)
- Sailor Moon (1995)
- Pocahontas (1995)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
- Hercules (1997)
- Mulan (1998)
- Tarzan (1999)
2000s
- The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
- Sonic X (2003)
- Enchanted (2007)
- The Princess and the Frog (2009)
2010s
- Tangled (2010)
- Octonauts (2010)
- Frozen (2013)
Visit www.filmiclight.blogspot.com for a website dedicated to the classic film.
Gallery []
