Disney Through the Years: Introduction & Snow White
Welcome to the first of many parts to a series of feature articles I’ll be doing in 2021.
Every month this year I will be going decade-by-decade through the history of Walt Disney Company’s feature films. I will review each film from Walt Disney Animation Studios and rank them. Starting with the ‘50s, I’ll be doing an additional feature in the series that will focus on every live action film by Walt Disney Pictures. So, there will be two features each month. At least, that’s the idea. We are talking as many as 50 movies at a time from a given decade eventually, so… we’ll see if I can keep that twice-monthly schedule.
What Will Be Included
Ever since Disney+ launched in November of 2019 I’ve been wanting to do this. Most of the films to be featured will be available on Disney+. Every once in a while I will include a film that isn’t on Disney+, but is a crucial part of the overall picture or of such quality it must not be ignored. These will be rare, however. The purpose is to focus on the catalogue available on Disney+. If you’d like to follow along you can find a decade-by-decade catalogue on Disney+ by going to the Search page and selecting Disney Through the Years.
What Won’t Be Included
A write-up on a Wikipedia article summed it up pretty well: “This list is only for films released under the main Disney banner. The list does not include films produced or released by other existing, defunct or divested labels or subsidiaries owned by Walt Disney Studios nor any direct-to-video releases, TV films, theatrical re-releases, or films originally released by other non-Disney studios.” That means no films by Disney Channel, DisneyNature, DisneyToons, LucasFilm, Marvel Studios, Pixar, Studio Ghibli, Touchstone Pictures, or 20th Century Fox. Just Disney Animation Studios and, soon after, Walt Disney Pictures. Also, since most of the films exceed 70 minutes in length, I will only include movies that are a minimum of 64 minutes long. So, no Saludos Amigos. All told, there will only be 3 animated films less than 70 minutes that will be included. You can imagine how much of an obstacle course constructing a viewing schedule like this can be.
However, it is 58 animated movies. Over 160 live action movies. All told, somewhere around 220 movies will be featured. That’s an average of 27.5 movies per month for the next 8 months… I definitely have my hands full. But I hope that through this project I’ll gain a better understanding of Disney’s history, expand my viewing outside of the Greatest Hits, and discover some great films along the way.
Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
We begin with the first full-length animated movie. Adapted from Grimm’s fairy tale, Snow White is the tale of a young princess who comes under the threat of her stepmother, the Evil Queen, and must hide in a cottage in the woods where she befriends seven dwarfs.
This film has been part of pretty much every American’s childhood for 83 years. It was released just days before Christmas and made a huge splash, becoming one of the most celebrated animated movies of all time. The AFI named it one of the greatest movies of all time and THE greatest animated movie. It earned $8 million during its original release ($143.7 million today) on a $1.5 million budget ($26.9 million today). With such reverence and esteem it can seem daunting to even consider being critical of the film. Let’s take a closer look anyway…
So, let’s start with the animation. The animation is often fluid, particularly with regards to the character Snow White, akin to the Fleischer Superman cartoons that would come about a few years later. Those looking for realism or jaw-dropping beauty won’t necessarily find it here upon first glance, as the hand-drawn animation is less about detailed accuracy and more focused on general movements and details. There is a moment, however, early on in the film when Snow is looking into a well while singing ‘I’m Wishing’, when you see the water ripple with a realism you don’t see anywhere else in the film like, say the scene when the dwarfs go to wash up for dinner. That moment is quite striking. There is somewhat of a watercolor feel overall to the colors throughout the film, as it has a softness to its look. A modern jaded viewer might be unimpressed, but it is important to note that every second of this film was drawn and re-drawn when necessary by hand and was at least four times the length of your average cartoon that were shown before movies at the time. The work is there on the screen and has been preserved beautifully over the years.
The story of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs is a very simple one. The Evil Queen is introduced, as is her fragile vanity. Snow White is introduced, along with her fantasy of finding her prince. The Evil Queen hires a huntsman to kill Snow White. He tries, fails, and shoos Snow into the woods to hide. Snow is lead by the wildlife to a dirty cottage. She cleans the cottage and takes a nap. The dwarfs return to their cottage, realize an intruder has cleaned their home, and discovers Snow. The group cleans up, eats, plays music, and sleeps. The Evil Queen learns of the huntsman’s failure and turns herself into a crone. She concocts a poison apple. The Evil Queen finds Snow and tricks her into eating the apple. The dwarfs chase the Evil Queen to her death. Two or more seasons later, a prince comes and wakes Snow from her spell and they live happily ever after.
What’s interesting is, in a film that is 83 minutes long, we spend 32 minutes with the dwarfs in the cottage with barely any plot development. It takes the dwarfs 9 minutes upon returning home to find Snow sleeping in bed. After which, introductions and clean up takes another 12 minutes. There are two songs that are sung by the dwarfs and Snow, respectively, before they all go to sleep, all told lasting another 10 minutes. All of this certainly stretches the running time of the film, but it also gives us the benefit of spending time with and enjoying the dwarfs. If all of this plot development were cut down to the 5-10 minutes it would take in a modern film, would the dwarfs be so beloved and iconic?
Efficiency was clearly not Walt’s intent here. And, while it may drag for some, it’s kind of wonderful that the film takes its time with each scene. Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs is certainly not the most complicated or nuanced of Disney’s animated stories. But it certainly loves spending time with its characters. Let’s talk about the characters for a bit.
Snow White is Disney’s original princess. But what do we know about her? We know she finds companionship in nature and wildlife. So much so that, when fleeing the huntsman and becoming horrified by the woods, she is ashamed of “all of the fuss” she made and apologizes to the wildlife. She is kind. She knows how to cook and clean thanks to her occupation as a domestic servant and aid to the kitchen maid. She is, above all, beautiful. Ultimately, there’s not a lot of character development or depth to Snow. As a result, it’s a little hard to care much about her. If anything, we care about her fate, because the dwarfs care about her well-being and we care about the dwarfs.
The dwarfs are, ultimately, the anchor of the film and why we care at all about what happens. Each dwarf is given a defining characteristic that names them - Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy. Because of these personalities they are amusing and lovable. The audience can identify with at least one of them. They are all hard-workers (except maybe Dopey). They are loyal. And they are musical. Just about every character in the movie is iconic and unforgettable, but this is especially true of the dwarfs. It’s worth noting that Pinto Colvig voiced Sleepy and Grumpy. He’s notable, because he was also the voice of Oswald the Rabbit, the Aracuan bird (The Three Caballeros), and the original voice of Pluto and Goofy.
The Evil Queen is, like Snow White, not exactly what you would call a complicated character. She wants to be considered the most beautiful - the fairest - of the land and will kill to make that a reality. She has physical beauty, but is so rotten inside that she is willing to sacrifice her beauty in order to satisfy her vanity. The Evil Queen is the first character we see in Disney’s first animated feature. She is a template from which many villainesses will follow from Ursula to Esme. But, while there isn’t much to her as a character, what makes her memorable is how striking her character design is. As a queen she is covered from head to toe with only her face exposed. We don’t see her hair until she changes it under a spell. Her look is elegant, yet cold. But it is as a crone that she is most unforgettable and most fearsome. Her old, warty look with big eyes and a dark black cloak is creepy and iconic. It is a truly frightening design and what makes her linger as a villain decades later.
Lastly of note are the songs. Songs would become a staple in Disney’s animated features. The very first song we get is the ‘I’m Wishing/One Song’ medley by Snow White and The Prince. It is also the first ever “I Want” song, a staple in nearly every female lead in Disney’s animated oeuvre. It will not go down as the most memorable in history. Nor is it the best song of the film. The film does have songs that hold up and are just as enjoyable today as ever: ‘Whistle While You Work’, ‘Heigh-Ho’, and ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’ are the absolute stand-outs.
All in all, Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs may be thin on plot and character development. But it still has plenty of joys and manages to earn its iconic status due to its characters, songs, and achievements in animation. It just might not hold the title as the best of Disney’s animated films.
What are your thoughts? Have you seen Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs in recent history? How do you think it holds up?
Next month on Disney Through the Years: Disney gets a bit experimental and edgy, World War II enlists the studio, a bunch of money is lost, and anthologies make the future possible for Disney. It’s the 1940s. I’ll have shorter reviews of 9 animated movies and rank them.