Here we have the first ever Disney feature film. There is no question as to why it's on the registry. It is truly a historical moment, encapsulates the magic of the Disney studio and kingdom, and is also pretty entertaining.
We all know the story. The evil queen and stepmother, envious of her stepdaughter's beauty, diminishes the princess to a housekeeper, making her scrub and clean and sing all day. Upon learning from her magic mirror (who bears a strong resemblance to Boris Karloff) that "Snow White" is the only girl more beautiful than her, she orders a huntsman to take her off into the woods and kill her. Due to his conscience, he is unable to do so, and sends her off into the woods to live alone.
She befriends the woodland critters, and arrives upon a cottage inhabited by Seven Dwarves. Although suspicious of her presence at first, they quickly fall for her charms, and dance and sing in merriment every day while she waits for Prince Charming to rescue her. That is, until the evil Queen learns from her magic mirror that Snow White is still alive, and turns herself into an old crone and tricks Snow White into eating a poison apple. The queen is then killed in an ensuing chase, the Dwarves set up a temple for their beloved Snow White's body, and mourn for her daily. One day, Prince Charming arrives, and with a kiss awakens her. They ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after.
And that, my friends, is the story of Snow White-- a simplistic, romantic, jolly fairy tale and up until that point, the best of its contemporaries, of which the Grimm's and Aesop's tales were a major source of inspiration.
In 1937, animation was a roughly thirty-year-old industry. To give a good basis of comparison, here are some of the shorts from major Disney Rivals.
Paul Terry once said "If the Disney Studio is the Tiffany's of animation, my studio was the Woolworth's of animation". Here is one of his.
The Fleischer's were the creators of rotoscoping, essentially tracing live action footage onto celluloid. They were famous for their Koko the Clown character, and later for Betty Boop and Popeye. Here is some of their work from the time.
Here's a cartoon from the studio of John R. Bray. It's called colonel Heeza Liar, from 13 years prior.
And then, here's just one scene from Snow White.
Notice the fluidity of the motion-- how every critter has it's own pace, it's own position, it's own path and destiny. Notice the wear on all the trees, branches, and patches of grass, the sense that this world has been inhabited for centuries and has a history. Look at the water, for god's sake. It ripples like real water. And what's more, is that aside from the few flaws in the animation, this visual standard was maintained for years to come. That's how good it was. Disney's contribution to animation is immeasurable.
It's almost pointless for me to say all this of course. Everybody knows it. But I think it's important to note that the Disney Corporation didn't get to where it is because of the magic of capitalism. It's because they gave us this. And also capitalism.
What I think is more interesting, though, is to just talk about the movie for what it is. It's a fun, fun film. I shouldn't go on without mentioning, though, that this was the pinnacle of animation. It established color in a new way. It made use of the multiplane camera to give multiple layers to the composition.
And here is a picture of the device that created this effect.
And then there's the special effects, particularly with the water that I mentioned before. I have no idea how they did that. The multiplane camera surely had something to do with it, but it's so realistic, it's almost like splashing real water on the celluloid, or putting real makeup on the celluloid for Snow White's cheeks (which I have heard they actually did do).
But no, I'm more interested in the story, quite frankly. And what it means today. It's so weird seeing this and feeling caught up in the magic and the simplicity, then realizing that this was parodied beat for beat in Enchanted (2007).
Snow White can't get through a scene without being startled and going "Oh!". She cleans a cottage with the help of her woodland critters while singing. She's constantly got her hands daintily held up.
The only thing that gets more Disney than Snow White is Mickey, if you ask me. The film is so small and concise. You don't get any extraneous normal animated cartoon elements. This is the Disneyest thing ever made.
My favorite things to look at in this one (aside from the hilarious Bashful and the scene where sleepy gets kicked by the antelope in the cart) are the elements that that would live forever in Disney's features once established. There are images that are evocative of later Disney movies all the way to the Disney Renaissance. For instance, one of my personal favorite things about Disney animation are the moments where things actually stop moving, and we get these painting like frames.
That immediately made me think of this:
Then there's the scene where the queen dies. The ledge she is standing on gets struck by lightning, she falls to the depths below, and then a giant boulder falls on her. This is the start of years and years of good old Disney violence. My favorite part of Disney villain deaths are just how disturbing they often are, and how so many of them are not shown on screen but understood with much gravity.
They are shown with shadows, or expressed through some kind of symbolism. Here's the scene from Snow White.
The vultures swoop down slowly and silently, at once recreating her fall, communicating the stillness of death, and also sort of implying that they are going to eat her corpse. It reminded me of my favorite Disney villain death, from Tarzan.
That's the shadow of Clayton's body after vines wrapped around his neck during free fall and hanged him. That image really stuck with me as a kid.
Additionally, it's not like there was an "awkward stage" in Disney music, either. "Whistle While You Work" and "Hi Ho" are both damned enjoyable songs.
Listen, I don't mind cartoons. But they do get pretty boring. There are a couple cartoons that I watch faithfully, sure. But when things get too episodic, too cartoony, then I just lose interest. That's why Disney is so great. His cartoons (not just his features) are bonafide movies. They have the power to illicit the same feelings that cinema can, and that was very powerful back then and still is today.
The next film on the Registry is Singin' in the Rain (1952).
