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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Encyclopedia
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White
, a German fairy tale
by the Brothers Grimm
. It was the first full-length cel
-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film
produced in America, the first produced in full color, the first to be produced by Walt Disney
and Walt Disney Productions, and the first in the Walt Disney Animated Classics canon.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre
on December 21, 1937, and the film was released to theaters nationwide by RKO Radio Pictures on February 4, 1938. The story was adapted by storyboard
artists Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris
, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd
, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears
and Webb Smith. David Hand was the supervising director, while William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson
, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen
directed the film's individual sequences.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was one of only two animated films to rank in the American Film Institute
's list of the 100 greatest American films of all time
in 1997 (the other being Disney's Fantasia
), ranking number 49. It achieved a higher ranking (#34) in the list's 2007 update, this time being the only traditionally animated film on the list. The following year AFI named the film as the greatest American animated film of all time
.
In 1989, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
told via a stop-motion storybook, the audience is told that Snow White
is a princess living with her stepmother, a vain and wicked Queen who is assumed to have taken over the kingdom after the death of Snow White's father. Fearing Snow White's beauty surpassing her own, the Queen forced her to work as a scullery maid
and asked her Magic Mirror daily "who is the fairest one of all". For many years the mirror always answered that the Queen was, pleasing her.
At the film's opening, the Magic Mirror informs the Queen that Snow White is now the fairest in the land. The jealous Queen orders a reluctant huntsman to take Snow White into the woods and kill her. She further demands that the huntsman return with Snow White's heart
in a jeweled box as proof of the deed. The huntsman encounters Snow White but decides not to harm her. He tearfully begs for her forgiveness, revealing the Queens wants her dead, and urges her to flee into the woods and never come back, bringing back a pig's heart instead.
Lost and frightened, the princess is befriended by woodland creatures who lead her to a cottage deep in the woods. Finding seven small chairs in the cottage's dining room, Snow White assumes the cottage is the untidy home of seven orphaned children. It soon becomes apparent that the cottage belongs instead to seven adult dwarfs, Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey, who work in a nearby mine. Returning home, they are alarmed to find their cottage clean and surmise that an intruder has invaded their home. The dwarfs find Snow White upstairs, asleep across three of their beds. Snow White awakes to find the Dwarfs at her bedside and introduces herself, and all of the dwarfs eventually welcome her into their home after they learn she can cook and clean beautifully. Snow White begins a new life cooking, cleaning, and keeping house for the dwarfs while they mine for jewels and at night sing, play music and dance.
Meanwhile, the Queen discovers that Snow White is still alive when the mirror again answers that Snow White is the fairest in the land. Using magic to disguise herself as an old hag, the Queen concocts a potion named "Sleeping Death" and dips an ordinary apple into the brew. The Evil Queen explains that Snow White would collapse into a magical sleep if she were to take even a single bite of the apple. The sleep can only be cured by the power of "love's first kiss". The Queen reasons that this is no danger to her plans, as the dwarfs would not be able to awaken Snow White, and would think she was dead, thus resulting in Snow White being "buried alive". The Queen goes to the cottage while the dwarfs are away and tricks Snow White into biting into the poisoned apple. As Snow White falls asleep the Queen exclaims "Now I'll be fairest in the land!" The vengeful dwarfs, alerted by the woodland animals who recognize her, chase the Queen up a cliff and trap her. She tries to roll a boulder over them but lightning strikes the cliff she is standing on, causing it to collapse. The Queen falls to her death, and her body is crushed by the boulder.
The dwarfs return to their cottage and find Snow White seemingly dead, being kept in a death-like slumber by the potion. Unwilling to bury her out of sight in the ground, they instead place her in a glass coffin trimmed with gold in a clearing in the forest. Together with the woodland creatures, they keep watch over her in an "eternal vigil". After some time, a prince, who had previously met and fallen in love with Snow White, learns of her eternal sleep and visits her coffin. Captivated by her beauty, he kisses her, which breaks the spell and awakens her. The dwarfs and animals all rejoice as the prince takes Snow White to his castle, which glows in the presence of Snow White.
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announced the production of his first feature to the New York Times. Before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Disney studio had been primarily involved in the production of animated short subjects in the Mickey Mouse
and Silly Symphonies
series. Disney hoped to expand his studio's prestige and revenues by moving into features, and estimated that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs could be produced for a budget of ; this was ten times the budget of an average Silly Symphony.
Walt Disney had to fight to get the film produced. Both his brother and business partner Roy Disney
and his wife Lillian
attempted to talk him out of it, and the Hollywood movie industry referred to the film derisively as "Disney's Folly" while it was in production. He even had to mortgage
his house to help finance the film's production, which eventually ran up a total cost of $1,488,422.74, a massive sum for a feature film in 1937.
and Pinto Colvig
were dominated by such subjects. At this point, Disney felt that the story should begin with Snow White's discovery of the Cottage of the Seven Dwarfs. Walt Disney had suggested from the beginning that each of the dwarfs, whose names and personalities are not stated in the original fairy tale, could have individual personalities. The dwarfs names were chosen from a pool of about fifty potentials, including Jumpy, Deafy, Dizzey, Hickey, Wheezy, Baldy, Gabby, Nifty, Sniffy, Swift, Lazy, Puffy, Stuffy, Tubby, Shorty and Burpy. The seven finalists were chosen through a process of elimination. The leader of the dwarfs, required to be pompous, self important and bumbling, was named Doc; others were named for their distinguishing character traits. At the end of the October story meetings, however, only Doc, Grumpy, Bashful, Sleepy and Happy of the final seven were named; at this point, Sneezy and Dopey were replaced by 'Jumpy' and an unnamed seventh dwarf.
Along with a focus on the characterisations and comedic possibilities of the dwarfs, Creedon's eighteen-page outline of the story written from the October meetings, featured a continuous flow of gags as well as the Queen's attempt to kill Snow White with a poisoned comb, an element taken from the Grimms' original story. After persuading Snow White to use the comb, the disguised Queen would have escaped alive, but the dwarfs would have arrived in time to remove it. After the failure of the comb, the Queen was to have the Prince captured and taken to her dungeon, where she would have come to him (story sketches show this event both with the Queen and the Witch) and used magic to bring the dungeon's skeletons to life, making them dance for him and identifying one skeleton as 'Prince Oswald' (an example of the more humorous atmosphere of this original story treatment). It is written in story notes that the Queen has such magical power only in her own domain, the castle. With the Prince refusing to marry her, the Queen leaves him to his death (one sketch shows the Prince trapped in a subterranean chamber filling with water) as she makes her way to the dwarfs' cottage with the poisoned apple. The forest animals were to help the Prince escape the Queen's minions and find his horse. The Prince was to ride to the cottage to save Snow White, but took the wrong road (despite warnings from the forest animals and his horse, whom he, unlike Snow White, could not understand). He therefore would not have arrived in time to save her from the Queen, but would have been able to save her with love's first kiss. This plot was not used in the final film, though many sketches of the scene in the dungeon were made by Ferdinand Hovarth.
Other examples of the more comical nature of the story at this point include suggestions for gags with the Witch's warts and a 'fat, batty, cartoon type, self-satisfied' Queen. The Prince was also more of a clown, and was to serenade Snow White in a more comical fashion. Walt Disney encouraged all staff at the studio to contribute to the story, offering five dollars for every 'gag'; such gags included the dwarfs' noses popping over the foot of the bed when they first meet Snow White.
Disney was concerned that such a comical approach would lessen the plausibility of the characters and, sensing that more time was needed for the development of the Queen, advised in an outline circulated on November 6 that attention be paid exclusively to "scenes in which only Snow White, the Dwarfs, and their bird and animal friends appear". The names and personalities of the dwarfs, however, were still "open to change". A meeting of November 16 resulted in another outline entitled 'Dwarfs Discover Snowwhite', which introduced the character of Dopey, who would ultimately prove to be the most successful and popular of the dwarf characterisations. For the rest of 1934 Disney further developed the story by himself, finding a dilemma in the characterisation of the Queen, who he felt could no longer be 'fat' and 'batty', but a 'stately beautiful type' (a possibility already brought up in previous story meetings). Disney did not focus on the project again until the autumn of 1935; it is thought that he may have doubted his, and his studio's, ability, and that his trip to Europe that summer restored his confidence. At this point Disney and his writers focused on the scenes in which Snow White and the dwarfs are introduced to the audience and each other. He laid out the likely assignments for everyone working on the film in a memorandum of November 25, 1935, and had decided on the personalities of the individual dwarfs.
It had first been thought that the dwarfs would be the main focus of the story, and many sequences were written for the seven characters. However, at a certain point, it was decided that the main thrust of the story was provided by the relationship between the Queen and Snow White. For this reason, several sequences featuring the dwarfs were cut from the film. The first, which was animated in its entirety before being cut, showed Doc and Grumpy arguing about whether Snow White should stay with them. Another, also completely animated, would have shown the dwarfs eating soup noisily and messily; Snow White (unsuccessfully) attempts to teach them how to eat 'like gentlemen'. A partially animated sequence involved the dwarfs holding a "lodge meeting" in which they try to think of a gift for Snow White; this was to be followed by the elaborate 'bed building sequence', in which the dwarfs and the forest animals construct and carve a bed for the princess. This also was cut, as it was thought to slow down the movement of the story. The soup-eating and bed-building sequences were animated by Ward Kimball
, who was sufficiently discouraged by their removal to consider leaving the studio, though he ultimately decided to remain.
, whose style borrowed from the likes of Arthur Rackham
and John Bauer, and thus possessed the European illustration quality that Walt Disney
was interested in. Tenggren was used primarily as a color stylist and to determine the staging and atmosphere of many of the scenes in the film. He also designed the posters for the film and illustrated the press book. However, only Hurter receives a credit for the film, as a character designer. Other artists to work on the film included Joe Grant
, whose most significant contribution was the design for the Queen's Witch form.
Art Babbit, an animator who joined the Disney studio in 1932, invited seven of his colleagues (who worked in the same room as him) to come with him to an art class that he himself had set up at his home in the Hollywood Hills. Though there was no teacher, Babbit had recruited a model to pose for him and his fellow animators as they drew. These "classes" were held weekly; each week, more animators would come. After three weeks, Walt Disney called Babbit to his office and offered to provide the supplies, working space and models required if the sessions were moved to the studio. Babbit ran the sessions for a month until animator Hardie Gramatky
suggested that they recruit Don Graham; the art teacher from the Chouinard Institute taught his first class at the studio on 15 November 1932, and was joined by Phil Dike a few weeks later. These classes were principally concerned with human anatomy and movement, though instruction later included action analysis, animal anatomy and acting.
Though the classes were originally described as a "brutal battle", with neither instructor nor students well-versed in the other's craft, the enthusiasm and energy of both parties made the classes stimulating and beneficial for all involved. Graham often screened Disney shorts and, along with the animators, provided critique featuring both strengths and weaknesses. For example, Graham criticised Babbit's animation of Abner the mouse in The Country Cousin
as "taking a few of the obvious actions of a drunk without coordinating the rest of the body", while praising it for maintaining its humour without getting "dirty or mean or vulgar. The country mouse is always having a good time".
Very few of the animators at the Disney studio had had artistic training (most had been newspaper cartoonists); among these few was Grim Natwick
, who had trained in Europe. The animator's success in designing and animating Betty Boop
for Fleischer Studios
showed an understanding of human female anatomy, and when Walt Disney hired Natwick he was given female characters to animate almost exclusively. Attempts to animate Persephone, the female lead of The Goddess of Spring, had proved largely unsuccessful; Natwick's animation of the heroine in Cookie Carnival showed greater promise, and the animator was eventually given the task of animating Snow White herself. Though live action footage of Snow White, the Prince and the Queen was shot as reference for the animators, the artists animators disapproved of rotoscoping, considering it to hinder the production of effective caricature. None of Babbit's animation of the Queen was rotoscoped; despite Graham and Natwick's objections, however, some scenes of Snow White and the Prince were directly traced from the live-action footage.
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.
(to which Disney made direct reference in a story meeting pertaining to the scene in which Snow White lies in her glass coffin), to the more obscure, including European silent cinema. The influence of German expressionism (examples of which exist in Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari, both of which were recommended by Disney to his staff) can be found in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (as well as the two films to follow it), particularly in the scenes of Snow White fleeing through the forest and the Queen's transformation into the Witch. The latter was also inspired by 1931's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
, to which Disney made specific reference in story meetings.
period. This re-release set a tradition of re-releasing Disney animated features every seven to ten years, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was re-released to theaters in 1952, 1958, 1967, 1975, 1983, 1987, and 1993. Coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary release in 1987, Disney released an authorized novelization of the story, written by children's author Suzanne Weyn
.
In 1993, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became the first film to be entirely scanned to digital files, manipulated, and recorded back to film. The restoration project was carried out entirely at 4K resolution and 10-bit color depth
using the Cineon
system to digitally remove dirt and scratches and restore faded colors.
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Disney's wife, Lillian, told him: "No one's ever gonna pay a dime to see a dwarf picture". Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre
on December 21, 1937 to a wildly receptive audience, many of whom were the same naysayers who dubbed the film "Disney's Folly". The film received a standing ovation at its completion from a star-studded audience that included such celebrities as Charlie Chaplin
and Paulette Goddard
, Shirley Temple
, Mary Pickford
, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
, Judy Garland
, Ginger Rogers
, Jack Benny
, Fred MacMurray
, Clark Gable
and Carole Lombard
, Burns and Allen
, Ed Sullivan
, Milton Berle
, John Barrymore
, and Marlene Dietrich
. Six days later, Walt Disney and the seven dwarfs appeared on the cover of Time
magazine. The New York Times said "Thank you very much, Mr. Disney".
RKO Radio Pictures put the film into general release on February 4, 1938, and it went on to become a major box-office success, making four times more money than any other motion picture released in 1938. In its original release, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs grossed $3.5 million in the United States and Canada, and by May 1939 its total international gross of $6.5 million made it the most successful film of all time, displacing Al Jolson
's The Singing Fool
(1928) (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was later displaced from this position by Gone with the Wind
in 1941). By the end of its original run, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had earned over $8 million in international box office receipts, and has had a lifetime gross of $184,925,486 across its original release and several reissues. Adjusted for inflation, and incorporating subsequent releases, the film still registers one of the top ten American film moneymakers of all time.
The film won an Academy Honorary Award
for Walt Disney "as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field". Disney received a full-size Oscar statuette and seven miniature ones, presented to him by 10-year-old child actress Shirley Temple
. The film was also nominated for Best Musical Score
. "Some Day My Prince Will Come" has become a jazz standard
that has been performed by numerous artists, including Buddy Rich
, Lee Wiley
, Oscar Peterson
, and Miles Davis
.
Noted filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein
and Charlie Chaplin
praised Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as a notable achievement in cinema; Eisenstein went so far as to call it the greatest film ever made. The film inspired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
to produce its own fantasy film, The Wizard of Oz
in 1939. Another animation pioneer Max Fleischer
decided to produce his animated feature film Gulliver's Travels
inorder to compete with Snow White. The 1941 parody Ball of Fire
featured a nightclub singer disrupting the lives of seven scholars (and Gary Cooper
) while hiding from the police. The 1943 Merrie Melodies
short Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
, directed by Bob Clampett
, parodies Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by presenting the story with an all-black
cast singing a jazz
score.
Snow White's success led to Disney moving ahead with more feature-film productions. Walt Disney used much of the profits from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to finance a new $4.5 million studio in Burbank
- the location on which The Walt Disney Studios
is located to this day. Within two years, the studio completed Pinocchio
and Fantasia
, and had begun production on features such as Dumbo
, Bambi
, Alice in Wonderland
and Peter Pan
.
American Film Institute
recognition:
. It was the last of the early Disney animated films to be released on home video.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released on DVD
on October 9, 2001, the first in Disney's Platinum Editions
, and featured, across two discs, the digitally restored film, a making-of documentary narrated by Angela Lansbury
, an audio commentary by John Canemaker
and (via archived audio clips) Walt Disney
, and many more special features.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released on Blu-ray Disc
on October 6, 2009, the first of Disney's Diamond Editions, and a new DVD edition was released on November 24, 2009. The Blu-ray includes a high-definition version of the movie sourced from a new restoration by Lowry Digital, a DVD copy of the film, and several bonus features not included on the 2001 DVD. This set returned to the Disney Vault
on April 30, 2011.
The film also finally made its world television premiere in February 2010
on Disney corporate sibling ABC Family
.
is a popular theme park ride at Disneyland (an opening day attraction dating from 1955), Walt Disney World
's Magic Kingdom
, Tokyo Disneyland
, and Disneyland Paris
. Snow White, her Prince, the Queen (both in the form of a regent and a hag), and the Seven Dwarfs are also featured in parades and character appearances throughout the parks. Fantasyland at Walt Disney World is currently undergoing an expansion due to end in 2013. The Snow White's Scary Adventures ride will be closing and replaced with Princess Fairytale Hall, where Snow White and other princesses will be located for a meet and greet. Also included in the 2013 expansion of Fantasyland is the Seven Dwarves Mine Train roller coaster.
as part of Atari's line of children's games. It was never officially released, although a "homebrew
" version was made available on a limited basis. A Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs video game was released for the Game Boy Color
system. Snow White also makes an appearance in the popular PlayStation 2
game Kingdom Hearts
as one of the seven fabled Princesses of Heart. A world based on the movie, Dwarf Woodlands, appears in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
for the PSP
, and the characters from the film who appear are Snow White, the Dwarfs, the Magic Mirror, the Prince and the Evil Queen in both her forms. Snow White, the Seven Dwarfs, the Forest Animals and the Witch also appear at the beginning of the first Kingdom Hearts
in the Awakening world.
premiered on October 18, 1979 at the Radio City Music Hall
, and closed on November 18, 1979. It reopened on January 11, 1980, and closed after 106 performances on March 9, 1980.
Snow White
"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...
, a German fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
by the Brothers Grimm
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
. It was the first full-length cel
Cel
A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was largely replaced by cellulose acetate...
-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
produced in America, the first produced in full color, the first to be produced by Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
and Walt Disney Productions, and the first in the Walt Disney Animated Classics canon.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre
Carthay Circle Theatre
The Carthay Circle Theatre was one of the most famous movie palaces of Hollywood's Golden Age. It opened at 6316 San Vicente Boulevard in 1926 and was considered developer J...
on December 21, 1937, and the film was released to theaters nationwide by RKO Radio Pictures on February 4, 1938. The story was adapted by storyboard
Storyboard
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
artists Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris
Merrill De Maris
Merrill De Maris is a writer who worked on Disney Comic Strips for King Features Syndicate.De Maris helped Floyd Gottfredson with many of his early Mickey Mouse comic strips – De Maris wrote the 1939 multi-month Phantom Blot for one...
, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd
Earl Hurd
Earl Hurd was a pioneering American animator and film director. He is noted for creating and producing the silent Bobby Bumps animated short subject series for early animation producer J.R. Bray's Bray Productions...
, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears
Ted Sears
Ted Sears was an American animator during The Golden Age of American animation. Sears worked for the Fleischer Studios in the late-1920s and early-1930s, and was hired away from Max Fleischer to work at the Walt Disney studio in 1931.As the first head of Disney's story department, Sears did...
and Webb Smith. David Hand was the supervising director, while William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson
Wilfred Jackson
Wilfred Jackson was an American animator, arranger, composer and director best known for his work on the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies series of cartoons and the two segments Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria of Fantasia from The Walt Disney Company.Wilfred Jackson was born in Chicago,...
, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen
Ben Sharpsteen
Ben Sharpsteen was an American film director and producer for Disney. He directed 31 films between 1920 and 1980....
directed the film's individual sequences.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was one of only two animated films to rank in the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
's list of the 100 greatest American films of all time
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies
The first of the AFI 100 Years… series of cinematic milestones, AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies is a list of the 100 best American movies, as determined by the American Film Institute from a poll of more than 1,500 artists and leaders in the film industry who chose from a list of 400 nominated movies...
in 1997 (the other being Disney's Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
), ranking number 49. It achieved a higher ranking (#34) in the list's 2007 update, this time being the only traditionally animated film on the list. The following year AFI named the film as the greatest American animated film of all time
AFI's 10 Top 10
AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute , the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008....
.
In 1989, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
Through a textual prologuePrologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
told via a stop-motion storybook, the audience is told that Snow White
Snow White (Disney)
Snow White is a fictional character and the main protagonist from Walt Disney's first animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,...
is a princess living with her stepmother, a vain and wicked Queen who is assumed to have taken over the kingdom after the death of Snow White's father. Fearing Snow White's beauty surpassing her own, the Queen forced her to work as a scullery maid
Scullery maid
In great houses, scullery maids were the lowest-ranked and often the youngest of the female servants and acted as assistant to a kitchen maid. The scullery maid reported to the cook or chef...
and asked her Magic Mirror daily "who is the fairest one of all". For many years the mirror always answered that the Queen was, pleasing her.
At the film's opening, the Magic Mirror informs the Queen that Snow White is now the fairest in the land. The jealous Queen orders a reluctant huntsman to take Snow White into the woods and kill her. She further demands that the huntsman return with Snow White's heart
Human heart
The human heart is a muscular organ that provides a continuous blood circulation through the cardiac cycle and is one of the most vital organs in the human body...
in a jeweled box as proof of the deed. The huntsman encounters Snow White but decides not to harm her. He tearfully begs for her forgiveness, revealing the Queens wants her dead, and urges her to flee into the woods and never come back, bringing back a pig's heart instead.
Lost and frightened, the princess is befriended by woodland creatures who lead her to a cottage deep in the woods. Finding seven small chairs in the cottage's dining room, Snow White assumes the cottage is the untidy home of seven orphaned children. It soon becomes apparent that the cottage belongs instead to seven adult dwarfs, Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey, who work in a nearby mine. Returning home, they are alarmed to find their cottage clean and surmise that an intruder has invaded their home. The dwarfs find Snow White upstairs, asleep across three of their beds. Snow White awakes to find the Dwarfs at her bedside and introduces herself, and all of the dwarfs eventually welcome her into their home after they learn she can cook and clean beautifully. Snow White begins a new life cooking, cleaning, and keeping house for the dwarfs while they mine for jewels and at night sing, play music and dance.
Meanwhile, the Queen discovers that Snow White is still alive when the mirror again answers that Snow White is the fairest in the land. Using magic to disguise herself as an old hag, the Queen concocts a potion named "Sleeping Death" and dips an ordinary apple into the brew. The Evil Queen explains that Snow White would collapse into a magical sleep if she were to take even a single bite of the apple. The sleep can only be cured by the power of "love's first kiss". The Queen reasons that this is no danger to her plans, as the dwarfs would not be able to awaken Snow White, and would think she was dead, thus resulting in Snow White being "buried alive". The Queen goes to the cottage while the dwarfs are away and tricks Snow White into biting into the poisoned apple. As Snow White falls asleep the Queen exclaims "Now I'll be fairest in the land!" The vengeful dwarfs, alerted by the woodland animals who recognize her, chase the Queen up a cliff and trap her. She tries to roll a boulder over them but lightning strikes the cliff she is standing on, causing it to collapse. The Queen falls to her death, and her body is crushed by the boulder.
The dwarfs return to their cottage and find Snow White seemingly dead, being kept in a death-like slumber by the potion. Unwilling to bury her out of sight in the ground, they instead place her in a glass coffin trimmed with gold in a clearing in the forest. Together with the woodland creatures, they keep watch over her in an "eternal vigil". After some time, a prince, who had previously met and fallen in love with Snow White, learns of her eternal sleep and visits her coffin. Captivated by her beauty, he kisses her, which breaks the spell and awakens her. The dwarfs and animals all rejoice as the prince takes Snow White to his castle, which glows in the presence of Snow White.
Cast
- Adriana CaselottiAdriana CaselottiAdriana Mitchell Caselotti was an American actress and singer. She was the voice of the title character in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Caselotti was named as a Disney Legend in 1994.-Early life:...
as Snow WhiteSnow White (Disney)Snow White is a fictional character and the main protagonist from Walt Disney's first animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,...
: Snow White is a young princess and the protagonist of the film. She is the daughter of a great king whose wife died when the daughter was very young. Her wicked stepmother has forced her to work as a scullery maidScullery maidIn great houses, scullery maids were the lowest-ranked and often the youngest of the female servants and acted as assistant to a kitchen maid. The scullery maid reported to the cook or chef...
in the castle. Despite this, she retains a cheerful but naïve demeanor. - Lucille La VerneLucille La VerneLucille La Verne was an American actress known for her appearances in silent, scolding, and vengeful roles in early color films, as well as for her triumphs on the American stage....
as Queen Grimhilde: The Queen is the stepmother of Snow White and the main antagonist of the film. Once her magic mirror tells her that Snow White is fairer than she is, she immediately enlists Humbert the huntsman to kill her in the woods. After she discovers that Snow White did not die, she disguises herself as an old hagHagA hag is a wizened old woman, or a kind of fairy or goddess having the appearance of such a woman, often found in folklore and children's tales such as Hansel and Gretel. Hags are often seen as malevolent, but may also be one of the chosen forms of shapeshifting deities, such as the Morrígan or...
and uses a poisoned apple in order to remove Snow White from her path without killing her. - Harry StockwellHarry StockwellHarry Stockwell was an American actor and singer. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, United States.Stockwell made his film debut in the 1935 film, Strike Up the Band. However, his claim to fame came in 1935, when he provided the voice of "The Prince" in Walt Disney's animated classic, Snow...
as The Prince: The prince first sees Snow White singing at her wishing wellWishing wellA wishing well is a term from European folklore to describe wells where it was thought that any spoken wish would be granted. The idea that a wish would be granted came from the idea that water housed deities or had been placed there as a gift from the gods, since water was a source of life and...
. He immediately falls in love with her and her voice. He later reappears to revive her. - Roy AtwellRoy AtwellJay Leroy Atwell was an American actor, comedian, and composer. He was educated at the Sargent School of Acting, and appeared in 34 films between 1914 and 1947. He is probably famous for his voice performance as Doc the Head Dwarf in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs...
as Doc: The leader of the seven dwarfs, Doc wears glassesGlassesGlasses, also known as eyeglasses , spectacles or simply specs , are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes. They are normally used for vision correction or eye protection. Safety glasses are a kind of eye protection against flying debris or against visible and near visible light or...
and often mixes up his words. - Pinto ColvigPinto ColvigVance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig was an American vaudeville actor, radio actor, newspaper cartoonist, prolific movie voice actor, and circus performer whose schtick was playing clarinet off-key while mugging....
as Grumpy: Grumpy initially disapproves of Snow White's presence in the dwarfs' home, but later warns her of the threat posed by the Queen and rushes to her aid upon realizing that she is in danger, leading the charge himself. He has the biggest nose of the dwarfs, and is frequently seen with one eye shut. - Otis HarlanOtis Harlan-Biography:Harlan was born in Zanesville, Ohio in 1865. He married Nellie Harvey and had a daughter named Marion. Harlan was the uncle of silent actor Kenneth Harlan.-Career:...
as Happy: Happy is the joyous dwarf and is usually portrayed laughing. - Pinto ColvigPinto ColvigVance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig was an American vaudeville actor, radio actor, newspaper cartoonist, prolific movie voice actor, and circus performer whose schtick was playing clarinet off-key while mugging....
as Sleepy: Sleepy is always tired and appears laconic in most situations. Sterling HollowaySterling HollowaySterling Price Holloway, Jr. was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television programs. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company...
was also considered for the role. - Scotty Mattraw as Bashful: Bashful is the shyest of the dwarfs, and is often embarrassed by the presence of any attention directed at him.
- Billy GilbertBilly GilbertBilly Gilbert was an American comedian and actor known for his comic sneeze routines. He appeared in over 200 feature films, short subjects and television shows starting in 1929. He is not to be confused with silent film actor Billy Gilbert Billy Gilbert (September 12, 1894 – September 23,...
as Sneezy: Sneezy's name is earned by his extraordinarily powerful sneezes (caused by hay feverHay FeverHay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Laura Hope Crews played the role in New York...
), which are seen blowing even the heaviest of objects across a room. - Eddie Collins as Dopey (vocal effects and live-action reference only): Dopey is the only dwarf that does not have a beardBeardA beard is the collection of hair that grows on the chin, cheeks and neck of human beings. Usually, only pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards. However, women with hirsutism may develop a beard...
. He is clumsy and mute, with Happy explaining that he has simply "never tried to speak". - Moroni OlsenMoroni OlsenMoroni Olsen was an American actor.-Biography:Olsen was born in Ogden, Utah to Mormon parents Edward Arenholt Olsen and Marsha Hoverholst who named him after the Moroni found in the Book of Mormon. Some sources have claimed that Olsen's birth name was John Willard Clawson, or even John Willard...
as The Magic Mirror: The Slave of the Magic Mirror appears as a green mask in clouds of smoke. The Queen regularly asks him who is the fairest in the land. - Stuart BuchananStuart BuchananStuart Buchanan was the voice actor of Humbert the Huntsman in the 1937 Disney animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He also made a cameo voiceover role as a flight attendant in Saludos Amigos . He died in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.-External links:...
as Humbert the Huntsman: Despite his status as the Queen's assassin, the Huntsman cannot bear to kill Snow White, even when the Queen orders him to take the princess's heart.
Production
Development on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs began in early 1934, and in June 1934, Walt DisneyWalt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
announced the production of his first feature to the New York Times. Before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Disney studio had been primarily involved in the production of animated short subjects in the Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
and Silly Symphonies
Silly Symphonies
Silly Symphonies is a series of animated short subjects, 75 in total, produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939, while the studio was still located at Hyperion Avenue in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles...
series. Disney hoped to expand his studio's prestige and revenues by moving into features, and estimated that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs could be produced for a budget of ; this was ten times the budget of an average Silly Symphony.
Walt Disney had to fight to get the film produced. Both his brother and business partner Roy Disney
Roy O. Disney
Roy Oliver Disney was, with his younger brother, Walt Disney, the co-founder of what is now The Walt Disney Company.-Early life:...
and his wife Lillian
Lillian Disney
Lillian Disney was the wife of Walt Disney. She was married to him from 1925 until his death in 1966.-Early years:...
attempted to talk him out of it, and the Hollywood movie industry referred to the film derisively as "Disney's Folly" while it was in production. He even had to mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
his house to help finance the film's production, which eventually ran up a total cost of $1,488,422.74, a massive sum for a feature film in 1937.
Story development
On August 9, 1934, twenty-one pages of notes—entitled "Snowwhite suggestions"—were compiled by staff writer Richard Creedon, suggesting the principal characters, as well as situations and 'gags' for the story. As Disney had stated at the very beginning of the project, the main attraction of the story for him was the Seven Dwarfs, and their possibilities for "screwiness" and "gags"; the three story meetings held in October and attended by Disney, Creedon, Larry Morey, Albert Hurter, Ted SearsTed Sears
Ted Sears was an American animator during The Golden Age of American animation. Sears worked for the Fleischer Studios in the late-1920s and early-1930s, and was hired away from Max Fleischer to work at the Walt Disney studio in 1931.As the first head of Disney's story department, Sears did...
and Pinto Colvig
Pinto Colvig
Vance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig was an American vaudeville actor, radio actor, newspaper cartoonist, prolific movie voice actor, and circus performer whose schtick was playing clarinet off-key while mugging....
were dominated by such subjects. At this point, Disney felt that the story should begin with Snow White's discovery of the Cottage of the Seven Dwarfs. Walt Disney had suggested from the beginning that each of the dwarfs, whose names and personalities are not stated in the original fairy tale, could have individual personalities. The dwarfs names were chosen from a pool of about fifty potentials, including Jumpy, Deafy, Dizzey, Hickey, Wheezy, Baldy, Gabby, Nifty, Sniffy, Swift, Lazy, Puffy, Stuffy, Tubby, Shorty and Burpy. The seven finalists were chosen through a process of elimination. The leader of the dwarfs, required to be pompous, self important and bumbling, was named Doc; others were named for their distinguishing character traits. At the end of the October story meetings, however, only Doc, Grumpy, Bashful, Sleepy and Happy of the final seven were named; at this point, Sneezy and Dopey were replaced by 'Jumpy' and an unnamed seventh dwarf.
Along with a focus on the characterisations and comedic possibilities of the dwarfs, Creedon's eighteen-page outline of the story written from the October meetings, featured a continuous flow of gags as well as the Queen's attempt to kill Snow White with a poisoned comb, an element taken from the Grimms' original story. After persuading Snow White to use the comb, the disguised Queen would have escaped alive, but the dwarfs would have arrived in time to remove it. After the failure of the comb, the Queen was to have the Prince captured and taken to her dungeon, where she would have come to him (story sketches show this event both with the Queen and the Witch) and used magic to bring the dungeon's skeletons to life, making them dance for him and identifying one skeleton as 'Prince Oswald' (an example of the more humorous atmosphere of this original story treatment). It is written in story notes that the Queen has such magical power only in her own domain, the castle. With the Prince refusing to marry her, the Queen leaves him to his death (one sketch shows the Prince trapped in a subterranean chamber filling with water) as she makes her way to the dwarfs' cottage with the poisoned apple. The forest animals were to help the Prince escape the Queen's minions and find his horse. The Prince was to ride to the cottage to save Snow White, but took the wrong road (despite warnings from the forest animals and his horse, whom he, unlike Snow White, could not understand). He therefore would not have arrived in time to save her from the Queen, but would have been able to save her with love's first kiss. This plot was not used in the final film, though many sketches of the scene in the dungeon were made by Ferdinand Hovarth.
Other examples of the more comical nature of the story at this point include suggestions for gags with the Witch's warts and a 'fat, batty, cartoon type, self-satisfied' Queen. The Prince was also more of a clown, and was to serenade Snow White in a more comical fashion. Walt Disney encouraged all staff at the studio to contribute to the story, offering five dollars for every 'gag'; such gags included the dwarfs' noses popping over the foot of the bed when they first meet Snow White.
Disney was concerned that such a comical approach would lessen the plausibility of the characters and, sensing that more time was needed for the development of the Queen, advised in an outline circulated on November 6 that attention be paid exclusively to "scenes in which only Snow White, the Dwarfs, and their bird and animal friends appear". The names and personalities of the dwarfs, however, were still "open to change". A meeting of November 16 resulted in another outline entitled 'Dwarfs Discover Snowwhite', which introduced the character of Dopey, who would ultimately prove to be the most successful and popular of the dwarf characterisations. For the rest of 1934 Disney further developed the story by himself, finding a dilemma in the characterisation of the Queen, who he felt could no longer be 'fat' and 'batty', but a 'stately beautiful type' (a possibility already brought up in previous story meetings). Disney did not focus on the project again until the autumn of 1935; it is thought that he may have doubted his, and his studio's, ability, and that his trip to Europe that summer restored his confidence. At this point Disney and his writers focused on the scenes in which Snow White and the dwarfs are introduced to the audience and each other. He laid out the likely assignments for everyone working on the film in a memorandum of November 25, 1935, and had decided on the personalities of the individual dwarfs.
It had first been thought that the dwarfs would be the main focus of the story, and many sequences were written for the seven characters. However, at a certain point, it was decided that the main thrust of the story was provided by the relationship between the Queen and Snow White. For this reason, several sequences featuring the dwarfs were cut from the film. The first, which was animated in its entirety before being cut, showed Doc and Grumpy arguing about whether Snow White should stay with them. Another, also completely animated, would have shown the dwarfs eating soup noisily and messily; Snow White (unsuccessfully) attempts to teach them how to eat 'like gentlemen'. A partially animated sequence involved the dwarfs holding a "lodge meeting" in which they try to think of a gift for Snow White; this was to be followed by the elaborate 'bed building sequence', in which the dwarfs and the forest animals construct and carve a bed for the princess. This also was cut, as it was thought to slow down the movement of the story. The soup-eating and bed-building sequences were animated by Ward Kimball
Ward Kimball
Ward Walrath Kimball was an animator for the Walt Disney Studios. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as Disney's Nine Old Men.-Career:...
, who was sufficiently discouraged by their removal to consider leaving the studio, though he ultimately decided to remain.
Design
The primary authority on the design of the film was concept artist Albert Hurter. All designs used in the film, from characters' appearances to the look of the rocks in the background, had to meet Hurter's approval before being finalised. Two other concept artists contributed to the visual style of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Ferdinand Hovarth (whose designs were often thought not to be as easily translated into animation as Hurter's, but who produced a number of dark concepts for the film) and Gustaf TenggrenGustaf Tenggren
Gustaf Adolf Tenggren was a Swedish-American illustrator. He is known for his Arthur Rackham-influenced fairy-tale style and use of silhouetted figures with caricatured faces...
, whose style borrowed from the likes of Arthur Rackham
Arthur Rackham
Arthur Rackham was an English book illustrator.-Biography:Rackham was born in London as one of 12 children. At the age of 18, he worked as a clerk at the Westminster Fire Office and began studying part-time at the Lambeth School of Art.In 1892 he left his job and started working for The...
and John Bauer, and thus possessed the European illustration quality that Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
was interested in. Tenggren was used primarily as a color stylist and to determine the staging and atmosphere of many of the scenes in the film. He also designed the posters for the film and illustrated the press book. However, only Hurter receives a credit for the film, as a character designer. Other artists to work on the film included Joe Grant
Joe Grant
Joe Grant was a Disney artist and writer.Born in New York City, New York, he worked for The Walt Disney Company as a character designer and story artist beginning in 1933 on the Mickey Mouse short, "Mickey's Gala Premiere". He was a Disney legend. He created the Queen in Snow White and the Seven...
, whose most significant contribution was the design for the Queen's Witch form.
Art Babbit, an animator who joined the Disney studio in 1932, invited seven of his colleagues (who worked in the same room as him) to come with him to an art class that he himself had set up at his home in the Hollywood Hills. Though there was no teacher, Babbit had recruited a model to pose for him and his fellow animators as they drew. These "classes" were held weekly; each week, more animators would come. After three weeks, Walt Disney called Babbit to his office and offered to provide the supplies, working space and models required if the sessions were moved to the studio. Babbit ran the sessions for a month until animator Hardie Gramatky
Hardie Gramatky
Bernhard August "Hardie" Gramatky, Jr. was an American painter, author, and illustrator. In a 2006 article in Watercolor Magazine, Andrew Wyeth named him as one of America's 20 greatest watercolorists...
suggested that they recruit Don Graham; the art teacher from the Chouinard Institute taught his first class at the studio on 15 November 1932, and was joined by Phil Dike a few weeks later. These classes were principally concerned with human anatomy and movement, though instruction later included action analysis, animal anatomy and acting.
Though the classes were originally described as a "brutal battle", with neither instructor nor students well-versed in the other's craft, the enthusiasm and energy of both parties made the classes stimulating and beneficial for all involved. Graham often screened Disney shorts and, along with the animators, provided critique featuring both strengths and weaknesses. For example, Graham criticised Babbit's animation of Abner the mouse in The Country Cousin
The Country Cousin
The Country Cousin is an animated short film released on October 31, 1936 by RKO Radio Pictures. The winner of the 1936 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, the film was produced by Walt Disney, directed by Wilfred Jackson, and animated by Art Babbitt and Les Clark...
as "taking a few of the obvious actions of a drunk without coordinating the rest of the body", while praising it for maintaining its humour without getting "dirty or mean or vulgar. The country mouse is always having a good time".
Very few of the animators at the Disney studio had had artistic training (most had been newspaper cartoonists); among these few was Grim Natwick
Grim Natwick
Myron "Grim" Natwick was an American artist, animator and film director. Natwick is best known for drawing the Fleischer Studio's most popular character, Betty Boop.-Background:...
, who had trained in Europe. The animator's success in designing and animating Betty Boop
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...
for Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
showed an understanding of human female anatomy, and when Walt Disney hired Natwick he was given female characters to animate almost exclusively. Attempts to animate Persephone, the female lead of The Goddess of Spring, had proved largely unsuccessful; Natwick's animation of the heroine in Cookie Carnival showed greater promise, and the animator was eventually given the task of animating Snow White herself. Though live action footage of Snow White, the Prince and the Queen was shot as reference for the animators, the artists animators disapproved of rotoscoping, considering it to hinder the production of effective caricature. None of Babbit's animation of the Queen was rotoscoped; despite Graham and Natwick's objections, however, some scenes of Snow White and the Prince were directly traced from the live-action footage.
Music
The songs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were composed by Frank ChurchillFrank Churchill
Frank Churchill was an American composer of popular music for films. He wrote most of the music for Disney's 1937 movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, including "Whistle While You Work" and "Some Day My Prince Will Come"...
and Larry Morey. Paul J. Smith
Paul Smith (composer)
Paul J. Smith was an Academy Award-winning American music composer. He was born in Calumet, Michigan. Smith spent much of his life working at Disney as composer for many of its films' scores, animated and live-action alike, movie and television alike...
and Leigh Harline
Leigh Harline
Leigh Adrian Harline was a film composer.-Career:Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, he worked for various radio stations before joining the Walt Disney studios in 1932 as arranger and scorer...
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
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (soundtrack)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the soundtrack to the 1937 Walt Disney film, was the first commercially issued film soundtrack. It was released in January 1938 as Songs from Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and has since seen numerous expansions and reissues.-Songs:The songs in the...
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.
Cinematic influences
At this time, Disney also encouraged his staff to see a variety of films. These ranged from the mainstream, such as MGM's Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet (1936 film)
Romeo and Juliet is a 1936 American film adapted from the play by Shakespeare, directed by George Cukor from a screenplay by Talbot Jennings...
(to which Disney made direct reference in a story meeting pertaining to the scene in which Snow White lies in her glass coffin), to the more obscure, including European silent cinema. The influence of German expressionism (examples of which exist in Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari, both of which were recommended by Disney to his staff) can be found in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (as well as the two films to follow it), particularly in the scenes of Snow White fleeing through the forest and the Queen's transformation into the Witch. The latter was also inspired by 1931's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 film)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1932 American Pre-Code horror film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fredric March. The film is an adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , the Robert Louis Stevenson tale of a man who takes a potion which turns him from a mild-mannered man of...
, to which Disney made specific reference in story meetings.
Theatrical run
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was first re-released in 1944, in order to raise revenue for the Disney studio during the World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
period. This re-release set a tradition of re-releasing Disney animated features every seven to ten years, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was re-released to theaters in 1952, 1958, 1967, 1975, 1983, 1987, and 1993. Coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary release in 1987, Disney released an authorized novelization of the story, written by children's author Suzanne Weyn
Suzanne Weyn
Suzanne Weyn is an American author. She primarily writes children's and young adult science fiction and fantasy novels. she has written over fifty novels and short stories, and is best known for The Bar Code Tattoo and The Bar Code Rebellion books...
.
In 1993, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became the first film to be entirely scanned to digital files, manipulated, and recorded back to film. The restoration project was carried out entirely at 4K resolution and 10-bit color depth
Color depth
In computer graphics, color depth or bit depth is the number of bits used to represent the color of a single pixel in a bitmapped image or video frame buffer. This concept is also known as bits per pixel , particularly when specified along with the number of bits used...
using the Cineon
Cineon
Cineon System was a computer based system, integrating a film scanner and recorder hardware, digital software for compositing and effects, image restoration, color management and the development of a proprietary file format designed by Kodak. These components were created to support the work flow...
system to digitally remove dirt and scratches and restore faded colors.
Critical reception
Carthay Circle Theatre
The Carthay Circle Theatre was one of the most famous movie palaces of Hollywood's Golden Age. It opened at 6316 San Vicente Boulevard in 1926 and was considered developer J...
on December 21, 1937 to a wildly receptive audience, many of whom were the same naysayers who dubbed the film "Disney's Folly". The film received a standing ovation at its completion from a star-studded audience that included such celebrities as Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
and Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard was an American film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich...
, Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
, Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
, Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
, Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
, Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
, Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
and Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s...
, Burns and Allen
Burns and Allen
Burns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television and achieved great success over four decades.-Vaudeville:...
, Ed Sullivan
Ed Sullivan
Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the TV variety show The Ed Sullivan Show. The show was broadcast from 1948 to 1971 , which made it one of the longest-running variety shows in U.S...
, Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
, John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
, and Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
. Six days later, Walt Disney and the seven dwarfs appeared on the cover of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine. The New York Times said "Thank you very much, Mr. Disney".
RKO Radio Pictures put the film into general release on February 4, 1938, and it went on to become a major box-office success, making four times more money than any other motion picture released in 1938. In its original release, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs grossed $3.5 million in the United States and Canada, and by May 1939 its total international gross of $6.5 million made it the most successful film of all time, displacing Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
's The Singing Fool
The Singing Fool
The Singing Fool is a 1928 musical drama Part-Talkie motion picture which was released by Warner Brothers. The film starred Al Jolson and was a follow-up to his previous film, The Jazz Singer...
(1928) (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was later displaced from this position by Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
in 1941). By the end of its original run, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had earned over $8 million in international box office receipts, and has had a lifetime gross of $184,925,486 across its original release and several reissues. Adjusted for inflation, and incorporating subsequent releases, the film still registers one of the top ten American film moneymakers of all time.
The film won an Academy Honorary Award
Academy Honorary Award
The Academy Honorary Award, instituted in 1948 for the 21st Academy Awards , is given by the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to celebrate motion picture achievements that are not covered by existing Academy Awards, although prior winners of...
for Walt Disney "as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field". Disney received a full-size Oscar statuette and seven miniature ones, presented to him by 10-year-old child actress Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
. The film was also nominated for Best Musical Score
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
. "Some Day My Prince Will Come" has become a jazz standard
Jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...
that has been performed by numerous artists, including Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...
, Lee Wiley
Lee Wiley
Lee Wiley was an American jazz singer popular in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. While still in her early teens, she left home to pursue a singing career with the Leo Reisman band. Her career was temporarily interrupted by a fall while horseback riding...
, Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
, and Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
.
Noted filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
and Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
praised Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as a notable achievement in cinema; Eisenstein went so far as to call it the greatest film ever made. The film inspired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
to produce its own fantasy film, The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
in 1939. Another animation pioneer Max Fleischer
Max Fleischer
Max Fleischer was an American animator. He was a pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon and served as the head of Fleischer Studios...
decided to produce his animated feature film Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels (1939 film)
Gulliver's Travels is a 1939 American cel-animated Technicolor feature film, directed by Dave Fleischer and produced by Max Fleischer for Fleischer Studios. The film was released on Friday, December 22, 1939 by Paramount Pictures, who had the feature produced as an answer to the success of Walt...
inorder to compete with Snow White. The 1941 parody Ball of Fire
Ball of Fire
Ball of Fire is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The RKO Pictures film is about a group of professors laboring to write an encyclopedia and their encounter with a nightclub performer who provides her own unique knowledge...
featured a nightclub singer disrupting the lives of seven scholars (and Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
) while hiding from the police. The 1943 Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
short Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs is a Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Bob Clampett, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, and released to theatres on January 16, 1943 by Warner Bros...
, directed by Bob Clampett
Bob Clampett
Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett was an American animator, producer, director, and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros., and the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil...
, parodies Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by presenting the story with an all-black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
cast singing a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
score.
Snow White's success led to Disney moving ahead with more feature-film productions. Walt Disney used much of the profits from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to finance a new $4.5 million studio in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
- the location on which The Walt Disney Studios
Walt Disney Studios (Burbank)
The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, United States, serve as the international headquarters for media conglomerate The Walt Disney Company. The Walt Disney Studio's house offices for each of the company's divisions along with creative spaces designed for movie production. The Walt Disney...
is located to this day. Within two years, the studio completed Pinocchio
Pinocchio (1940 film)
Pinocchio is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the story The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It is the second film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, and it was made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was released to theaters by...
and Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
, and had begun production on features such as Dumbo
Dumbo
Dumbo is a 1941 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released on October 23, 1941, by RKO Radio Pictures.The fourth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, Dumbo is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl for the prototype of a...
, Bambi
Bambi
Bambi is a 1942 American animated film directed by David Hand , produced by Walt Disney and based on the book Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten...
, Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)
Alice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based primarily on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a few additional elements from Through the Looking-Glass. Thirteenth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was released in New...
and Peter Pan
Peter Pan (1953 film)
Peter Pan is a 1953 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie. It is the fourteenth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and was originally released on February 5, 1953 by RKO Pictures...
.
American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
recognition:
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 MoviesAFI's 100 Years... 100 MoviesThe first of the AFI 100 Years… series of cinematic milestones, AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies is a list of the 100 best American movies, as determined by the American Film Institute from a poll of more than 1,500 artists and leaders in the film industry who chose from a list of 400 nominated movies...
- #49 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and VillainsAFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and VillainsAFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains is a list of the 100 greatest screen characters chosen by American Film Institute in June 2003. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series. The series was first presented in a CBS special hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger...
:- The Queen - #10 Villain
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 SongsAFI's 100 Years... 100 SongsPart of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Songs is a list of the top 100 songs in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute June 22, 2004 in a CBS special hosted by John Travolta, who appeared in two films honored by the list, Saturday Night Fever and...
:- "Someday My Prince Will Come" - #19
- "Whistle While You WorkWhistle While You WorkWhistle While You Work is a song with music written by Frank Churchill and lyrics written by Larry Morey for the 1937 animated Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was performed in the movie, at least unofficially, by voice actress Adriana Caselotti...
" - Nominated
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie QuotesAFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie QuotesPart of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes is a list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. The American Film Institute revealed the list on June 21, 2005, in a three-hour television program on CBS...
:- "Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" - Nominated
- AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals - Nominated
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - #34
- AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute , the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008....
- #1 Animated filmAnimationAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
Home media
On October 28, 1994, it was released as the first video in the Walt Disney Masterpiece CollectionWalt Disney Masterpiece Collection
The Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection was a line of VHS videos and Laserdiscs released by Walt Disney Home Video from 1994 to 1999. The Spanish counterparts began selling in 1995. Limited issue DVDs also have the same cover art....
. It was the last of the early Disney animated films to be released on home video.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on October 9, 2001, the first in Disney's Platinum Editions
Walt Disney Platinum Editions
Walt Disney Platinum Editions are a line of 2-Disc DVD sets released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, a follow-up to the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection. The Platinum line features newly restored digital versions of 13 of the most popular and successful Disney animated features of all...
, and featured, across two discs, the digitally restored film, a making-of documentary narrated by Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
, an audio commentary by John Canemaker
John Canemaker
John Cannizzaro Jr. , better known as John Canemaker, is an independent animator, animation historian, author, teacher and lecturer. In 1980, he began teaching and developing the animation program at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts', Kanbar Institute of Film and Television Department...
and (via archived audio clips) Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
, and many more special features.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released on Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
on October 6, 2009, the first of Disney's Diamond Editions, and a new DVD edition was released on November 24, 2009. The Blu-ray includes a high-definition version of the movie sourced from a new restoration by Lowry Digital, a DVD copy of the film, and several bonus features not included on the 2001 DVD. This set returned to the Disney Vault
Disney Vault
The "Disney Vault" is the term used by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment for its policy of putting home video releases of Walt Disney Animation Studios's animated features on moratorium...
on April 30, 2011.
The film also finally made its world television premiere in February 2010
2010 in television
2010 in television may refer to:*2010 in American television*2010 in Australian television*2010 in British television*2010 in Canadian television*2010 in Japanese television...
on Disney corporate sibling ABC Family
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
.
Theme parks
Snow White's Scary AdventuresSnow White's Scary Adventures
Snow White's Scary Adventures is a dark ride at the Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Park theme parks. Located in Fantasyland, it is one of the few remaining attractions that was operational on Disneyland's opening day in 1955...
is a popular theme park ride at Disneyland (an opening day attraction dating from 1955), Walt Disney World
Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort , is the world's most-visited entertaimental resort. Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida ; approximately southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States, the resort covers an area of and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels Walt...
's Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom Park is one of four theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort located near Orlando, Florida. The first park built at the resort, Magic Kingdom opened Oct. 1, 1971. Designed and built by WED Enterprises, the park's layout and attractions are similar to Disneyland in Anaheim, California...
, Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo Disneyland
is a 115 acre theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be built outside of the United States and opened on April 15, 1983...
, and Disneyland Paris
Disneyland Resort Paris
Disneyland Paris is a holiday and recreation resort in Marne-la-Vallée, a new town in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. The complex is located from the centre of Paris and lies for the most part within the commune of Chessy, Seine-et-Marne....
. Snow White, her Prince, the Queen (both in the form of a regent and a hag), and the Seven Dwarfs are also featured in parades and character appearances throughout the parks. Fantasyland at Walt Disney World is currently undergoing an expansion due to end in 2013. The Snow White's Scary Adventures ride will be closing and replaced with Princess Fairytale Hall, where Snow White and other princesses will be located for a meet and greet. Also included in the 2013 expansion of Fantasyland is the Seven Dwarves Mine Train roller coaster.
Video games
The first attempt at a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs video game was for the Atari 2600Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
as part of Atari's line of children's games. It was never officially released, although a "homebrew
Homebrew (video games)
Homebrew is a term frequently applied to video games or other software produced by consumers to target proprietary hardware platforms not typically user-programmable or that use proprietary storage methods...
" version was made available on a limited basis. A Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs video game was released for the Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
system. Snow White also makes an appearance in the popular PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
game Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
as one of the seven fabled Princesses of Heart. A world based on the movie, Dwarf Woodlands, appears in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix and Disney for the PlayStation Portable, serving as the sixth installment in the Kingdom Hearts series. The game was released on UMD in Japan on January 9, 2010, in North America on September 7, 2010 and in Europe on September...
for the PSP
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
, and the characters from the film who appear are Snow White, the Dwarfs, the Magic Mirror, the Prince and the Evil Queen in both her forms. Snow White, the Seven Dwarfs, the Forest Animals and the Witch also appear at the beginning of the first Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
in the Awakening world.
Comics
A comic book version was also published around the release of the film. It was more loyal to the original script, where the prince had a bigger role, while parts of Snow White's dress were green. The film's characters, especially the dwarfs and the witch, also appeared in later Disney comics and stories not related to the movie.Musical
Snow White and the Seven DwarfsSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (musical)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a musical with music by Frank Churchill and Jay Blackton, lyrics by Larry Morey and Joe Cook, book by Joe Cook, based on the 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs....
premiered on October 18, 1979 at the Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
, and closed on November 18, 1979. It reopened on January 11, 1980, and closed after 106 performances on March 9, 1980.
External links
- Walt's Masterworks: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Disney.com