This film was made when Disney still spoke the universal language of the folk tale. Watch it for the pure delight of a timeless and human story of love and joy.
One of the movies we grew up on - I loved it, and still do, but confess the Disney Sleeping beauty with its (I think) brilliant use of Tchaikovsky’s ballet score just … captivated me. I couldn’t get enough of it!
The dance model for Snow White was Marge Champion—-she was filmed as she moved and danced and the animators copied (or perhaps traced?) the resulting film. I know I have seen this film, probably in a documentary about Disney animation. In 2010 or so, I visited an art shop in Los Gatos, CA that was selling animation cels from “Snow White”. Several were autographed by Marge Champion—she had been there that morning and I had just missed her! I gather she was in good health and spirits and that she enjoyed reminiscing about her work with Walt Disney. She passed away in 2020.
The Grimm Brothers also wrote down another fairy tale with a character named Snow White in it: "Snow-White and Rose-Red." The girls were named for the colors of the blossoms on the two rose bushes that grew in front of their mother's cottage. I mention this because I think there's an impression abroad that Snow White's name is based on her complexion. I always assumed so myself. But the other Grimm story would argue this is untrue, or only indirectly true. Except for the titles, the two stories don't appear related.
I think the saddest thing about seeing this wonderful film highlighted in my inbox today is that I immediately thought about how ironic it is that the last studio I would expect to make a film like it these days is the very one that did make it. But of course, we should be glad for the great works of art Disney was able to give us at the start, rather than glum at the husk of avarice, sloth, and pride the company is today. I do think they lasted longer than might be expected. Perhaps it's just nostalgia, but I still look back at the slate of films they produced in my childhood, from the late '90s through the early 2000s, and see well-written and powerful stories. But that is when the rot first started to creep in, and nowadays I sadly think that not a single executive or producer in the whole Magic Kingdom has ever even spoken to a child....unless, of course, they were trying to steal their allowance.
The Disney artists from Walt’s time were superb. Do a Google image search of “Eyvind Earle Winter Scenes” and see what pops up. His work had been lodged in my brain for decades—it wasn’t until I was watching “Sleeping Beauty” with my own kids that I realized, “so THAT’S where I saw it!” Earle did the background art for that movie and I’d seen it—and remembered it evermore—as a 3 year-old.
I remember enjoying "Beauty and the Beast" in the 1990s with my wife and children. I think of it as the last true fairy tale animated movie Disney produced. I was a bit dismayed by the political and cultural messages in Pocahontas, and other aspects of the film. Mulan was okay, but even my six-year-old was bored. Then, by 2000 my boys were a little old for the genre (in their estimation, anyway), so I never saw Tarzan or later movies.
David, I suggested this film to Tony for this week. In fact, I had been urging him to do "fairy tale" for some time, and I nudged him toward Stevenson's "Child's Garden of Verses," as well for the poem. it was a bittersweet moment yesterday when Tony and I selected the film, because we had called to mind the greatness -- and what a long run it had. All long since perverted.
One of the movies we grew up on - I loved it, and still do, but confess the Disney Sleeping beauty with its (I think) brilliant use of Tchaikovsky’s ballet score just … captivated me. I couldn’t get enough of it!
The dance model for Snow White was Marge Champion—-she was filmed as she moved and danced and the animators copied (or perhaps traced?) the resulting film. I know I have seen this film, probably in a documentary about Disney animation. In 2010 or so, I visited an art shop in Los Gatos, CA that was selling animation cels from “Snow White”. Several were autographed by Marge Champion—she had been there that morning and I had just missed her! I gather she was in good health and spirits and that she enjoyed reminiscing about her work with Walt Disney. She passed away in 2020.
The Grimm Brothers also wrote down another fairy tale with a character named Snow White in it: "Snow-White and Rose-Red." The girls were named for the colors of the blossoms on the two rose bushes that grew in front of their mother's cottage. I mention this because I think there's an impression abroad that Snow White's name is based on her complexion. I always assumed so myself. But the other Grimm story would argue this is untrue, or only indirectly true. Except for the titles, the two stories don't appear related.
Magical.
Simply magical.
Kurt Gödel, perhaps the greatest logician since Aristotle, simply adored this film.
I think the saddest thing about seeing this wonderful film highlighted in my inbox today is that I immediately thought about how ironic it is that the last studio I would expect to make a film like it these days is the very one that did make it. But of course, we should be glad for the great works of art Disney was able to give us at the start, rather than glum at the husk of avarice, sloth, and pride the company is today. I do think they lasted longer than might be expected. Perhaps it's just nostalgia, but I still look back at the slate of films they produced in my childhood, from the late '90s through the early 2000s, and see well-written and powerful stories. But that is when the rot first started to creep in, and nowadays I sadly think that not a single executive or producer in the whole Magic Kingdom has ever even spoken to a child....unless, of course, they were trying to steal their allowance.
The Disney artists from Walt’s time were superb. Do a Google image search of “Eyvind Earle Winter Scenes” and see what pops up. His work had been lodged in my brain for decades—it wasn’t until I was watching “Sleeping Beauty” with my own kids that I realized, “so THAT’S where I saw it!” Earle did the background art for that movie and I’d seen it—and remembered it evermore—as a 3 year-old.
I remember enjoying "Beauty and the Beast" in the 1990s with my wife and children. I think of it as the last true fairy tale animated movie Disney produced. I was a bit dismayed by the political and cultural messages in Pocahontas, and other aspects of the film. Mulan was okay, but even my six-year-old was bored. Then, by 2000 my boys were a little old for the genre (in their estimation, anyway), so I never saw Tarzan or later movies.
David, I suggested this film to Tony for this week. In fact, I had been urging him to do "fairy tale" for some time, and I nudged him toward Stevenson's "Child's Garden of Verses," as well for the poem. it was a bittersweet moment yesterday when Tony and I selected the film, because we had called to mind the greatness -- and what a long run it had. All long since perverted.