Critics at the time scoffed at the idea, some referring to the film as "Disney's Folly" predicting it's failure. No one had ever attempted anything on this scale before. Would it succeed? Would it find an audience? Was Walt Disney but a flash-in-the-pan? Sitting at the El Capitan Theatre (pictured above) in downtown Hollywood, California, I reflected before the film began about how growing up this was the first film I ever saw in theaters. I was born in 1985 and right before I turned 3 my parents took me to the Alabama theatre to see the 1987 50th Anniversary screening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I don't remember it (in fact, the first film I actually remember seeing in theaters was The Little Mermaid in 1989 when I was 4), but my parents told me that the wicked witch frightened me so much that when she turned into an old hag I crawled under the seat and cried. I somehow made it through the whole film though, and they tell me that whenever the dwarfs were on the screen I was bouncing and smiling in my seat. In the scene where the dwarfs sneak upstairs, conscious that someone is in their house, but unaware that it's Snow White, I reportedly said out loud multiple times, "They're SNEE-king mommy! They're SNEE-king!" Fitting that for my first movie I would go see the one that started it all...
Growing up in the 80's of course, Disney is a part of your childhood. You grow up in a world surrounded by his famous characters and most everyone I knew growing up went through the childhood right-of-passage of visiting Disneyworld or Disneyland at least once in their life. You just sort of take Disney for granted. But reflect for a moment on what it must have been like in 1937 to watch Snow White in it's original theatrical run... before Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, etc would follow, before Disneyland would be built, before television and The Wonderful World of Disney would be beamed into people's living rooms... through the hindsight of history of course we know what Disney became, but I wonder how many people in that original release, Walt himself included, could ever dream of what Disney would come to be and represent to millions of children (and adults) around the world.
It's exciting to think about and try to put your mind in that 1937 atmosphere and watch the film... WWII hadn't reached America yet, there was no television, not even Gone With the Wind had been made yet (try and wrap your mind around THAT one). What a magical experience this must have been. Even watching the film restored the other night, I couldn't help but marvel at how well it's held up after more than 70 years. The humor, the music, the characters... all timeless and just as charming and endearing as when they first made their way into the hearts of audiences everywhere way back when.
Now, with a film school education firmly beneath me, I was able to sit back and enjoy the film on even more levels, taking in the small technical details... the ripple effects when Snow White looks down into the wishing well, the use of the multi-plane camera to create depth in many of the shots, the richly colored cells, the simple hand-drawn magic of the characters, and the facial expressions and personalities given to each of the dwarfs and the forrest creatures just to name a few. All that timeless melding of color, motion, and music to tell a timeless story. To see the labor of love displayed on screen, from the matte painting backgrounds to the rich and full cell animation of the central characters, this film continues to inspire and blow me away ever time I see it and think about how much of a landmark in cinema history it is. I found myself laughing anew at the antics of Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy, Dopey, and Sneezy; once again remembering the terror of the sequence where Snow White gets lost in the woods and every tree morphs into an evil face. After 20 years, I still find myself singing along to the music and smiling throughout the film. If you live near Hollywood, it's still screening daily at the El Capitan theater for one more week on the big screen, ending on October 1st. I strongly encourage you to take your friends and family and relive the magic again. At my screening, all ages were present, from a very elderly couple on a date together (they were cutest couple of old folks ever too!) to little children experiencing the film for the first time.
In a few weeks, they will be releasing Snow White on Blu-Ray for the first time (October 6), as well as on DVD for the 2nd time since it's original platinum edition release in 2001. This after numerous theatrical re-issues, televised screenings, and VHS releases as well. I gotta hand it to Walt and his talented team of animators... watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs tonight I had to think to myself, it's been over 70 years, and she's still the fairest of them all. ;-)
