Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

It's hard to imagine, but there was a time when people thought animated movies wouldn't work. Of course it took a man named Walt Disney to show it could, and the rest as they say is history.

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a high water mark in the history of movies and animation, it proved that yes there can be a full length feature of only animation and that people would go see it. Much like "The Jazz Singer" did by introducing sound, "Snow White" could be regarded as just as important, and it also stands up better as well.

Disney adapted the age old Grimm Fairy Tale, a story which is important to point out had its dark undercurrents and put his own spin on it. Snow White is a Princess who is hated for her beauty by the evil queen. One day the Queen tells a huntsmen to take her out to the woods and kill her bringing her heart back as proof that she is dead. The huntsmen is about to kill Snow White, but is too taken by her beauty, he tells her to run away into the woods so The Queen won't find her.

There she finds the cottage of the seven dwarfs, (Sneeezy, Dopey, Doc, Grumpy, etc....). The Dwarfs find Snow White sleeping in their bed when they come home, at first they are frightened but of course they come to love her and protect her from the Queen.

It's hard for me to pinpoint how many times I've seen "Snow White", I remember as a child watching it, I even remember when it came back into theatres for a limited engagement, there was a time Disney did that. It's a testament to Disney's work to that images have had a lasting impact. The moment when Snow White finds herself lost in the woods, and the dark inanimate objects come alive in a macabre way, or when The Queen transforms herself into an ugly old women to trick Snow White are some of the scariest and most impacting moments in children's film.

Then there are the peaceful moments with the dwarfs such as them coming back from digging diamonds in the minds singing "High Ho, High ho, it's home from work we go", or when Snow White asks them to wash up before dinner, something that seems foreign to them. There's something about these scenes embedded in my memory, I could probably stop watching "Snow White" for twenty years, and still remember these moments.

There is a primitive look to the film, but much care is given to every detail. Also this being the first of its kind, it's safe to say the animators were also learning along the way. Admittedly Snow White isn't the most expressive character, her face reminds me of a more refined Betty Boop. The Dwarfs more or less steal the show, as does Snow White's animal friends, which of course would be a trademark.

Despite its short comings, "Snow White" is still a great movie experience for the images, the music, and the heart that went into it. Walt Disney has become a brand name and it's hard to imagine such humble beginnings but I guess most empires are built in the same way. Walt Disney the man never stopped experimenting and honing the craft of animation. Leaps and bounds were jumped a few years later with "Pinocchio", and "Bambi", but "Snow White" was the stepping stone, to one that proved to the world animation had its own place in cinematic history.