«Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs» (1937)
Animated film «Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs» (1937)
Genre: family, fairy tale
Directed by: David Hand, William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen
Produced by: Walt Disney
Written by: Brothers Grimm, Ted Sears, Richard Creedon, Otto Englander, Dcik Rickhard, Earl Hurd, Merrill De Maris, Doroth Ann Blank, Webb Smith
Music by: Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: December 21, 1937
Running time: 83 minutes
Budget: $1,488,000
Gross Revenue: $416 000 000
«Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs» is the world's first full-length animated feature and the first in the Disney animated features canon. The film is an adaptation of the Brother’s Grimm fairytale. The creation of this film took about three years, more than five hundred artists, a million pictures and a half million of dollars. It was premiered on December 21, 1937 in Hollywood and assumed the record of highest grossing sound film at the time. Snow White was the first major animated feature made in the United States, the most successful motion picture released in 1938, and, adjusted for inflation, is the tenth highest-grossing film of all time.
Plot
German adaptation of the famous Grimm's fairy tale about Snow White. The girl lived in the castle with an evil stepmother the Queen, who was very proud of her beauty. After hearing from a magic mirror that Snow White has become the most beautiful girl in the world, she decided to kill her lovely stepdaughter. But the poor girl did not die in the woods, but met real friends - funny seven dwarfs...
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Background Information
1. Animators' initial sketches for Snow White's character, some of which bore a resemblance to Betty Boop, did not meet Walt Disney's expectations, as they were too cartoonish. Hamilton Luske, whom Walt Disney had selected as the supervising animator for Snow White's character, was tasked with the challenge of making Snow White more believably human and realistic than any of the Disney studio's previous animated characters.
2. Snow White is the first Disney Princess, being the main character of Disney's first animated feature film.
3. Snow White is the only Caucasian Disney Princess to have brown eyes.
4. She is the first Disney Princess to communicate with wildlife who can understand humans, the second being Cinderella and the third being Aurora.
5. Snow White is the youngest Princess, being 14 years old.
6. On June 28, 1987, Snow White was awarded with a star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame.
7. Snow White makes a cameo appearance in Aladdin and the King of Thieves when Genie turns Jasmine into Snow White.
8. Snow White is the first of only two Disney Princesses to be "dead" and then revived by a kiss from a Prince, the second being Aurora.
9. Snow White is the first Disney Princess to be an orphan, the second being Cinderella.
10. Snow White is the first Disney Princess currently not to have a sequel for her film. The second being Tiana.
11. Snow White is the first Disney heroine (Esmeralda being the second) and only Disney Princess to be seen praying.
12. Snow White is the first Disney Princess to run away from her love interest without her telling him her name. Cinderella, Aurora, and Ariel (after saving Eric) do this as well.
13. Snow White is the first Disney Princess to be sung to by her respective love interest, the second is Aurora.
14. Some of Snow White's dance moves were infamously reused for that of Maid Marian's in Robin Hood.
15. Disney found a dilemma in the characterization of the Queen, whom he envisioned as a mixture of Lady Macbeth and the Big Bad Wolf, and decided on a "a high collar stately beautiful type".
16. The film, 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' took 3 years to produce. In fact it was known mockingly in the industry as 'Disney's Folly, ' and even Walt's wife, Lillian, said 'No one's ever gonna pay a dime to see a dwarf picture. ' She had to eat her words – it was a major success from the day it was released!
17. There were about 50 names suggested for the seven dwarfs, including Silly, Awful, Sniffy, Dizzy, Cranky and Scrappy. The final seven were Bashful, Grumpy, Sneezy, Doc, Dopey, Sleepy and Happy.
18. Each of the dwarfs has its own character. Doc looks the oldest and is always considered to be the leader of the dwarfs. He wears glasses and tends to jumble up his words. At the mine, his job is to check the gems to make sure they are authentic.
19. Happy laughs a lot and is the fattest of the dwarfs.
20. Grumpy has the biggest nose of the seven dwarfs and he is as grumpy as his name suggests. He disapproves of Snow White, just because she is a woman, but underneath his crusty exterior he actually cares about her safety. He tries to warn her about the Wicked Queen, and rushes to help her when she is in danger.
21. Bashful is very shy and is probably secretly in love with Snow White.
22. Sleepy always looks tired. At the mine his job is to haul the diamonds and rubies by cart for Doc to inspect. He has the longest beard.
23. Sneezy has an allergy to flowers – hence he is always sneezing. He has the shortest beard of all the dwarfs.
24. Dopey looks younger than all the dwarfs and has no beard at all. He never speaks, and his job is to clean up all the unusable gems. You can always see him at the end of the line of dwarfs as they make their way to and from the mine.
25. Six of the famed dwarfs have eyebrows fashioned after Walt Disney's own expressive eyebrows as they fascinated everyone who ever sat in story meetings with him. Walt's eyebrows tended to wander about, helping to more perfectly express anything Walt wanted to convey. Early on, the artists agreed on this resemblance however, Happy is the only one who is different as his eyebrows are white and bushy.
26. Initially, the prince had to have a big role, but because of problems with his animation (on some figures he was hunched), animators and studios artists had to shorten his role to a minor.
27. Artists were offered $5.00 – a hefty sum by late 1930's standards — for every gag featuring the Dwarfs that made it into the final film.
28. 25 songs were written for this film, but only 8 of them were used.
29. To create a scene when Seven Dwarfs return home, which lasts only one minute, five artists worked regularly for six months.
30. In the storage of Disney Company were discovered some storyboards that continue cartoon, titled "The Return of Snow White." Judging by the number of sketches, cartoon was supposed to be a short film. It included the deleted scenes of eating soup by dwarves and arranging the bed for Snow White, invented by Ward Kimball.
31. On the creation of the "Snow White" was spent by that time the fabulous sum - 1.499 million dollars, but soon it had pay off – Disney’s film brought incredible popularity, "Oscar", the respect of the professional press and 8 million revenue.
32. All movements in the dance of the heroine Snow White were sketched from a dancer Marge Champion to make it look real.
33. Walt Disney’s "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a winner of "Oscar", and not one but as many as eight: One - original size, and 7 small - the number of dwarfs.
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Year |
Result |
Award |
Category/Recipient(s) |
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Won |
Honorary Award |
Walt Disney |
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Nominated |
Oscar |
Best Music, Score |
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Year |
Result |
Award |
Category/Recipient(s) |
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Won |
Saturn Award |
Best DVD Classic Film Release |
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Year |
Result |
Award |
Category/Recipient(s) |
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Won |
Video Premiere Award |
Best Overall New Extra Features, Library Title |
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Nominated |
Video Premiere Award |
Best DVD Menu Design |
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Best New, Enhanced or Reconstructed Movie Scenes |
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Year |
Result |
Award |
Category/Recipient(s) |
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Nominated |
Grammy |
Best Recording for Children |
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Year |
Result |
Award |
Category/Recipient(s) |
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Won |
Special Award |
Walt Disney |
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Year |
Result |
Award |
Category/Recipient(s) |
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Won |
NBR Award |
Top Ten Films |
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Year |
Result |
Award |
Category/Recipient(s) |
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Won |
National Film Registry |
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Year |
Result |
Award |
Category/Recipient(s) |
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Won |
Special Award |
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Year |
Result |
Award |
Category/Recipient(s) |
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Won |
Grand Biennale Art Trophy |
Walt Disney (producer) |
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Year |
Result |
Award |
Category/Recipient(s) |
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Won |
Star on the Walk of Fame |
Motion Picture |
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Year |
Result |
Award |
Category/Recipient(s) |
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Won |
Jackie Coogan Award |
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