21st December 1937 – exactly 80 years ago- was an important date in the history of film and modern entertainment, art and culture.
It was the first premiere of the very first fulllength animated feature film, Walt Disney’s Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs.
To celebrate this momentous event, I will be taking a look back through Disney’s history in a project I’m simply calling Disney Watch. Between now and Easter 2018 (which is when I’ll be visiting Disneyland Paris with my family) you can join me as I watch each classic and share my thoughts.
So let’s get to work. And whistle while we do it.
Disney Watch – Part 1:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
So this is it. This is the beginning of my epic Disney watch project. I’m going to be watching every Disney film, well all the animation ones that’s for sure, before I go to Disneyland Paris at Easter 2018 with my children. It’s also a good time to do this project as it is the 80th anniversary this December 2017 (21 December to be exact) of the USA release of the original fully animated feature film of which I am talking about today – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
I can’t count really how many times I’ve seen this film but I do have lots of early memories of seeing it both on the big screen and at home. It was re-released sometime during the 70s when I was growing up and I know my mum took me to see it then. I instantly fell in love with this movie and it’s characters (especially Dopey and Grumpy). So with my personal history of this movie it was not any chore at all to sit through it again this time. I think I’ve owned this film in almost every format available at one time or another, firstly when it was originally released on VHS during the late 80s or early 90s then when DVD came along I bought it again (I remember that being a special release with a high quality book and the special box which made it feel really premium stuff) and then again on Blu-ray a few years later. All those versions have now gone from my library as it’s freely available to stream online using The DisneyLife app of which I am a subscriber.
It seems a cliche to say this but this film really is a masterpiece and not just because it was the first of its kind.There is nothing I could fault it for. Every part of it is just amazing to me including its fantastic songs, memorable characters, gorgeous animation and gripping story and set pieces.
Walt Disney was one determined man. Apart from the wonderful team he had behind him, most people at the time thought he was crazy to be putting a 90 minute cartoon in cinemas and nobody thought it would work.
But not only did it work it worked amazingly well. The fact that it also holds up today 80 years later just proves how timeless this version of the story is. It really is “the one that started it all” as they say and is one of my all-time favourite films of any type. One that I still watch regularly.
It’s just a shame that for the rest of the series of Disney films it will probably never hit these heights again (Although there still some amazing movie to come of course).
I’m not going to go into the plot because I’ll be surprised if there’s anyone who doesn’t already know it. But if you are somehow a person who hasn’t yet watched this, then just do it, Watch it. Immediately!!!
Best bit: so much of this movie is classic that it’s hard to just choose one moment although if you had to remove one scene from the film the part I will miss the most is the iconic introduction of the dwarfs themselves. This section introduces each character in a quick efficient way and manages to make us understand each of the seven little guys so fully and so quickly that we instantly fall in love with each one of them. It’s just remarkable storytelling really – Setting this section to the tune of the wonderful song “Hi Ho” doesn’t hurt it in the slightest either.
Any negatives?: Not really, as I said, this one is hard to fault in my opinion. But then again, if I’m being really picky I would pint out that Snow White’s singing voice is ridiculously high and can sometimes be a bit too much to bear.
My verdict: Am I going to recommend this film? Well of course it’s a big YES! If you’ve never seen this then why not? You must correct that mistake immediately & spend the next 90 minutes with seven miners, a beautiful princess who can speak to animals and one of the most iconic villains ever.
A film EVERYONE must see.
Highly highly recommended.
Final score: 10/10
NEXT TIME: Pinocchio
Speccy Square Eyes 