Fantasia

I grew up with “Fantasia” because my parents bought it on video in the early 90’s. In my life, my love of this film has evolved. As a kid, I liked the characters and the few plotlines that exist in the movie. Now as an adult, I am fascinated by the interpretation of these masterpieces of classical music. It will always be in my list of favorite animated films because of how inspiring, attractive and daring “Fantasia” is. You don’t watch “Fantasia” for fun; you watch it to marvel. Considering when it was made, you come to realize how revolutionary it was. The film represents a variety of styles and art forms coming together into one experience. Walt Disney put so much into “Fantasia” and knowing that it did not initially make a profit, you watch the film today feeling sorry for him. As much as I love the choice of musical pieces and form that they took under Leopold Stokowski’s direction, this review is meant to analyze the film itself. I will say though that when it comes to these eight pieces of music, the Stokowski versions for “Fantasia” are my favorite.

Two popular geniuses combined their talents in the creation of this film: Walt Disney and Leopold Stokowski. They are unlikely collaborators. Disney was a pop culture icon as the creator of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Snow White while Stokowski was a highly respected conductor of classical music. Walt was working on “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” as a short Mickey Mouse cartoon when he ran into Stokowski at dinner. The conductor offered to conduct the Dukas’ music for the cartoon but the expense of the project began to rise so much that Disney and Stokowski decided to make a feature based on the idea of taking classical musical and animating to it. Walt was even going to interpret some of the music differently than what the composer had in mind. “Fantasia” represents a philosophy that Walt had at this time in that rather than create one distinctive studio style, every Disney feature could have its own style and look. In “Fantasia”, every sequence is unique. The film is a combination of different styles and art forms. Walt realized that the possibilities with this were endless and so he wanted to never stop making “Fantasia”. Every time you would go to see it, there would be new additions to the program as well as familiar favorites from past versions. When you see the work in this film and understand that only three years divide “Snow White” and “Fantasia”, you are amazed. The animals in both films are so different in terms of realism and appearance. What is more astounding is that they were making “Pinocchio” at the same time as “Fantasia”. Both films are quite perfect in many ways. In “Fantasia”, the musical sequences are organized quite well with a clear-cut beginning and ending.

The "Toccata and Fugue" was a great way to start the film because the music has a distinct and powerful introduction. I love how Stokowski fleshed out this organ music through the orchestra. The images become more abstract as the piece continues. Disney took Oskar Fischinger’s ideas for the sequence and did his own abstraction, which I am in favor of. Despite the contrast between all of the sequences in “Fantasia”, there needs to be some relation. Even though the usual Nutcracker story was abandoned, the ballet angle still remains. Anything in nature that can resemble ballet is seen in this sequence. I love how we move through the seasons during the music. The Arab Dance with the fish is quite beautiful and well animated. The Russian Dance with the thistles and flowers has a lot of movement, as you would expect with that part of the suite. The “Dance of the Flutes” is another memorable portion and I like the Chinese Dance also. I just don’t find the mushrooms as appealing as others do. The ending portion, “The Waltz of the Flowers” in which autumn and winter is portrayed, makes the music even grander. Dry brushing and airbrushing is used in drawing the seeds. It is inspiring when you consider how much work went into creating that one moment in the “Waltz of the Flowers”. It is like a high-class painting, but it can move. Mickey was redesigned for this feature film and it is hard to imagine Mickey looking any other way after you see this film. “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is the best portrayal of Mickey’s personality. The animation on Mickey’s hands is masterful and the moment when Mickey & Stokowski shake hands can represent all of “Fantasia”. We have pop culture meeting classical & sophisticated musical art. “The Rite of Spring” begins very well in that we see nothing until gradually, a galaxy appears. At the start of this sequence, we have a forerunner to the film “Powers of Ten”. Animating such realistic characters as the dinosaurs at this point in history was a breakthrough. The T-Rex and Stegosaurus fight is quite dramatic. “The Rite of Spring” is most daring part of “Fantasia”. The smoke from the volcanoes rivals any other special effects in movies from that time.

Can you imagine Fantasia without Beethoven? We only need Mozart to complete the “family” in my opinion. I don’t know why Stokowski and others had such a problem with using the Pastoral to accompany images of ancient Greece? I think the sequence resembles the renascence art of Michelangelo or Raphael to an extent. The difference is that it also resembles the Disney style of the time. When I see high quality art of ancient Greece, Beethoven comes to mind and I am sure it is the same for others thanks to “Fantasia”. I like the gag where Vulcan gets to throw a lightning bolt after Zeus gets tired. I am sure that when “Walt Disney Pictures” made “Hercules” in 1997, they looked at this sequence. “Dance of the Hours” was meant to spoof ballet but more particularly the music. The music was so overused and so well known at the time that it was asking to be made fun of. We see this happen today with any blockbuster movie. When you set aside the humor of the sequence, “Dance of the Hours” is a respectful showcase of ballet. I love the gag of the alligator catching the hippo. Just when he thinks he has her, he drops her again. “Fantasia” ends so powerfully with “Night on Bald Mountain” and “Ave Maria”. The climatic nature of the sequence and the contrast between the pieces of music is what makes it great. The Chernabog can be grouped with the dinosaurs from “The Rite of Spring” and Monstro from “Pinocchio” as characters you wouldn’t expect could be possible at this time in animation history. The “Ave Maria” sequence contains one of the most highly structured single shots in film history. The figures are very small on paper but they are going to be a lot bigger on screen and so any mistake in the animation would be obvious in such a scene that has very slow movement. I cannot find a mistake in the animation of that procession. Nine cameramen shot the scene non-stop for almost 150 hours. They had to use the whole 154-foot long soundstage. Their first attempt was a fail because they used the wrong lens and then an earthquake interrupted their second attempt. The finished film barely made it to the New York premiere.

With the kind of film they were making, Disney and Stokowski knew that mono sound would not do. Disney’s studio developed the first stereophonic soundtrack for the movie and its impact was felt. Walt was making something that was different from “Snow White” or “Pinocchio”. He envisioned “Fantasia” as a roadshow, where you dressed up and had an assigned seat like a play or opera. You received a program and the ticket price was higher than for a usual Hollywood film. The film also had only two showings a day as part of the roadshow. The 2000 DVD is a great attempt at recreating the roadshow version that Disney ended up with in 1940. I saw this movie on the big screen for its 75th anniversary and the sound and images were quite special in a large format. Many film critics went nuts over how wonderful the movie was. The initial roadshow version sold out night after night for a year wherever it was. The roadshow version was a success but not financially. To outfit every theater in the country to show the roadshow version of “Fantasia” was impossible. As a more modern example, it took years to replace every film projector in every theater in North America with digital projection systems. In 1941, there was no way for the general public to enjoy “Fantasia” as it was meant to be seen. Other movie critics and also music critics were indifferent. Walt’s timing was bad because of World War II in Europe and the whole idea itself was so ahead of its time that people felt it was bizarre. Walt was so emotionally devoted to this movie and put so much money into it that he never really got over it. Because it was a good idea, you can understand why.

Because of World War II, vital European markets were cut off. Both “Pinocchio” & “Fantasia” cost a lot of money to produce and so those films did not make money in 1940 and 1941. Just like “Pinocchio” however, time changes things. “Fantasia” has not only become a beloved classic film, it has influenced today media and entertainment. Before “A Hard Day’s Night” and "Yellow Submarine", the Silly Symphonies and more especially “Fantasia” show that Disney’s work was a foretaste of music videos and other examples in today’s media where music is accompanied by images. The American Film Institute has recognized the movie as one of the top ten animated films. I think of the film as a masterpiece because of when it came out. Ten years early, Disney was making crude black and white cartoons. In the 1930’s, he introduced color, realism and full-length cartoon features in the animation industry. “Fantasia” is Disney’s attempt at making art and not necessarily entertainment. He succeeded and 60 years later, his dreams and ideas for “Fantasia” were partially realized by his nephew.

4.5 Stars