Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

If you were to ask someone to watch this movie, you would get responses such as “No way. That movie is for babies”. After watching the film, you may hear someone say, “I don’t see anything special about that film”. This review is designed to help dispel these prejudices associated with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. It is my favorite film from 1937. We can use one word to describe the success of this film and why is still considered to be the greatest animated film of all time: contrast. First of all, today’s public classifies the film as childish while critics still applaud the movie. This film contrasted what the world at that time was used to when it came to cartoons. Within the film, there is a lot of contrast between scenes throughout the story. The charm of the animation contrasts the drama of the story that is told. There also is some contrast between the human and the whimsical characters. One thing that people don’t realize is how popular this film was when it was first released. A method I can use to explain the impact of “Snow White” is to compare it to more current events in Hollywood history. Walt Disney knew the secrets that would make the first animated film a success: convey a great story, tell it with entertaining characters and advance technology. I believe the same formula is the secret to the success of any movie.

The story of “Snow White” is a metaphor of Walt Disney’s life up to that point, which is probably a small reason why he decided to make it first instead of “Bambi” or “Alice in Wonderland”. Just as Snow White has an evil stepmother, Walt’s childhood relationship with his father was a little on the negative side. As Elias Disney tried to find success in life, he was quite controlling and strict. When Snow White runs away from the Queen’s jealously only to find herself in a terribly frightened forest, Walt could relate to that. He came to Hollywood with nothing and as he began to get a foothold in the animation industry, selfish businessmen took advantage of him and betrayed him constantly. However, just as Snow White meets the forest animals, Walt had friends and loyal employees during this time such as his big brother Roy and Ub Iwerks. Walt then created Mickey Mouse and made the first cartoon with synchronized sound, “Steamboat Willie”. Before that cartoon, audiences couldn’t fathom the idea that a cartoon character could talk. Mickey made Walt rich and famous. This can be likened unto Snow White finding safety and happiness with the Seven Dwarfs. Every joyous moment she has with them can be likened unto Walt’s career in the 1930’s such as the creation of the first color cartoon, “Flowers and Trees”, and the success that came with the “Three Little Pigs”. Both these cartoons won Walt his first Oscars. Once Disney made the announcement that he was making a full-length cartoon movie, he once again received disapproval from Hollywood. It became known as “Disney’s Folly” and this is like unto the witch with the poisoned apple. When “Flowers and Trees” came out, people thought that the colors would hurt peoples’ eyes and that concern was raised again by the thought of a full length color cartoon. Even Roy and Walt’s wife tried to talk him out of it. Walt knew that he could overcome this criticism because everyone was under the assumption that Walt was going to take a short cartoon and stretch its length to that of a feature presentation. Walt knew better than to do that and his studio soon realized this. Walt’s ability to act out a story & sell an idea was above average and his initial meeting with his staff showed them the right approach to take with “Snow White”. They would take the kind of story that would normally be told in a live action film and apply the possibilities of animation. They would also Americanize the fairy tale.

Rather than gags being the main source of humor, “Snow White” is filled with timeless, universal and modern comedy that can especially be seen in the case of the dwarfs. You have the scene in the movie where Snow White is inspecting the dwarfs’ hands and it comically reminds you of the relatable relationship between a mother and her children. Also in that scene and the subsequent washing scene, there is male vs. female humor. I love how Grumpy pronounces “perfume” as “perfoom”. My favorite sequence in the film is during “The Silly Song”. The animation and music embody merriment perfectly. I love how Dopey has a drum solo as he tries to swat the fly and is fully exhausted afterwards. I also like it when Dopey and Sneezy work together to create a dancing partner for Snow White. This is a good example of staging a gag. During this decade in his short cartoons, Walt was emphasizing the importance of building up towards an upcoming gag or a joke. Sometimes this would happen quickly such as cartoon character realizing that he is in pain. Other times, as in this example from “Snow White”, more time is spent. Once Dopey stands on Sneezy’s head, you know that it will not end without incident. The music and montage becomes merrier until the pay off when the sneeze occurs. The gag is funnier because of the anticipation for it. The cleverest joke in the film is when Doc is convincing Snow White to sleep upstairs while the dwarfs sleep downstairs. Grumpy takes advantage of Doc’s spoonerisms in this moment. Doc assures Snow White: “We'll be quite comfortable down here, in, uh, in, uh...” Then Grumpy completes Doc’s sentence by saying “In a pig’s eye”, knowing exactly what Doc will change it to. Doc, upon realizing that he said “sty”, very loudly corrects himself. That is still laugh-out-loud funny after more than 70 years.

As mentioned, contrast plays a key part in the story of “Snow White”. The film has realistic drama; a quality that audiences had never seen in a cartoon before. The best thing that Disney did is that he edited the serious scenes alongside the positive moments in the film. Because there is a variety of mood experienced in the film, each scene is more potent on an emotional level than otherwise. Putting it differently, the scary scenes become scarier when played against the humorous scenes and the happy scenes are more joyful when they follow sad moments. As a kid, I was very scared as I watched the Queen transform into the Witch. The montage is quite well designed and animated when compared to other moments. Grumpy undergoes a change of heart in the film but there has to be a moment before the climax when we see this begin to happen. Thus we have the moments when he checks himself in the mirror and then when he can’t help but react to Snow White’s kiss. Without these instances, Grumpy’s desire to save Snow White later in the film would not make much sense. When the Witch first appears at the window, that is when she is most menacing. It is a scary sight because for the first time in the movie, a sweet scene quickly changes to a scary scene. The climax of “Snow White” is a great example of the chase sequence, which is a popular suspenseful story sequence as first perfected by D. W. Griffith. Many movies at this time in film history would show someone in danger with a hero rushing to the rescue. The film would cut back and forth between the hero and the distressed character. A classic line of the hero for example that can fully describe this sequence would be “I hope I’m not too late.” Disney did his own dramatic spin on this sequence with the dwarfs and Snow White. The shots with the dwarfs contain a lot of action and volume of sound. The music and animation is fast paced as well. When we cut back to the Witch and Snow White, is it almost a complete contrast. The animation is slower and the volume of sound is very quiet. Also, the music has a slower tempo. The intensity and suspense is very strong during the whole climax as a result. It is one of the most intense endings to an animated film that I have ever seen. The death of the Witch may seem quite coincidental today but back in the 30’s, fate played a big part in film stories. Disney films today still use fate as a way to eliminate the villain such as in “Beauty and the Beast”, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Tarzan”. Because of all this action, the scene where the dwarfs mourn over Snow White is powerfully sad. Grumpy being overcome with grief is very dramatic as he was the “woman hater”. The written narration leading up to the very ending of the movie almost tricks you into thinking that the movie is over. The images become even more dramatic as a result when you think that all hope is lost. The reprise of “One Song” is very moving with what we are seeing. The tempo is slower than when it is first sung and we have choral accompaniment. There is a somber undertone this time. With all this drama in the last 15 minutes that we have undergone while watching the movie, the happy ending is even happier.

The characters in this film are a big part of why the movie is special. The contrast between all of them is also important. Snow White represents the classic fairy tale leading lady from fairy tale literature. She is a mother figure as well, which makes her more relatable. Her presence in a man’s world can also resonate with the audience. The character of the Wicked Queen has impacted film history itself. The American Film Institute has rated the top 50 villains from movie history and included on the list are three animated villains: the Wicked Queen (#10), “Man” from “Bambi” (#20) and Cruella de Vil (#39). The surprising thing though is that AFI listed the Queen higher on the list than Jack Nicholson’s Joker, Freddy Krueger, Count Dracula, Bonnie & Clyde, The Terminator, the shark on “Jaws” and the alien on “Alien”. For being the first villain in history of feature animation, it is amazing that she has never been dethroned sort of speak. The Queen has coldness in her acting and appearance. The Witch is still realistic but she is more melodrama in her animation. She is evil, menacing and manipulative. I would like to know if she influenced the character of the Emperor in the “Star Wars” films. Her eyes many times are the best part of her performance. The movie really gets going once the dwarfs enter the story. Before their appearance in the film, the film does seem quite childish. The dwarfs may be fanciful characters but they act like actual men. They are seven distinct individuals but their common wardrobe makes them part of a group. One good thing about the movie is that we know the dwarfs’ names in advance. As the dwarfs come home and investigate, we are introduced to them informally because of their appearances, behaviors and personalities. As mentioned, the film has modern humor incorporated in it and another example of this is when Grumpy is being forcibly washed. The dwarfs mock him as they reference his earlier heckling. In that moment and in others, these characters go from being dwarfs to being ordinary men. The dwarfs bring humor to the movie but many of them have specific story purposes. Doc is the leader of the group and provides verbal humor. Sneezy and Dopey provide most of the physical humor. Grumpy, in addition to providing additional verbal humor, undergoes an obvious dramatic change of heart as already illustrated.

Walt Disney during the production of “Snow White” was already miles ahead of the competition. His mind was focused on pushing technology and innovation. This can be seen when you compare “Snow White” to past Disney products. As previously mentioned, Walt was perfecting the narratives of his short cartoons. One of Walt’s greater innovations in the field of animation however was realism, both in animating inanimate objects and cartoon characters. During the 30’s, the goal at the Disney studios was to animate a character in so much that they would feel like a living entity for the audience. This is something we take for granted today. During the Great Depression, audiences who saw a Disney cartoon could see an animated character think, move and respond to stimuli with more realism than ever before. This is part of what made “Three Little Pigs” so popular. Gone were the days when a character would freeze, blink their eyes and then move against statically for example. Disney introduced gravity and more realistic physics in animation, as well as a cartoon character maintaining their shape. “Weight, depth and balance” became the goal at the Disney Studios. In the 1920’s, animation was a crude illusion of movement. Thanks to Disney in the 30’s, animation had become an art form. In “Snow White”, Disney went even further in the pursuit of realism. In the earlier designs of the human characters in the film, they all resembled the type of characters seen in the “Silly Symphonies”. Snow White in one drawing resembled Betty Boop and she still does in the movie but the difference is that Snow White looks, moves and acts like a real woman. The same can be said for the Prince and the Wicked Queen. Subtle animation became important rather than exaggerated movement. Three years before “Snow White” was released, the studio made a short called “The Goddess of Spring” to experiment with realist human characters. With how exaggerated and silly the characters moved in that short cartoon, it amazing to realize the advancements made at the studio in just three years. One tool used to help the animation was to film live action actors and then use the footage as reference for the human characters in the movie. Sometimes the animators would trace the movement frame by frame and thus rotoscoping was invented on this film. In my opinion, the dancing of Snow White is where realism in animation reached a new milestone. People at the studio began to be surprised themselves as their creations felt like real characters, even in the pre-production phase. The human characters move & act quite realistically while the animals & dwarfs somewhat reflect classic cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Because all the characters need to fit in the same world however, there is realism that can be seen in the fantasy characters as well. The animation on the dwarfs for example still follows some rules of gravity and motion when important such as when they fall down the stairs. Other times, cartoon physics are apparent even in the presence of human characters. When Sneezy blows Dopey back in the house, Snow White reacts differently in a realistic physical manner. This contrast is an example of feature filmmaking being combined with the possibilities of animation to great effect. Another advancement Walt undertook was to create additional depth in the animated environments. A background painting without an animated character appears flat and two-dimensional. An animated character creates an illusion of depth in an environment but Walt wanted more. With the development of the multi-plane camera, the audience could experience a convincing three-dimensional illusion when watching a cartoon. This can be likened unto the breakthroughs in 3D today. The multi-plane shot of Snow White following the animals beside the lake on their way to the dwarfs’ cottage achieves this illusion the best.

Those who view “Snow White” as childish or as unimportant are also not informed of its immediate impact. The world was different 70 years ago and so comparisons may help at this point to explain the impression of the first animated feature film on the world. Steven Spielberg’s career has some similarity with that of Walt Disney. People were amazed that the director of “Jaws” and the Indiana Jones movies had made “Schindler’s List”. Similarly, after the release of “Snow White”, people were amazed that the creator of Mickey Mouse and the Silly Symphonies had made such a masterpiece. “Snow White” does resemble a Silly Symphony in appearance but there is a level of perfection that can be seen as indicated. The songs are well composed, especially “The Silly Song”, and it is no wonder that this was the first American film to have a soundtrack album. The pre-production on “Snow White” was longer than any other phase on this film due to Walt perfectionism but this desire became contagious. The ladies in the ink and paint department put real makeup on Snow White’s face. Walt risked everything on this movie and even when the studio was out of money, he was able to acquire loans because of the potential seen in the unfinished product. Walt was a perfectionist when it came to the editing as well. He cut and trimmed shots as well as deleted scenes that were already animated. The premier had celebrities on the edge of their seats literally and sobbing towards the end. This was a big surprise to the world that a cartoon could make you cry.

Probably the best way to describe the impact that Snow White has had is to compare it to that of either “Star Wars” or more appropriately "Toy Story". “Star Wars” brought the blockbuster era into full swing. "Toy Story" stunned audiences with a visual spectacle and an Oscar worthy narrative. “Snow White” prepared the world for the hit movies that Hollywood would release in just a few years time such as “Casablanca” and “Gone With the Wind”. “Snow White” also persuaded MGM to make “The Wizard of Oz” and of course, Disney was able to make more animated films. When you look at the films by Disney over the next five years, they are considered today to be his best works. In “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, Walt found the perfect formula to make a successful movie and not just an animated one. Contrast is used to great effect and it also describes the history surrounding the making & release of the film. Both Walt and Snow White were able to triumph over the plan of the evil witch. In today’s world, the best way to enjoy “Snow White” is to learn more about it and this review hopefully helps with that.

5 Stars