Written by Ted Sears And Richard Creedon And Otto Englander And Dick Rickard And Earl Hurd And Merrill De Maris And Dorothy Ann Blank And Webb Smith
Directed by David Hand And Perce Pearce And William Cottrell And Larry Morey And Wilfred Jackson And Ben Sharpsteen
Snow White: "We are standing by a wishing well / Make a wish into the well / That's all you have to do / And if you hear it echoing / Your wish will soon come true."
With the arrival of the live action movie in two weeks time, it was long past time for me to go back and rewatch the original. Has it aged it well? Is it too problematic for a modern audience? Are people incapable of separating fiction from reality? Those are the questions to be asked, notably the last one.
You got to remember, this was the first animated Disney movie to come out and it's success has reverberated the whole franchise ever since. It's partially why the upcoming live action adaptation has generated so much pushback but truthfully, it's a really good movie.
You've got your Evil Queen (Lucille La Verne), who for some time has been used to being the fairest of the land, if not the nicest of rulers. Then her Magic Mirror (Moroni Olsen) gave the Evil Queen a harsh reality check - that her stepdaughter Snow White (Adriana Caselotti) would surpass her in beauty. The Evil Queen didn't exactly take that news very well.
Unfortunately for her, the Huntsman (Stuart Buchanan) had enough of a conscience not to kill Snow White and despite taking over their house, the Seven Dwarves also liked having her around as a mother figure. The Dwarves being Doc (Roy Atwell), Grumpy/Sleepy (Pinto Colvig), Happy (Otis Harlan), Bashful (Scott Mattraw), Sneezy (Billy Gilbert) and Dopey (Eddie Collins). Those dwarves definitely lived up to their names when they werent mining for diamonds.
As for the Evil Queen, she decided that if a Huntsman couldn't kill her stepdaughter, she'd do it herself. She disguised herself as an old woman and tricked Snow White into eating a poisoned apple. Then she got a comeuppance herself courtesy of being atop of a cliff during a thunderstorm.
As for the Prince (Harry Stockwell) part of the movie, well he's just there to fall in love with Snow White and bring her back to life via a kiss. Other than that and like a lot of Disney princes that would follow, there's nothing there, character wise to grasp onto.
- In the original story, the Evil Queen had a far worse fate than the one given to her in this movie.
- Originally the Prince was captured and nearly drown by the Evil Queen but elements of those would factor into later movies.
- Standout music: Someday My Prince Will Come, Whistle While You Work and Heigh-Ho.
- Chronology: An unspecified time period for both this and the original tale, though European in origin.
Maybe it hasn't entirely aged well but Snow White And The Seven Dwarves certainly made a last impression that's still felt to this very day. Is it my favourite Disney movie of all time? Probably not, no but it's definitely one that's iconic, if dated in certain ideas.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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