DVDizzy.com

The quality of the art was not touched for Snow White was not affected by the remastering.

Dont forget Disney spent at least a decade perfecting techniques for Snow White with the Silly Simphonies(it didnt really all start with Snow White).

You can see the quality growing by leaps and bounds on the Walt Disney Treasures set until they really start getting good with ones like the Old Mill with multi plane cameras and shadow effects.

And yes the animation in Snow White is much better than some seventees effors like the Rescuers, the Black Cauldron and Robin Hood.

_________________
Disneyland Trips - 07/77, 07/80, 07/83, 05/92, 05/96, 05/97, 06/00, 11/00, 02/02, 06/02, 11/02, 04/06, 01/07, 07/07, 11/07,11/08, 07/09

Disneyworld Trips - 01/05

Disney Cruise - 01/05

Six Flags DK - 03/09, 05/09. 06/09, 07/09

On the DVD, I watched each trailor for every year, I have to say, that I am quite impressed with how it was retouched! The colors are much more vibrate now, and it just looks beautiful.

The only thing that disspoints me is the audio commentary, I usually find the audio commentaries amusing, and full of all kinds of information, the audio commentary on Snow White really didn't impress me all too much.
But the audio commentary has nothing to do with the film, so don't mind me!

_________________
Homer: Marge, I'm bored
Marge: Why don't you read something?
Homer: Because I'm trying to reduce my boredom

“Who cares about what's on the disc? I think Disney Guru's concern with the cover artwork is the most important thing.”
~Luke

I agree that the trailers were very interesting and they had great people to host each decade.

Yeah, I really enjoy watching Snow White from time to time. It never seems to get stale, and I always find something new with each viewing. It is visually amazing, with all kinds of lush scenery and little sight gags. What a great flick.

P.S. I just took a look at Roger Ebert's review of the film, and he also comments on the detailed visuals:

We could also compare Snow White to it's competition, Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels, even tho they weren't released at the same time.

Although Gulliver wasn't a bad movie, it couldn't live up to Snow White.
The animation seemed more like typical animation of the day with it's rubbery characters, with the notable exception of Gulliver himself. He was achieved through rotoscoping a live actor. The film now seems very dated, which is really too bad as I am sure a lot of talented people put a lot of hard work into it.

Meanwhile Snow White is still a classic due to a clear vision to innovate and to do better than others were doing things at the time. I guess that's what made Disney different and why Snow White will continue to impress and entertain. Still, Gulliver is worth checking out, its on DVD. Check it out and see why Disney had the magic and others didn't.

_________________
http://maerj.dvdaf.com

This has actually become one of my favorites over the past year.

I remember that at first, I hated Snow White's voice. It was so high-pitched, and I just couldn't stand. Now, I actually like it. I mean, it's perfect for her. It has that...nice fantasy quality. Perfect voice!

There's a dance sequence in Robin Hood that is TRACED from the finished animation drawings created for Snow White. I think that should tell you quite a bit about the state of animation in 1970s Disney.

Snow White is one of the Disney "Classics" that is truly worthy of the term "classic".

The first handful of Disney features are groundbreaking - as mentioned, they weren't cutting a lot of corners then. With the "package features" of the 40's they were running on a tighter budget, but sometimes with great creativity. In the 50's they made an effort to reach for the stars, even though, IMO, they never got back to the magic of 1937-42. Whatever innovation there was in the 60's and 70's was essentially to make production more cost efficient (cheaper).

How does "Pinocchio" or "Snow White" look better than "Cinderella" or "Sleeping Beauty"??

IMO, the 50s classics were the best (along with the 90s) in terms of animation.

Excellent Discussion Idea! I love it. And here is some more info on this movie for all of you out there in Disney Movie Land!

This movie is considered Disney's First and Best film that was ever put out by the Walt Disney Studios! This along with the rare and Long Deleted Classic SONG OF THE SOUTH are considered the 2 Best Disney Classics Of All Time! The Reason why Song of The South has been out of circulation in the USA for all of this time is unknown but we fans of it wonder why! Even though the Online Marketplace is always full of bootleg DVD'S of Song Of The South the world still wonders why it has been kept in the vault for all of these years! Everybody wonders the reason why this has happened to such a rare classic but none of us know!

It was called "Disney's Folly." Who on earth would want to sit still for 90 minutes to watch an animated cartoon? And why pick a well-worn Grimm's Fairy Tale that every schoolkid knows? But Walt Disney seemed to thrive on projects which a lesser man might have written off as "stupid" or "impossible". Investing three years, $1,500,000, and the combined talents of 570 artists into Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney produced a film that was not only acknowledged a classic from the outset, but also earned 8,500,000 depression-era dollars in gross rentals. Bypassing early temptations to transform the heroine Snow White into a plump Betty Boop type or a woebegone ZaSu Pitts lookalike, the Disney staffers wisely made radical differentiations between the "straight" and "funny" characters in the story. Thus, Snow White and Prince Charming moved and were drawn realistically, while the Seven Dwarfs were rendered in the rounded, caricatured manner of Disney's short-subject characters. In this way, the serious elements of the story could be propelled forward in a believable enough manner to grab the adult viewers, while the dwarfs provided enough comic and musical hijinks to keep the kids happy. It is a tribute to the genius of the Disney formula that the dramatic and comic elements were strong enough to please both demographic groups. Like any showman, Disney knew the value of genuine horror in maintaining audience interest: accordingly, the Wicked Queen, whose jealousy of Snow White's beauty motivates the story, is a thoroughly fearsome creature even before she transforms herself into an ancient crone. Best of all, Snow White clicks in the three areas in which Disney had always proven superiority over his rivals: Solid story values (any sequence that threatened to slow down the plotline was ruthlessly jettisoned, no matter how much time and money had been spent), vivid etched characterizations (it would have been easier to have all the Dwarfs walk, talk and act alike: thank heaven that Disney never opted for "easy"), and instantly memorable songs (Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith and the entire studio music department was Oscar-nominated for such standards-to-be as "Whistle While You Work" and "Some Day My Prince Will Come"). — Hal Erickson

_________________
"I have this tremendous energy. I just loved and love life. I love it today. I never want to die."
~Jayne Meadows Allen~

That's all well and good Disneyguru, but what do you think about Snow White? What are your own views on the animation, the story, the music?

_________________

anyway, i'll try to reel this conversation back to the point and talk a little more about the film. in my opinion, one of the things that sets it apart is the music. it's all very catchy (annoyingly so sometimes, but i don't mind), and the songs really add to the overall magic of the film. three of the songs became popular radio hits at the time: "heigh-ho", "whistle while you work", and "some day my prince will come." i guess those were the "a whole new world"s of their time.

This is, of course, open for discussion, and quite legitimately so. But how they did it in the "Classic" era (first few features) and the fact that they were basically doing it for the first time is more awe-inspiring to me than almost anything else in the history of Disney animation. I've read so much about the making of Disney's animated films that it certainly does affect the way I see them. It's going to be hard to convince me that the 50's films are "better" (whatever that means) than the earlier ones, even though a film such as "Cinderella" is no doubt very pleasing.

I love Disney's "Snow White," to me it is second only to "Pinocchio" (just a personal favorite of mine, nothing to do with technical aspects of any kind) in terms of my favorite Disney animated movies, and certainly one of the finest motion pictures ever made both aesthetically and historically.

There's a tendency on the part of some to painfully categorize animated films as "cartoons and therefore just for kids;" while we are certainly talking about an animated fairy tale, in this case we are ALSO talking about a FILM. But in this film, you didn't have live actors to direct and a site location to take your camera to photograph the action; someone had to imagine all of this, stage it, draw & paint it, animate it and bring it to LIFE. To me this movie exemplifies the wonder of animation as well as any animated movie ever made.

I particularly loved the Platinum Edition DVD. That was the very first DVD I ever bought; talk about getting off to the right start. I thoroughly devoured every single item on both discs. Someone mentioned above about the color restoration - absolutely beautiful. If you want to see a big difference between unrestored and restored w/Disney cartoons, check out one of the bonus features on Disc 1 of "The Complete Goofy" Treasure - the Essential Goof has clips from several of the cartoons on the Treasure set, but the clips are as they looked prior to restoration in most if not all cases; same here with Snow White.

This is a great thing to remember and talk about at a time like we're in now with Disney!

This really is a great idea for discussion! Like Sekaino, Snow White just recently became one of my Disney favorites. Before getting the platinum edition this year, I had only seen it in a theatrical rerelease when I was younger. I didn't like it then- I was too young and the film quality looked very dated. Neither of those things are problems now.

I love the color scheme, it's so rich (and vibrant as well now, on the DVD). The songs are great and really carved a trend for the successors. So many of the qualities that so define Disney for all of us now were original decisions made by Walt and his team then... how cool is that? For example, making the animated feature a musical?

The villain (always my favorite part) is the scariest of any of Disney's villains, and they did such a fantastic job with her. There's even one scene that made me jump when I watched it, and I'm not one to scare quickly- especially not from Disney movies.

And then there's the hilarity- it's not a comedy, but the dwarves will actually make you laugh out loud time and time again.

The story is all that a fairy-tale should be, and that's just another staple of Disneydom that got its start here. I also appreciate it because even though it was revolutionary in and of itself, it wasn't afraid to be dark and show a sinister side of things.

Finally, the history of the film (the fact that it was the first) certainly brings an added level of appreciation that can't be ignored in discussing it. So there are my long-winded thoughts.

Maerj- Who made this Gulliver movie and when did it come out?

-Aaron

_________________
• Author of Hocus Pocus in Focus: The Thinking Fan's Guide to Disney's Halloween Classic
and The Thinking Fan's Guide to Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom (Epcot coming soon)
• Host of Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Pod, the longest-running Disney podcast
• Entertainment Writer & Moderator at DVDizzy.com
• Twitter - @aaronspod

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031397/


That should tell you everything that you need to know about the film. It was made by Max and Dave Fleischer who are famous for making the Popeye cartoons, Superman cartoons, Koko the Clown and Betty Boop. They were also responsible for inventing the process of rotoscoping, or tracing live action for the purpose of creating realistic animation.

They were major rivals to the Disney studio at the time and Gulliver was their first attempt at an animated full length feature. The film wasn't bad and is worth renting. Just as a side note, his son Richard directed 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Charles Fleischer (a grandson?) was the voice of Roger Rabbit and has done a lot of other Disney work.

_________________
http://maerj.dvdaf.com

That is not really a problem, since the whole rest of it is anti-climactic. But the decision to do that is that Disney did not know how an audience would respond to an animated feature length film. As it is, it simply is a very streamlined finish. Since a lot of exposition deals with housework(!), the rest of the movie is not very streamlined.
I own the original soundtrack (with the black cover) on CD, and a couple of lines were taken out of the Silly Song plus some additional whistling for the Hi Ho Song, probably due to time concerns. So they worked on the timing down to the fraction of the second. There are no accidents in this film.
There are many other films out there that should be as smart to know where to end the story.

_________________
...two men say they're Jesus, one of them must be wrong...

My DVD Toon Collection

Thanks, Maerj. That's really interesting... I had no idea Disney had serious competition in animation that early on, let alone a rivalry! Obviously, Disney came out the victor. I wonder how things would have changed had Gulliver been released prior to Snow White?

I also find it interesting/odd that the family went on to be actively involved with Disney. I guess if you can't beat them, join them.

-Aaron

_________________
• Author of Hocus Pocus in Focus: The Thinking Fan's Guide to Disney's Halloween Classic
and The Thinking Fan's Guide to Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom (Epcot coming soon)
• Host of Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Pod, the longest-running Disney podcast
• Entertainment Writer & Moderator at DVDizzy.com
• Twitter - @aaronspod

Sure! If you get the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea DVD, they discuss when Richard Fleischer was given the offer to direct the film. He went and asked his father if he'd be cool with him taking the job, since they were rivals. Of course his dad told him to go for it and take the job. It's a good DVD and a nice lil piece of Disney history, you should pick up a copy.

_________________
http://maerj.dvdaf.com

Will do. I need to see it anyways (never have ).

-Aaron

_________________
• Author of Hocus Pocus in Focus: The Thinking Fan's Guide to Disney's Halloween Classic
and The Thinking Fan's Guide to Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom (Epcot coming soon)
• Host of Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Pod, the longest-running Disney podcast
• Entertainment Writer & Moderator at DVDizzy.com
• Twitter - @aaronspod