Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 feature produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It was adapted from the Grimm brothers’ fairy tale “Snow White,” though Disney’s version gave the seven dwarfs individual names and comic personalities: Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey. The film is known as the first full-length cel-animated feature film and the first animated feature with color and sound. At its center is a princess whose jealous stepmother, the Queen, asks a Magic Mirror who is “the fairest one of all.” When the mirror names Snow White, the Queen orders a huntsman to kill her and bring back her heart. He cannot do it, and Snow White flees into the forest. She discovers a cottage belonging to seven dwarfs, who work in a diamond mine. They let her stay if she keeps house. The Queen learns Snow White survived and disguises herself as an old peddler. She gives Snow White a poisoned apple, which puts her into a deathlike sleep. The dwarfs pursue the Queen, who falls from a cliff during a storm. Unable to bury Snow White, they place her in a glass coffin. A prince who had earlier met her at a wishing well arrives and kisses her; she wakes when the apple piece is dislodged from her throat. She leaves with him. Disney began work in 1934, and the production became known within the studio as “Disney’s Folly” because of its cost and risk. The final budget exceeded $1.4 million, an sum for the period. It premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles on December 21, 1937, and received its US release on February 4, 1938. Adrianna Caselotti voiced Snow White, while Lucille La Verne voiced both the Queen and the Witch. Pinto Colvig voiced Grumpy and Sleepy, Moroni Olsen voiced the Queen’s Magic Mirror, and Eddie Collins voiced Dopey. The soundtrack includes “Heigh-Ho,” “Whistle While You Work,” “Some Day My Prince Will Come,” and “I’m Wishing.” At the 1938 Academy Awards, Walt Disney received an honorary Oscar recognizing Snow White as a significant screen innovation; Shirley Temple presented the award, which included one full-size statuette and seven miniature ones. The film later entered the National Film Registry in 1989, selected by the Library of Congress as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Its success helped establish feature animation as a commercial form.