Snow White and 7 Dwarfs

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full color, the first to be produced by Walt Disney, and the first in the Walt Disney Animated Classics canon.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre on December 21, 1937, and the film was released to theaters by RKO Radio Pictures on February 4, 1938. The story was adapted by storyboard artists Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears and Webb Smith. David Hand was the supervising director, while William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen directed the film's individual sequences.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was one of only two animated films to rank in the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films of all time in 1997 (the other being Disney's Fantasia), ranking number 49. It achieved a higher ranking (#34) in the list's 2007 update, this time being the only traditionally animated film on the list. The following year AFI would name the film as the greatest American animated film of all time and the best ever Walt Disney Animated Classics movie.

In 1989, the film was added to the United States National Fhttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4873349609688585363ilm Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

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Cinematic influences:

At this time, Disney also encouraged his staff to see a variety of films. These ranged from the mainstream, such as MGM's Romeo and Juliet (to which Disney made direct reference in a story meeting pertaining to the scene in which Snow White lies in her glass coffin), to the more obscure, including European silent cinema. The influence of German expressionism (examples of which exist in Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari, both of which were recommended by Disney to his staff) can be found in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (as well as the two films to follow it), particularly in the scenes of Snow White fleeing through the forest and the Queen's transformation into the Witch. The latter was also inspired by 1931's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, to which Disney made specific reference in story meetings.


Character Development:

OPEY:
Dubbed "Dopey" by his brothers, this loose-limbed dwarf has never spoken a word; as Happy explains to Snow White, "He never tried." But Dopey isn't really dopey, he's just childlike. Is it dopey to try and steal a second and third kiss from Snow White on your way to work, or to make yourself tall enough to dance with her by climbing on Sneezy's shoulders? Not at all. Dopey's a genius at fun and games (and a whiz at the drums to boot). He just doesn't mind looking silly along the way. So what if he wiggles his ears and shuffles his feet to his own skippity-skip beat? He's simply being himself, and that's pretty smart.

In the early development process on the film, Dopey was the "leftover" dwarf with no particular personality. Then one day animator Ward Kimball discovered vaudevillian actor Eddie Collins at a Los Angeles burlesque house. Kimball invited the baby-faced Mr. Collins to the studio to perform and improvise pantomimes of Dopey's reactions on film. Thanks much to Collins' innovative acting, Dopey assumed a very definite personality and soon became one of the animators' favorite dwarfs. Collins' pantomime turned out to be one of the first times live-action reference footage was shot for an animated film. The technique proved so successful that it's still used today. The inspiring Mr. Collins went on to perform live-action reference for Gideon in "Pinocchio" (1940).

GRUMPY:
No matter what anyone says, Grumpy is against it. This know-it-all naysayer has the disposition of an old boot: tough, craggy, and resistant to anything. When the dwarfs first find Snow White lying asleep across their beds, Grumpy gripes, "Angel, huh? She's female, an' all females is poison! They're full o' wicked wiles." When Bashful asks, "What're wicked wiles?" Grumpy admits, "I don't know, but I'm agin 'em." Like many an old boot, however, this one's really a softy inside. When Snow White kisses him on the forehead despite his complaints, he even smiles for a moment before regaining his mal-composure. Could it be that Grumpy may be grumpy partially to see who cares enough to put up with him? Whatever its source, his stubborn determination eventually proves invaluable. When the forest animals warn of trouble so dire that even his bossy rival, Doc, stammers, "What do we do?" it's Grumpy who leads the charge to save Snow White from the Wicked Queen.

During the party sequence, Grumpy plays an elaborately carved pipe organ designed to look like a row of totem poles. To achieve the organ's deep tonal quality, the soundmen blew into bottles partially filled with water. Unfortunately, the ingenious solution created as many problems as it solved: As the recording sessions went on, slight temperature changes and natural evaporation kept altering the pitch of the bottles' notes.

DOC:
If the Seven Dwarfs have a leader, it has to be Doc (though he's far too good-natured to ever make it official). When there's an important decision to be made, Doc is usually the one to make it. After returning to the cottage to find it mysteriously tidied up, he nervously demands: "Search every cook an' nanny, uh, hook an' granny, uh, crooked fan -- uh, search everywhere." Doc's mind often works faster than his mouth when he's excited, but his judgment's always sound. Doc takes it upon himself to convince his fellows that the hardships they must endure in allowing Snow White to stay are worth it -- even that strange custom of washing up. And only he knows how to get that "old warthog" Grumpy into the wash trough.

Sometimes Doc himself doesn't know how wise he is. As the dwarfs leave for the mine after Snow White arrives, he warns Snow White, "Now don't forget, my dear, the old Queen's a sly one, full of witchcraft. So beware of strangers." Before voicing Doc, actor Roy Atwell had already developed his word jumbling skills (or "Spoonerisms") in his popular radio comedy act. Perce Pearce, one of the film's sequence directors, did a good rendition of Doc, and so doubled as the live-action model.

BASHFUL:
More than shy, Bashful's a hopeless (make that hopeful) sentimentalist. When the dwarfs return to find their cottage mysteriously tidied up, he's even sentimental about his newly cleaned cup, lamenting that "the sugar's gone" as if he'd lost a dear friend. While everyone's suspicious upon finding Snow White asleep across their beds, Bashful's the first one to see her for who she really is, observing, "She's beautiful, like an angel." Indeed, Bashful can't help but blush, twist his beard into knots, and bat his eyelashes whenever Snow White's around. And when the dwarfs ask her to tell them a story, Bashful, of course, requests "a looove story." To his delight, that's exactly what they get.

In the initial development stages of the production, Bashful's character was to have a high-peaked skull which made him ashamed to take off his hat, and the rest of him resembled Dopey's eventual character design. It was later decided that Bashful didn't need such an elaborate reason to be bashful -- he simply was.

SLEEPY:
Sleepy sneaks in his Z's anytime and anywhere he can, but none of the other dwarfs ever complains. Maybe that's because he works just as hard in their diamond mine as the others, albeit in a more relaxed fashion. In fact, he's so relaxed, and yawns so widely, that the resident housefly keeps buzzing into his mouth in hopes of finding a nice warm home. But even on the perpetual verge of a nap, Sleepy turns out to be twice as observant as his fellows when it most matters. Strangely goaded and prodded by the forest animals outside their mine, none of the dwarfs can figure out what's going on until Sleepy yawns, "Maybe the old Queen's got Snow White." Thanks to Sleepy, the dwarfs are soon off to the rescue.

In addition to voicing Sleepy, actor Pinto Colvig was also well known as the voice of Goofy.

SNEEZY:
No, Sneezy doesn't sneeze all the time ... just at the worst of times, like when the dwarfs have returned from the diamond mine to search for the mysterious "cleaning monster" in their midst. After a particularly violent sneeze, which sends them tumbling in its wake, he protests,"I couldn't help it ... when you gotta go, you gotta ... I-I-I, i-i-i-it's comin'." So his pals quickly jump him and tie his nose in a knot. Instead of getting angry, poor Sneezy's grateful. He's just as annoyed by his condition as the other dwarfs. But when all is said and done, his fellows are quick and happy to lend him a sneeze-stifling hand. It's all part of being a dwarf. Just keep Sneezy away from the goldenrod ...

After reading an article in "Variety" that said there was to be a character named "Sneezy" in Disney's upcoming production of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," a comedian named Billy Gilbert contacted Walt by phone to say that his specialty happened to be comic sneezes. Walt agreed to audition him and, upon witnessing Mr. Gilbert's bewildering range of on-cue sneezes, Walt hired him on the spot. He reprised this act as the comic giant, Willie, in "Fun and Fancy Free" (1947).

HAPPY:
Without Happy around, Grumpy might not be quite as grumpy. For Happy's just too infernally cheerful about everything. When the dwarfs think there's a monster hidden under the blankets, Happy cheerily asks, "Which end do we kill?" And when the "monster" turns out to be a slumbering Snow White, Happy's even happier. But not even he can find any joy in his life after Snow White's bitten into the Witch's apple and fallen into a sleeping death. With any luck he'll get to live up to his name again someday ...

Although originally brought to the studio to perform live-action reference for Dopey, rotund vaudevillian actor Eddie Collins performed a jaunty routine that became the inspiration for Happy's fleet-footed dance in the party sequence.

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