Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Based on the 1812 German fairy tale Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs by the Brothers Grimm.
Snow White is a princess living with her wicked and cold-hearted stepmother, the Queen. Fearing that Snow White's beauty will outshine her own, the Queen forces her to work as a scullery maid and asks her Magic Mirror daily "who is the fairest one of all." For years, the mirror always answers that the Queen is, pleasing her.
One day, the Magic Mirror informs the Queen that Snow White is now the fairest in all of the land. On that same day, Snow White is cleaning outside near the well (“I’m Wishing”) when a prince overhears her singing. He tries to meet her but she runs away. He sings to her (“One Song”), leading her to fall in love with him. Angered, the Queen orders her Huntsman to take Snow White into the forest, kill her, and bring back her heart in a jeweled box. The Huntsman cannot bring himself to kill Snow White and reveals to her the Queen's plot. He then urges her to flee into the woods and never return.
Lost and frightened, Snow White is befriended by woodland animals through her singing (“With a Smile and a Song”). The animals lead her to a cottage deep in the woods. Finding seven small chairs in the cottage's dining room, Snow White assumes the cottage is the untidy home of seven orphaned children. With the animals' help, she proceeds to clean the place and cook a meal (“Whistle While You Work”). Snow White soon learns that the cottage is the home of seven dwarfs named Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey, who work in a nearby mine (“Heigh-Ho”). Returning home, they are alarmed to find their cottage clean, and suspect that an intruder has invaded their home. Snow White introduces herself, and the dwarfs welcome her after she offers to clean and cook for them. Doc requests she cook apple dumplings and gooseberry pies. Before they eat, Snow White request the dwarfs wash their hands before eating (“Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum [The Dwarfs’ Washing Song]”). Snow White keeps house for the dwarfs while they mine for jewels during the day and at night, they all sing, play music, and dance (“The Silly Song [The Dwarfs’ Yodel Song]” & “Someday My Prince Will Come”).
Back at the castle, the Magic Mirror reveals that Snow White is still living, and living with the dwarfs. Enraged, the Queen creates a plan: to disguise herself as a peddler (via the Peddler’s Disguise Drink) and create a poisoned apple (Sleeping Death) that will put whoever eats it into a death-like sleep. She learns the curse can be broken by "Love's First Kiss" but is certain Snow White will be buried alive before this can happen. After disguising herself, the Queen goes to the cottage while the dwarfs are away. The animals see through the disguise, but are unable to warn Snow White; they rush off to find the dwarfs. The Queen fools Snow White into biting into the apple, and she falls into a death-like slumber.
The dwarfs return with the animals as the Queen leaves the cottage, and give chase, trapping her on a cliff. She tries to roll a boulder onto them, but lightning strikes the cliff before she can do so, causing her to fall and get crushed to death by the boulder. In their cottage, the dwarfs find Snow White asleep by the poison. Unwilling to bury her in the ground, they instead place her in a glass coffin in the forest. Together with the animals, they keep watch over her. A year later, the prince learns of Snow White's eternal sleep and visits the coffin (“One Song”). Saddened by her apparent death, he kisses her, which breaks the spell and awakens her. The dwarfs and animals all rejoice as the prince takes Snow White to his castle (“Someday My Prince Will Come”).
TRIVIA
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first traditional (i.e. hand drawn and painted cel animation) feature film and the first color animation more than 10 minutes long.
Visual Style
The films backgrounds were rendered in watercolor paint.
The Queen’s castle was based on the Alcázar of Segovia in Spain.
Technology
The film utilizes the multiplane camera, which was developed by Disney for Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs and future films, to create depth.
The animators also used rotoscoping to trace the movements of live action images as reference but used it only as a guide to allow for flexibility with the animation. This technique would be used in subsequent films.
Notable Scene(s)
The Dwarfs crying over Snow White