Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: the Disney film that will make history
Uncle Walt struck hard. With the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on 21 December 1937, he marked the start of a grandiose and, let's face it, legendary career! At the end of the animation work, as the ultimate reward, a special Oscar surrounded by 7 statuettes, just for the occasion, will be awarded to him. Following in the footsteps of these emblematic Disney characters, the porcelain-skinned princess and the uniquely-featured dwarfs, we discover the story behind the success of the giant with the big ears, and the development of more sophisticated, more elaborate animation techniques. It's enough to make old fans nostalgic...
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an opportunity to salute the colossal work of the artists behind the drawings and animation. Accustomed to depicting only animals, the animators were faced with a huge challenge: they had to capture all the human emotions, bring them to life and bring them to life across the screen. Marge Champion, Freddie Moore, Ed Collins... will be the actors and actresses from whom they will draw their inspiration. And the gamble paid off handsomely, because you can't help but be moved by this hunter with a just heart, by this Simpleton with laughing, innocent eyes, by this princess with such a pure soul, who manages to make friends with all the creatures of the forest.
The birth of a cinematic masterpiece
The idea took root in the spring of 1934 when Walt, after a meal in a restaurant, took his team back to the recording studio and told them of his deep and irrepressible desire to turn Snow White (from the original Grimm Brothers fairytale) into a future feature film. By the dim light of a desk lamp, Disney mimed for hours what he had imagined... and what, 3 years later, would mark a phenomenal and decisive turning point in the history of cinema. A true gem, the film will never cease to leave its mark.... It was also the first animated film to combine speech and colour.
Once upon a time...
This is the story of a princess of immense beauty and no name: Snow White. Her stepmother, moping and torturing herself every day with jealousy, decides that the time has come to extinguish her splendour and have the princess murdered. So she orders the huntsman to do the dirty work. The huntsman, not finding the courage to carry out such an act, leaves her alone in the forest. Frightened, lost, powerless and terribly sad, Snow White ends up in a little house inhabited by seven dwarfs with very different personalities.
Behind the adaptation
- There are a few scenes that were cut from the final cut, notably the one in which the prince is taken prisoner by the queen and held at the top of a dungeon, the one in which our princess Snow White dreams of her beloved, the two of them dancing in the clouds, and the one in which the dwarves, grateful to have a host who has prepared them food, make a princess-sized bed.
- There was also the beginning of the spin-off rights introduced by our beloved Walt Disney. The practice consists of pocketing a certain percentage each time a character is (re)used. These rights now account for the bulk of the company's revenue.
- Then there's the dwarf, Simplet or Dopey, who could never find his voice. In fact, no understudy was sufficiently suited to the character, so he remained a mute figure. What's more, Walt, who hadn't yet finished convincing his team of animators to adopt the nickname, made people believe that William Shakespeare himself had used it in one of his plays. A fact that has yet to be proven....
What if you were to cross paths with your favourite characters? And what if you were to enjoy their presence somewhere other than in the films? Immerse yourself in the fairytale world of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with our online geek shop catalogue. Figurines, bags and wallets, games, accessories, pyjamas, etc. are the perfect way to start or complete your collection!