Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 movie) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs |
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The famous "Heigh-Ho" scene from the movie, animated by Shamus Culhane.
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| Directed by | David Hand (supervising) William Cottrell Wilfred Jackson Larry Morey Perce Pearce Ben Sharpsteen |
| Produced by | Walt Disney |
| Written by | Ted Sears Richard Creedon Otto Englander Dick Rickard Earl Hurd Merrill De Maris Dorothy Ann Blank Webb Smith |
| Starring | Adriana Caselotti Lucille La Verne Harry Stockwell Roy Atwell Pinto Colvig Otis Harlan Scotty Mattraw Billy Gilbert Eddie Collins Moroni Olsen Stuart Buchanan |
| Music by | Frank Churchill Paul Smith Leigh Harline |
| Studio | Walt Disney Productions |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 21, 1937 (premiere) February 4, 1938 (United States) |
| Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,488,423 |
| Money made | $416 million |
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an American animated musical fantasy movie from 1937. Walt Disney Productions made it. RKO Radio Pictures released the film. It is based on the German fairy tale Snow White by the Brothers Grimm.
This movie was the first full-length cel animated film ever made. It is also the first film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Many talented artists worked on the story. These included Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris, and others. David Hand was the main director. Several other directors helped with different parts of the movie.
Snow White first showed at the Carthay Circle Theatre on December 21, 1937. It came out all over the United States on February 4, 1938. The movie earned $8 million worldwide when it first came out. This made it the highest-grossing sound movie at that time. Because it was so popular, the movie was shown in theaters many times again. This continued until it came out on home video in the 1990s. When you consider inflation, it is one of the top ten movies in North America.
At the 11th Academy Awards, Walt Disney received an honorary Oscar. The movie was also nominated for Best Musical Score. In 1989, it was added to the United States National Film Registry. The American Film Institute listed it as one of the 100 greatest American films. In 2008, they even called it the greatest American animated movie of all time. Disney's version of the fairy tale has had a huge impact. It led to popular theme park rides, a video game, and a Broadway musical.
Contents
The Story of Snow White
The story begins with an evil queen. She has a magic mirror and asks, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" The mirror always answers, "Snow White."
Snow White gets lost in the woods. She finds a small cottage. Seven little dwarves live there. Snow White cleans their home, and they let her stay. The queen later learns that Snow White is still alive. She changes herself into an old hag.
The queen goes to the dwarves' cottage when they are out. She tricks Snow White into biting a poisoned apple. Snow White falls as if dead. The dwarves chase the old hag up a cliff. She tries to roll a big rock on them, but lightning strikes. The queen falls to her death. Snow White is later awakened by the kiss of a handsome prince.
Making the Movie
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Work on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs started in early 1934. In June 1934, Walt Disney told New York Times about his first full-length movie. Before Snow White, Disney's studio mostly made popular animated shorts. These included the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies series.
Disney wanted to make his studio more famous and earn more money. He thought Snow White would cost about $250,000. This was ten times more than a typical Silly Symphony.
Walt Disney had to work hard to get the movie made. His brother Roy Disney and his wife Lillian tried to talk him out of it. People in Hollywood even joked about the movie, calling it "Disney's Folly." Walt Disney even had to mortgage his house to help pay for the movie. The final cost was over $1.5 million. This was a huge amount of money for a movie in 1937.
Main Characters
- Adriana Caselotti as Princess Snow White: Snow White is the daughter of a king. Her evil stepmother forces her to work as a maid in the castle. The Queen is afraid Snow White will be fairer than her. Snow White is cheerful but a bit naive. She dreams of a happy life with her Prince Charming. When the magic mirror says Snow White is the fairest, the Queen tries to have her killed. A kind huntsman lets her go into the forest. She finds the dwarves' cottage and cleans it. The dwarves return and let her stay. They promise to protect her. Snow White cooks and cleans for them. The Queen, disguised as an old peddler, gives Snow White a poisoned apple. Snow White eats it, thinking it's a magical wishing apple, and falls "dead." The dwarves make a glass coffin for her. Years later, her Prince arrives. His kiss breaks the spell, and Snow White wakes up. She says goodbye to the dwarves and thanks them. Then she goes with the Prince to his castle.
- Lucille La Verne as The Queen: The Queen is Snow White's stepmother. Her magic mirror tells her that Snow White is fairer than she is. She orders a huntsman to kill Snow White in the woods. When she finds out Snow White is alive, she turns into an old hag. She uses a poisoned apple to try and kill Snow White. After poisoning Snow White, the dwarves chase her up a mountain cliff. She tries to drop a giant rock on them. A thunderbolt strikes, and she falls to her death. Two vultures then appear.
- Harry Stockwell as Prince Charming: The Prince first sees Snow White singing at her wishing well. He falls in love with her. He sings a romantic song for her and promises to return. After Snow White's "death," he comes back. He gives her a kiss to say goodbye. This kiss breaks the spell, and Snow White wakes up. He takes her to his castle.
- Roy Atwell as Doc: Doc is the leader of the seven dwarves. He wears glasses and often mixes up his words. In the mine, he looks for diamonds.
- Pinto Colvig as Grumpy: Grumpy is, as his name suggests, grumpy. He has the biggest nose of the seven dwarves. He doesn't like Snow White at first because she is a woman. But deep down, he cares about her safety. He warns her about the Queen. He leads the charge to rescue Snow White when she is in danger.
- Otis Harlan as Happy: Happy is a joyful and cheerful dwarf. He is the fattest and sweetest of the seven. He is always laughing. In the mine, he digs for diamonds with Grumpy, Bashful, and Sneezy.
- Pinto Colvig as Sleepy: Sleepy is always tired. His job at the mine is to haul all the diamonds and rubies by cart to Doc for inspection. He has the longest beard of the seven. A fly often bothers him.
- Scotty Mattraw as Bashful: Bashful is the shyest and cutest of the dwarfs. He often gets embarrassed when people pay attention to him. He sometimes annoys Grumpy. Walt Disney himself said that Bashful was "secretly in love with Snow White."
- Billy Gilbert as Sneezy: Sneezy's name comes from his huge, powerful sneezes. These sneezes can blow objects (and his brothers) across a room. He has the shortest beard of the seven (besides Dopey). His sneezes are caused by hay fever.
- Eddie Collins as Dopey: Dopey is the youngest dwarf. He is the only one with no beard. As his name suggests, Dopey is clumsy. His clumsiness often provides funny moments in the story. He never speaks, so it's not known if he can. His job at the mine is to clean up unusable jewels and lock the vault. He is always last in line when the dwarves walk to and from work. He can be scared sometimes, but he is also very brave, especially when Snow White is in danger.
- Moroni Olsen as The Magic Mirror: The Slave of the Magic Mirror appears as a green mask in clouds of smoke. The Queen always asks him who is the fairest in the land.
- Stuart Buchanan as Humbert the Huntsman: The Huntsman is a kind person. He cannot bring himself to kill Snow White, even when the Queen orders him to take her heart.
Other characters who do not speak include Snow White's animal friends, the Queen's raven, and the vultures who follow the Witch. However, the animal sounds were very realistic. They were all voiced by A. Purves Pullen. He was a champion whistler and animal mimic. He provided animal calls for many Disney movies for decades.
Release Dates
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs first played in cinemas on December 21, 1937. It was released across the United States on February 4, 1938. The movie has been re-released many times since then. The first re-release was in 1944. This was to help the Disney studio raise money during World War II. This started a tradition of re-releasing Disney animated movies every seven to ten years. Snow White was re-released in theaters in 1952, 1958, 1967, 1975, 1983, 1987, and 1993.
Songs from the Movie
The movie features many memorable songs:
- "I'm Wishing/One Song" - Sung by Snow White and The Prince
- "With a Smile and a Song" - Sung by Snow White
- "Whistle While You Work" - Sung by Snow White
- "Heigh-Ho" - Sung by The Dwarfs
- "Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum" (also known as "The Washing Song") - Sung by The Dwarfs
- "The Silly Song" (also known as "The Dwarfs' Yodel Song") - Sung by The Dwarfs
- "Some Day My Prince Will Come" - Sung by Snow White
- "One Song" - Sung by The Prince and Chorus
- "Some Day My Prince Will Come" - Sung again
Theme Park Attractions
"Snow White's Scary Adventures" is a popular theme park ride. You can find it at Disneyland (it was there on opening day in 1955), Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. Snow White, her Prince, and the Seven Dwarfs also appear in parades and meet-and-greets at these parks.
Video Games
A video game based on Snow White was released for the Game Boy Color system. Snow White also appears in the popular PlayStation 2 game Kingdom Hearts. In that game, she is one of the seven fabled Princesses of Heart.
Images for kids
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The famous "Heigh-Ho" sequence from Snow White was animated by Shamus Culhane.
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At Disneyland, Snow White and the Evil Queen take a photo with a visitor in 2012.
