December 31, 2009

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Data
Title: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Year: 1937
Length: 83 minutes
Director: David Hand
Writers: Ted Sears, Richard Creedon, Otto Englander, Dick Rickard, Earl Hurd, Merrill De Maris, Dorothy Ann Blank & Webb Smith, based on the fairy tale by Wilhelm Grimm & Jacob Grimm
Starring: Adriana Caselotti, Lucille La Verne, Roy Atwell, Pinto Colvig
Music: Frank Churchill & Larry Morey (songs); Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith
Distinctions: Honorary Oscar (1939); Oscar nomination for Best Score (1938)

My reaction
Synopsis: a beautiful princess flees from a jealous queen
How I saw it: on video (have on VHS), yesterday [rewatched 3/15/2010, on video (have on DVD)]
Concept: Great. They've been trying to repeat it more-or-less annually for most of a century, so they must have got something right.
Story: Great. I guess I should complain about Snow White and Prince Charming riding off into the sunset together without ever having exchanged a dozen words. But later children's movies address that sort of thing, and it's always tedious. This is the way to tell a fairy tale; little girls can get their positive role models from reality.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great. I'm absolutely blown away.
Acting: Good.
Music: Great. I love these songs, and I hate musicals. The singing is great as well - probably the only musical I've ever seen that has great singing. Granted, I haven't seen all that many musicals (mostly just Disney movies from the 80's and 90's), what with thinking I hate them, but still.
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites). I was literally grinning through the entire film. I can't believe I've managed to never see this movie until now. I guess I had just figured it was like all the Disney "classics" from the 50's and later that I'm familiar with. Nope, not at all. This is no less than one of the greatest films of all time.
Objective Rating: 3.7/4 3.8/4 (Great).

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