The 10 Best Voice-Over Performances of All-Time

Over at The Film Experience, we had another of our monthly Team Experience Polls in which this month we chose the 10 Best Voice-Over Performances in film. Although animated movies are the first thing that come to mind, it was open to all vocal performances in which the actors themselves do not appear on screen. We also ruled out the use of stop-motion performances in which the actor actually performs the entire performance on green screen to be turned into a CGI creation later (otherwise Andy Serkis as Gollum would've certainly made my list). Six out of the ten performances I chose made their way to the final list which you can read here.

Creating remarkable performances with only the use of their voice, these 10 actors prove that even without the full use of their bodies and image, they can can still create complete characters using only a single element of their actorly tools. The voice is a powerful instrument that was the original method of storytelling, so it's only right to highlight 10 cinematic performances that carry on that oral tradition.

Honorable Mentions (I could've probably created an entire other list with any of these actors): Paige O'Hara Beauty and the Beast, Eartha Kitt The Emperor's New Groove, Christine Cavanaugh Babe, Jennifer Cody The Princess and the Frog, Jeremy Irons The Lion King, Minnie Driver Tarzan, Brad Bird The Incredibles, George Sanders Shere Khan, Jimmy MacDonald Cinderella, Douglas Rain 2001: A Space Odyssey

10. Alec Baldwin as the Narrator in The Royal Tenenbaums

"All memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums had been erased by two decades of betrayal, failure and disaster."

Before we became more familiar with the deadpan comedic delivery of Baldwin, thanks to his weekly adventures as Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock, we got a taste when he played the brilliantly droll narrator for Wes Anderson’s film about a family of eccentrics. Everything in an Anderson film is a carefully calculated creation and Baldwin’s voice – deep, soothing, with just the right amount of sarcasm coming through- is equally precise, providing the perfect narration for Anderson’s curio.

9. Geraldine Page as Madame Medusa in The Rescuers

"Adopted? What makes you think anyone would want a homely little girl like you?"

Madame Medusa never really gets the same sort of attention that bigger Disney villainesses like Cruella De Vil and Maleficent receive. And originally, the studio had even toyed with the idea of bringing back Cruella as the baddie in The Rescuers. Luckily they decided to create a new evil creation otherwise we would’ve missed out on the unforgettable voice work of Oscar-winning actress Geraldine Page. Marrying beautifully with Milt Kahl’s animation (her look apparently based on his ex-wife), Page would even act out the entire performance in the recording studio. But what sets her voice work apart from the other evil women mentioned is her unique delivery – totally unexpected choices and vocal variations. My sisters and I still quote her distinct line readings years after watching the film.

8. Scarlett Johansson as Samantha in her

"I want to learn everything about everything. I want to eat it all up. I want to discover myself."

Scarlett Johansson's performance as the iOS system programed to have a personality and think for herself may be the most recent entry on my list, but I have no doubt that her vocal performance, in which she delivers a fully-developed, fleshed-out, and completely touching character - all with just her raspy voice - will stand the test of time. When director Spike Jonze recast the actress originally hired to voice Samantha (Oscar nominee Samantha Morton, who was deemed too cold and robotic during the editing process), he certainly made a wise decision when he chose Johansson. Her natural warmth and girlish eagerness give Samantha a purity that make the audience fall in love with her just as much as Joaquin Phoenix's Theodore does in the film.

7. Jean Shepherd as the Narrator in  A Christmas Story

"My mother was about to make another brilliant maneuver in the legendary battle of the lamp. The epic struggle which follows lives in the folklore of Cleveland Street to this very day."

Most holiday films have a tendency to be overly sentimental and sappy, which is probably why A Christmas Story with its biting humor and skewed sensibility has emerged as one of the truly great holiday classics (There's a good reason it's run 24 hours on cable in December). And that's all thanks to its creator, Jean Shepherd, (the film is based on his short stories about his own childhood) and his narration as the older Ralphy looking back on his troubled youth. Lending his voice to his own words, the story becomes even more personal and more specific in its comedy. Just don't shoot your eye out...

6. Lucille La Verne as the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

"Slave in the magic mirror, come from the farthest space, through wind and darkness I summon thee. Speak! Let me see thy face. "

A life-long actress (she was doing Shakespeare at the age of 14 and made her Broadway debut in 1888), La Verne delivered her lines as the haughty and beautiful Evil Queen in Disney's first animated film with the skill and aplomb that only a seasoned stage veteran could deliver. Her rich tones and regal vocalization make the Queen memorably chilly and heartless. But what's even more impressive is that La Verne was able to show off her versatility by also supplying the voice when the Queen transforms herself into the hag to temp Snow White with the poisoned apple. Altering her queenly voice into an old crone's crackle (she took out her dentures to help give the hag an added note of authenticity), La Verne gives two great performances in the same character and set the blueprint for all future Disney villains. 

5. Kathleen Turner as Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."

When a woman looks as flashy and larger-than-life as Jessica Rabbit, she needs a singular voice to match her exaggerated feminine figure. Luckily the filmmakers decided against the obvious choice of something overtly girly and breathy (like a Betty Boop or Marilyn Monroe) choosing instead the sensuously husky voice of the Oscar-nominated Turner. And a legend was born. Turner, taking inspiration from the femme fatales of the 40s like Lauren Bacall, knows how to make Jessica's lines seductive and mysterious, but what really takes it to icon status is the unexpected humor she's able to infuse into the character. Taking what could potentially be a one-note, walking sexual innuendo, Turner fleshes her out (ahem...) completely. 

4. James Earl Jones as Darth Vader in The Star Wars Trilogy

"The Force is strong with this one."

Darth Vader has been so throughly integrated into pop culture and his voice one of the most recognizable in all of film, that sometimes it's easy to take for granted just what a perfect union vocal work and image can be in shaping a legacy. The evil black gas-mask appearance of Vader needed the commanding boom that only a James Earl Jones could bring. Would we still be remembering how he shockingly told Luke Skywalker that he was his father if James Earl Jones hadn't brought as much authority as he did? Which is why it was always so disappointing to see the actor that they used behind the mask in The Return of the Jedi, stripping Vader of the power he had over us for decades. We choose to only remember him as he should be  - with the assertive bass of Jones.

3. Pat Carroll as Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid

"You'll have your looks. Your pretty face and don't underestimate the importance of body language."

Even though the part was originally offered to Bea Arthur and Elaine Stritch was cast and left production after clashing with lyricist Howard Ashman, it's impossible to imagine anyone else bringing to life Ursula in the same way that Pat Carroll was able. Making every single line her own  (her entire performance is quotable and she's given one of the best songs of any other Disney villain), Carroll makes the most of every moment and made Ursula one of the most memorable Disney characters in the process, which is no small feat when she's up against such fan favorites as Ariel and a Caribbean-accented crab. 

2. Ellen DeGeneres as Dory in Finding Nemo

"I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy"

A lot of times animated films get hijacked by an unforgettable sidekick that steals the spotlight from the main characters. But when they're as hilarious as Ellen DeGeneres voicing the forgetful Dory, the overt scene-stealing is more than welcome. And DeGeneres' work in the film is what turned Finding Nemo from a cute film about a clown fish trying to find his missing son and turned it into a run-away success, even named one of Time magazine's 100 Greatest Films of All-Time. DeGeneres' good-natured, wholesome comedy could've had the potential to be old-fashioned and square but her work is just as laugh-out-loud funny in its silliness as it was a decade ago. And she expertly handles the emotional moments as well, proving that she's just as skilled as an actress as she is a comedian. Her Dory is certainly not dumb as she seems. Now has anyone seen little Fabio around...

1. Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin

"What would you wish of me?

For better or worse, he's the reason that every animated film since has utilized big-name stars to voice its characters. (I'm looking at you, Dreamworks.) But what Williams does with the Genie is not just stunt casting to get people in seats (okay, it may have started off that way). He simply is the Genie. The character is so enmeshed with who Williams is as a performer that it may just be the comedian's best work. Free from the confines of live-action and utilizing the limitless possibilities that the medium of animation is capable of (where you only have to dream it to achieve it), his breakneck energy and rapid-fire delivery is free to explore and create.  And Williams takes full advantage of his freedom. Ad libbing for hours and shaping the entire structure of the film around his delivery, his was the first vocal performance that I remember people seriously campaigning to get an Oscar nomination. The film simply wouldn't exist without Robin Williams and you couldn't wish for a better performance.

The Great Beauty of Pocahontas

The Walt Disney Animation Studio has certainly created some memorable characters over the years. From the iconic Mickey Mouse ("It all started with a mouse") to the recent creation of that icy Queen with magical powers, the limits of what can be achieved in the art form exist only within the imagination of its animators. So it may be surprising when I say that for me, one of the studio's best comes from a film that is far from universally loved. But, without a doubt, there is perhaps no better example of how the beauty of hand-drawn animation is able to mimic the look and movement of reality while still maintaining a stylized elegance than with Glen Keane's work on the character of Pocahontas. The character and the film she appears in are this week's choice for Hit Me With Your Best Shot from Nathaniel at The Film Experience. So, wingapo, let's take a look at Keane's under-appreciated artistic achievement.

Let me just clarify that it's the character of Pocahontas and not the film itself that I admire. Cause let's be honest, that movie's got some issues. While it was being made, the animators at Disney were divided into two teams, one working on The Lion King and the other on this film. At the time, everyone wanted to be assigned to the Pocahontas team because the project was viewed with more prestige. It was a chance to create a dramatic film that was in many ways more adult than anything the studio had done before. After considering an animated version of Romeo and Juliet (I am soooo curious about how that would have turned out. Would they have used Shakespeare's language? Would the lovers actually have died in the end?), the studio decided to tell the tale of the historic Native American and her encounter with the English explorer John Smith instead. Aging the character (the real-life Pocahontas would have only been about 11 or 13 when the English arrived in Virginia) and inventing a love story to fit their theme of the clash of cultures, there was definite potential in the material.

But where they faltered was in not embracing the adult elements more. I think Disney is afraid to change their formula and truly create a film that can be seen solely as an artistic endeavor. With millions to be made in merchandise and other promotional tie-ins, a film that does't appeal to all ages is too risky. But in trying to appeal to all, it dilutes the possibility of ever being taken seriously as art. (The studio later did it again when they scrapped plans to make an epic film about the Incas called The Kingdom of the Sun and turned it into the childish–but I'll admit, pretty hilarious–Emperor's New Groove.) Every time the antics of the animal sidekicks come into play in Pocahontas, the film screeches to a halt and turns aways from what it wants so badly to be. (Although it could have been worse, the animals were originally supposed to talk and Pocahontas' main sidekick was to have been a turkey named Redfeather voiced by John Candy.)

What saves the film from being a complete miss is the stunning artwork. The gorgeous backgrounds of pastel-hued forests, blazing sunsets, and cool, misty waterfalls create a bucolic atmosphere so lush that you do feel a hurt when the settlers begin to destroy it. I remember my aunt remarked after seeing the film that it was how she imagined heaven would look. But it's Supervising Animator Glen Keane (who was also responsible for Ariel, the Beast, Aladdin, and Tarzan among others) and his work on Pocahontas that remain the film's crowning achievement.

Let's start with the hair. Has any other element in a Disney film ever been so mesmerizing? Constantly in motion as if Pocahontas has one of Beyoncé's music video wind machines on her at all times, it whips about, it glides, it flows and practically becomes a character onto itself. Symbolizing her restless spirit, her blue-black mane entwines with the wind bringing her closer to nature and her mother (Powhatan says early on in the film that he feels her presence whenever the wind blows through the trees). And Keane's manipulation of it makes it seductively come alive. But it's his attention to detail, the way he effortlessly and elegantly treats it–the way she runs her hand through it when she goes to see Grandmother Willow, how she tucks it behind her ear while pondering Smith's outstretched hand, how she nervously begins to braid it while thinking about these strange new feelings inside her–that shows what a master of the form he is.

Since the earlier days of animation, the philosophy seemed to be the bigger and broader the better. But what Keane does with Pocahontas, trusting in the stillness and the power of a slight gesture, gives her a complexity and humanity rarely found in animation. The best scene of the film has to be when John Smith sees her for the first time at the waterfall as she silently looks at him. There's a power in her eyes, as if there are thoughts behind them. We're no longer looking at moving drawings, but being moved by the drawings.

The shot that I ultimately decided as my best embraces the fact that this is still an art form. Despite achieving a level of realness with the character what ultimately makes traditional hand-drawn animation what it is, is incorporating those elements that can't be achieved in any other medium. During her lesson to John Smith about embracing nature, Pocahontas asks John him if he can paint with all the colors of the wind and for a brief moment she turns into a impressionist painting composed of vivid streaks of color. Taking Keane's charcoal drawings and transforming them on screen, Pocahontas becomes the work of art that the film so desperately wanted to be. If only the film as a whole was worthy of such beauty.

55 Things in Honor of the 55th Anniversary of Sleeping Beauty

On this day, 55 years ago, the Walt Disney animated film Sleeping Beauty was released in theaters. It's hard to imagine a time when such a big film would be released at the end of January, but I guess back in 1959 they figured people wanted to see good films throughout the entire year (Oh, how times have changed). Thanks to its gorgeous animation and perhaps the best villain to come out of the studio, Sleeping Beauty holds a place as my favorite animated film from the classic era (or pre-The Little Mermaid). It also takes on a new life this summer with the live-action film version starring Angelina Jolie as Maleficent. In honor of this anniversary, I'm celebrating with 55 factoids, fun-filled tidbits, or just random observations concerning the film. Hail to the Princess Aurora!

1. The film was only the 3rd Disney animated feature based on a fairy tale (Snow White and Cinderella being the other two). The next fairy tale inspired film wouldn't come until 30 years later.
2. It is also the last fairy tale inspired film that Walt Disney himself was involved with.
3. Sleeping Beauty was Disney's 16th animated film
4. Production on the film started in 1951 and lasted nearly a decade
5. As the years past, Walt became more and more concerned and involved with the creation of Disneyland and took a hands-off approach toward the film.
6. The look of the film was a departure from the previous films and was intended to look like a medieval storybook brought to life
7. Artist Eyvind Earle was the color stylist and in charge of the backgrounds
8. The backgrounds were so intricate that a single background painting would take from 7 to 10 days. A normal background usually took a single day to complete.
   
9. Walt actually stole the kiss story element from the story of Sleeping Beauty to be used in Snow White. In the original Grimm fairy tale, Snow White has the piece of apple stuck in her throat. As the prince has the glass casket carried away with him, it gets dropped and the apple dislodges itself and it awakens her. What, food falling out of your mouth isn't a romantic enough way to break a spell, Walt?!?
10. The film was shot in Super Technirama 70 mm film as opposed to 35 mm
11. Despite being the titular character, the Sleeping Beauty only appears in about 18 minutes of the film–less than any other Disney Princess
12.  The music for the film was adapted from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet by George Bruns (as a kid I always thought it said George Burns. He's so talented!)
13. The film's only Oscar nomination came for the score. It lost.
14. Walt originally wanted the three good fairies to be exactly the same.
15. Animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston thought it would be better to give each their own personality and color (Thank goodness. How else would we have had the famous Pink/Blue dress color fight?)
16. Although Aurora is one of the rare Disney characters to have both parents, her mother is never named in the film. Notes suggest it was supposed to be Leah and now the studio just goes with that.
17. The Queen also has exactly two lines in the entire film: "And you're not offended your excellency" and the poignant and complex, "Oh, no!"
18. There's also debate on who actually provided that voice. Some sources say that it was never written down and others think that Verna Felton (who voiced the fairy Flora) provided the Queen's voice as well.
19. Eleanor Audley provided Maleficent's wicked voice. She also provided the voice of Lady Tremaine (Cinderella's stepmother). So does this mean that Angelina and Cate Blanchett (currently filming a live-action Cinderella as the stepmother) are the same actress as well? 
20. It's rumored that the animators used Audrey Hepburn as an inspiration for the look of Aurora. It sounds more like a nice story as she looks absolutely nothing like Audrey. Because they both have thick eyebrows? This is like that rumor that Tinker Bell was modeled after Marilyn Monroe. Lies! It just sounds good.
21. Flora's gift to the baby princess is the gift of Beauty.
22. Fauna's gift is the gift of Song
23. Haven't you always wondered what Merryweather was actually going to give as a gift to Aurora? Hopefully some intellect to go along with that pretty face and awesome singing voice.
24. In the original fairy tale, the princess sleeps for 100 years before she is awakened. Disney's princess sleeps for about 8 hours or so. Or what doctors recommend as a good night's sleep.
    
25. Marc Davis was responsible for animating both Aurora and Maleficent. The latter's design was so complicated that he pretty much animated her for the entire film.
26. Prince Phillip was the first Prince to actually have a name...and a personality
27. A flame-thrower was used to make the sound of fire being shot out when Maleficent changes into a dragon
28. Castanets were used to make the sound of the jaw snapping. Olé!
29. Live-action references were used extensively on the film as the human characters were intended to move more realistically than in any other previous film.
30. My favorite part of the entire film is after Aurora is awakened and she and Phillip come down the stairs. But the reason it's my favorite is because I love the way her dress falls behind her as she walks down. It's so beautiful and elegent. Something that the plastic looking clothes in CGI have yet to master. 
    
    
    
31. Apparently Maleficent's raven is named Diablo. 
32. How come Maleficent's raven–I mean, Diablo–doesn't change to pink and blue when he spies on the fairies and gets hit with the colorful magic?
33. The cookies that Merryweather makes appear with her wand are shaped like Mickey Mouse
34. Even though it was opened 4 years before the film, the castle in Disneyland is named Sleeping Beauty's Castle and was used to garner interest in the film. The original plans were to make it Snow White's castle.
35. Maleficent is actually an evil fairy (not a witch) and the self-proclaimed Mistress of All Evil.
    
36. She resides in the Forbidden Mountains. You know, just a relaxing get-away spot.
37. The design of Maleficent's goons were based on gargoyles
38. The goons also make an appearance in Toontown in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
39. Sleeping Beauty was the last film to use hand-inked cels. Starting with 101 Dalmatians they started using Xerox. 
40. When Maleficent transports herself from her castle to stop Phillip from reaching Aurora, she turns  into a firework–taking the Katy Perry song quite literally.
41. The "Once Upon a Dream" sequence was created 4 different times and was so costly that it nearly bankrupt the studio.
42. Barbara Luddy provided the voice of Merryweather. She had previously provided the voice for Lady in Lady and the Tramp. 
43. I remember being so impressed as child that Maleficent curses, "Now shall you deal with me, O Prince, and all the powers of HELL!"
44. To this day, whenever I'm baking something, I still pronounce teaspoon as tsp. Oh, Fauna, you're my baking spirit animal.
45. Aurora is named for the dawn, but that was also her name in the ballet.
46. The Brothers Grimm version of the story has her named Briar Rose, which is the name used when she goes into hiding.
47. The part where Maleficent taunts Prince Phillip in the dungeon was originally supposed to be a scene in Snow White but the animators were not confident with the animation of the Prince which is why he appears in that film so little.
48. To defeat Maleficent, Prince Phillip is gifted the Sword of Truth and Shield of Virtue by the three good fairies. Those sound like fancy condom names...
49. Mary Costa, who provided the voice of Aurora, also worked as a professional opera singer. She was asked by Jackie Kennedy to sing at the memorial service for JFK in LA in 1963 and also performed at the inaugural concert at the Kennedy Center in DC.
50. If there's one take-away from the film, it's this: spinning wheels are evil. Don't touch them!
51. At its release, the film barely made enough to cover the 6 million dollars it cost to make the film.
52. Because of all the times it has been re-released, it is now the second highest grossing film of 1959 (behind Ben-Hur)
53. The film was only the second Disney animated film released on VHS (the first was Pinocchio)
54. For the record, the last shot of Aurora's dress is pink. Flora wins.
55. But, I think everyone is in agreement that blue is better. Team Merryweather!

I'd Recognize That Silhouette Anywhere

Something I've discovered in the weeks participating in Hit Me With Your Best Shot, courtesy of Nathaniel R over at The Film Experience, is that the more familiar I am with the film, the harder it is to write about. Which is the case with this week's film, Walt Disney's Oscar-winning 1964 classic, Mary Poppins. I've seen the film so many times and know it by heart (if you're like me, just saying that magical nanny's name sends me into a tailspin of memorable quotes and songs. The songs! I've been humming "Feed the Birds" all damn day), that my mind begins to fill up with ideas and images and I just can't seem to focus on one thing. How do I pick just one thing when they're all so supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?! The film brings me so much joy that when I try to think of the reasons why, my only response is a big doofy grin. But as Mary says, "practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking." Luckily, I'm far from perfect. So, let the sentiment muddle away!

Do I go with her iconic entrance by way of a talking parrot umbrella that flies?

By the way, you can purchase your very own umbrella. I'm not entirely sure that it'll be able to talk to you the way Mary's does. (David Tomlinson, who plays Mr. Banks, was the voice of the umbrella in the film. It's been suggested that Mary was Mr. Banks' nanny when he was a child. The fact that the same actor does both suggests that perhaps Mr. Banks wasn't always so...grown-up. And there's always been a little magic still left in him. Kinda how the same actor plays Mr. Darling and Captain Hook in Peter Pan.) And it's probably best if you don't go jumping out any windows with it, as I'm not sure the flight feature is built-in.

Do you choose one of the parts of the animated "Jolly Holiday" segment? Like Bert dancing with the penguin waiters (man, even in the animated world out-of-work performers are servers).

P.L. Travers (the author of the book series the film is based on) so disliked the animated portion of the film that at the premiere she was still trying to make Walt remove it. I can't wait for the film coming out later this year, Saving Mr. Banks, that chronicles Walt and Pamela's tussle in bringing the book to the screen. But, the finished film was one of Walt's favorites and the only one that brought him a Best Picture Oscar nomination.

Or what about the most amazing medicine bottle that pours out different flavors from the same container?

To this day, whenever I pour something onto a spoon I secretly hope that it will be different colors and flavors each time. And I always recite this exchange:

Jane: Lime Cordial! Delicious!

Michael: Strawberry! Mmmm!

Mary: Rrrrum punch. Quite satisfactory. <hiccup>

Or do I just love to laugh and choose the tea party on the ceiling? I ask you, a tea party on the ceiling?

Ed Wynn, who plays Uncle Albert in this scene, also had another iconic tea party at Disney as he was the voice of the Mad Hatter  in Alice in Wonderland. The actor was allowed to ad lib much of his lines in this scene. The actor who played Michael, Matthew Garber, was afraid of heights, so to coax him on set, he was given 10 cents every time he had to go up on the wire. 

But, I ultimately decided on a shot free of special effects as my Best Shot:

So simple in it's execution, yet able to convey so much. I love that even without any fanfare, no bells and whistles, hell - not even Julie Andrews' face - a single shot of a silhouette can still be filled with whimsy and magic. Just as three circles alone immediately bring to mind another famous Disney creation, seeing the outline of this nanny's hat is instantly recognizable and able to put that doofy grin back on my face. 

Fantasia

I'm sick as a dog and don't have the energy to write anything, but here are my best shots from Fantasia from least to favorite segment:

The True Fairest of Them All

When I think of the films that best represent my relationship with Disney animation, the two that stand out are The Little Mermaid because it was the first time I become aware of what an animated film was and jump-started a life-long devotion. And the other is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs because I quickly became aware of its significance in history. Without the success of this film there would not have been The Little Mermaid or Disney as we know it. It was the one that started it all.

I had this book when I was younger, The Art of Animation by Bob Thomas, that was in many ways my bible. There was a huge section of the book dedicated to the making of Snow White. I knew everything about the film before I had even seen it. I remember pestering my parents to see it when they re-released it in the theatre back in 1993. I was so obsessed that in 7th grade we were assigned to give a speech on the subject, People Who Have Overcome. While my classmates spoke about Helen Keller or relatives that were paralyzed (certainly those people overcame), my speech, however, was about Walt Disney overcoming the hurdles he faced in making the first full-length animated film (complete with Snow White soundtrack faintly playing in the background). My speech was so good, in fact, that I got to recite it before the entire school...where my voice cracked in the middle of it (damn puberity...). I think it's so funny that of all the people in the world, Walt Disney was whom I thought had to struggle enough to share his story. But, the making of the film wasn't easy (not Helen Keller difficult, but definitely rough).

It all started one night in 1934 when Walt invited his colleagues into his office where he proceeded to act out the story of a princess (who was the fairest of them all), her jealous stepmother, and the seven height-challenged men that helped her. After two hours, Walt announced that Snow White was to be the first venture into a feature-length film. The critics were immediately skeptical nicknaming it Disney's Folly. Sure, a ten minute cartoon was good for a laugh. But who was gonna sit through an hour and half of it? Walt nearly went bankrupt trying to finance the film, which he initially thought would cost $250 thousand and ended up costing $1.5 million. In the middle of production, they had run out of money and had to show a half-finished version to the banks to get funds. 

When the finished film was finally released on December 21, 1937 to an audience made-up of Hollywood royalty, any doubts about the so-called Folly were put to rest. They laughed at the dwarfs' antics and tried to stifle tears during the "death" of Snow White, giving the film a standing ovation when it was complete. The film went on to gross $8 million worldwide in its initial run, at a time when movie tickets were 25 cents for adults and 10 cents for children (I wonder what movie-goers of the 30s would make of the $18 price for IMAX 3-D). At the Oscar ceremony the following year, Shirley Temple presented Walt with a special achievement Oscar consisting of one regular size Oscar and 7 miniatures.

"Take a good look, Shirley, because you'll never see one of these again..."

Snow White really was an amazing artistic achievement, not just as cinema but as a piece of art. Especially when you compare it to the artwork in the Silly Symphony Series happening at the same time as the production. In fact, a couple of those shorts were test runs to see how they would work within the film. The Old Mill utilized a new piece of equipment that had been developed called the Multiplane Camera that stacked planes of glass cells and allowed the camera to shoot it in a way that allowed for dimension and depth. Walt was also nervous about animating real-life figures (after all, Snow White and the queen were supposed to be beautiful), so he made the animators take anatomy lessons and study the human form. They produced The Goddess of Spring to see how far they had to achieve believability. Which leads me to my choice for this week's Hit Me With Your Best Shot at The Film Experience.

The two sequences that always stand out to me in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are the two that I think elevate the art of animation. The first is the surreal flight of Snow White through the forest as she escapes the Huntsman, imagining that the trees and branches are demonic creatures trying to harm her. The other is, what I consider the best segment of the film, The Evil Queen's transformation into the Witch.

There's just so much creativity and elegance to this sequence, starting with the way the Queen whips her cloak behind as she storms down the spiral staircase. This is really my favorite part because of the effortless way the cloak dramatically trails around her as she descends. I love when the real movement of clothes is able to be captured in animation with such a skilled smoothness (I also love the way Aurora's train gently falls down the stairs behind her at the end of Sleeping Beauty for this same reason). But the effect doesn't achieve the same result when captured as a still.

Once in her lair, after her grand entrance, she then begins a spell to transform her beauty into ugliness:

Mummy's Dust, to make me old

To shroud my clothes, the Black of Night

To age my voice, an Old Hag's Cackle

To whiten my hair, a Scream of Fright

A Blast of Wind to fan my Hate

A Thunderbolt to mix it well

Now...begin thy Magic Spell...

Each ingredient brings with it its on set of imagery. (The spell is also said with great skill by Lucille La Verne who voiced both the Queen and the Witch. She achieved the latter by removing her dentures.) But, the shot that I ultimately chose is that of the Queen right before she takes the potion:

 I love the realistic attention to detail with her hand and nails–a far cry from the less-than-human movements achieved in The Goddess of Spring. They really had come a long way in their portrayal of human characters. But, in addition to its beauty, there's more happening in the composition. All of this has come about because she couldn't live with the fact that Snow White was more beautiful than she was. And here she is, purposely making herself ugly to achieve her goal (I hope she looked-up a spell to return to normal before she went through all this...). This is her last look at herself. The reflection in the glass also reminds the viewer that it all began with a mirror. The first image we have of the Queen at the beginning of the film is her reflection in the Magic Mirror and now one of our last images of her is reflected here. But now her image is bubbling green bile, revealing the ugliness that was always just below the surface.