Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a risk that could have finished Disney.
Instead it changed cinema.
In 2013, Walt Disney Animation Studios releasedFrozen, its 53rd animated feature.
Simply put, nothing like it had ever been attempted before.
Nevertheless, the belief Walt Disney showed in his 1934 presentation proved to be infectious.
It took guts to do what Walt did, agreed animator Ollie Johnston.
The story is based on the idea that the Queen is going to murder this girl.
Thats one drawing killing another drawing.
The rest of the Hollywood film industry remained skeptical.
All this led Walt to start thinking about taking the leap into features.
It was prophesied that nobody would sit through such a thing, Disney later said.
Im Wishing
Indeed, finances would prove to be a recurring problem throughoutSnow Whites production.
This meant that Disney was literally betting everything, including his own house, onSnow Whitebeing a success.
IfSnow Whitesank, the studio would be pulled down with it.
More worryingly still, the experimental nature ofSnow Whitemade predicting its budget extremely difficult.
The kind of animation we were after was entirely new.
Before that, it had been done by stunts: limber legs moving in trick runs like egg beaters.
But inSnow White, we wanted our action believable.
We were after drama and pathos as well as laughter.
You cant pull a tear from an audience with legs whirling like windmills.
We were dealing in motion, movement, the flow of movement.
So we had to set up our own school.
Every stage ofSnow Whitebrought up a new technical or storytelling challenge.
Even the formulation of paint required special consideration.
According to issue 36 ofCinemagicmagazine, 1500 shades of paint were created over the course of several months.
Unsurprisingly, the commitment to quality and detail soon took its toll on the budget.
As the budget climbed higher and higher, I began to have some doubts too, he said.
There was worse news to come.
The project was way over budget, but the cash Disney had still wasnt enough.
Despite his initial resistance, Walt knew that he didnt have much of a choice.
Throughout the screening, Disney tried to explain what Rosenberg was seeing.
Uh-huh, Rosenberg replied.
After the lights came on, he didnt show the slightest reaction to what hed just seen.
He walked out of the projection room, remarked that it was a nice day… and yawned!
What do you think of this feature cartoon Disneys doing?
I wouldnt put a dime in it if I were you, was one response.
Fortunately, one of the other people Rosenberg called up was Hollywood producer Walter Wanger.
Wanger told Rosenberg, Joe, millions of people are going to like it.
If Disney does as well as I know hell do, theyll go for it.
Ill bookSnow Whitefor the Music Hall, sight unseen, Schmus told Walt.
When can I have it?
The songs, written by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey, are timelessly catchy.
Thesestill existin pencil test form.
The pressure of getting the film made meant thatSnow Whites now familiar songs were recorded quite quickly.
Pressure continued to mount asSnow Whites release date approached.
Layout artist Ken Anderson concurred.
Everyone was putting in overtime to get the picture finished, Anderson said.
The response was little short of rapturous.
And as history records,Snow Whitewould soon go on to become the most profitable film of all time.
In the process, he changed the face of filmmaking forever.
