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Review by HENRY SHEEHANThe Orange County RegisterIn these days of trauma and turmoil, there’s some good news around: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” is back, and it looks better than ever.The beautiful princess’s eyes still sparkle and her face shimmers as it reflects in water. The glowering evil queen still whips up the poison red apple in robes of indigo and scarlet. The marching dwarfs still cheerily sing through sunburnt dusks. And of course, vast herds of cute little bunnies still trail after all concerned.Welcome back, guys. You’re looking swell. “Snow White,” it turns out, is a movable feast.Partly that’s due to a wonderful restoration job. Made in the dusty and humid old Disney workshop and released in 1937, the animated feature always had been marred by dirty images.But now this classic of craftsmanship benefits from a computerized cleaning process that has left its Technicolor sheen as spotless and brilliant as imaginable.But the appeal of this film goes far deeper than that. Because it was the first animated feature ever made, and because it wasWhitefwithmade by people appealing to human emotions rather than car-toonish buffoonery, there aren’t any shortcuts here.So in building a fantasy world that could pass audience muster, no painstaking detail was overlooked. For example, fire and water are among the most difficult things to animate. You hardly ever see either in modern animation.But in the first scene in which we see Snow White, her face is reflected in the gently rippling waters of a well. In fact, she can hardly get away from the stuff. When she crosses the field in front of the Seven Dwarfs’ house for the first time, she doesn’t just walk across a meadow of grass. No, that would be too simple. On her way, she goes over a little foot bridge spanning a rippling, reflecting creek.Even the wind has personality. It whips, billows, flattens and even, when Snow White opens a window, freshens a room.'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'► Voices: Adriana Caselotti, Lucille LaVerne, Billy Gilbert, Pinto Colvig► Behind the scenes: Produced by Walt Disney; supervis ing direction by David Hand► Playing: Opens today throughout Orange County► Running time: 1 hour 23 minutes► Rating: G► Grade: A► Bottom line: With a restoration that makes it shine better than ever, the first animated feature remains a triumph of technique and emption.And you don’t need a clock to tell what time it is. In day, the sun’s rays always are present, either overhead, or more often, slanting colorfully through thetrees.This isn’t mere technique. It’s commitment to a vision, a vision epitomized by Snow White herself. Surrounded by the cartoon-ish dwarfs with their big heads and hands and small bodies, she is recognizably human, not just in her proportions but in her gestures and expressions, too.To make sure they caught the character’s physical humanity, Snow White’s animators filmed dancer Marjorie Belcher (later famous as Marge Champion) and actually drew right over the pictures of her body. But while that caught her movements, the artists changed her figure and took a free hand with her facial expressions.It’s those expressions, marking Snow White’s reactions to her changing predicament, that combine with the extraordinary stylistic achievement and give “Snow White” its enduring appeal.Just look at the scene whereSnow White is offered the poisoned apple by the evil queen, now unrecognizable in her disguise as an old crone. With the young woman caught between pity for the old woman and an instinctive, gnawing fear, her face displays timidity, kindness, doubt, chagrin and a flurry of other emotions. It’s that human quality which makes us feel something important, something familiar, is at stake.But you don’t have to go to school for “Snow White.” It’s still a lot of fun.Artistically, the dwarfs were a bit of a throwback, but they were delightful ones. Though in group scenes they sometimes merge, their little specialty moments are like star turns. And they give the sweet stuff just the right dose of vinegar; Grumpy is always there to say, “Aw, mush,” when things are getting too mawkish.Remember, too, that the film has some of the best songs written for any movie. “Heigh-Ho,” “Whistle While You Work” and “Someday My Prince Will Come,” not to mention that little yodeling number that accompanies the dance scene, are forever impressed on the brain pan of anyone who hears them, even once.So go, enjoy. Your kids will love it. And so will you.
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Fri, Jul 02, 1993
Page 140
Full Page
Clipped by
Rotten T.
USA 29 Nov 2022
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