Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Making of a Masterpiece

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), March, 1995 by Robert S. Rothenberg

Walt Disney Home Video / 40 minutes / $19.95

The release to video of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in the autumn of 1994 spurred record-breaking sales, as the public rushed out to add this beloved classic to their collections. The first feature-length fully animated film created movie history, has delighted millions of people around the world for more than five decades, and became the crown jewel of the Disney empire. Yet, when the project was begun in 1934 and until the movie was released in 1937, it had been labeled "Disney's folly" by naysayers, who predicted financial disaster, since moviegoers obviously wouldn't sit still for a 90-minute cartoon.

No productions have been as well-documented over the years as the Disney films, providing a cottage industry that has fed television series with behind-the-scenes documentaries that, in turn, generated additional publicity for the pictures and, subsequently, their video releases. With "Snow White" such a revolutionary venture, much of the technology virtually having been invented on the spot, this mother lode of details of the animation technique is utterly fascinating.

Viewers can follow the development of the characters from first pencil drawing to finished sketch; watch the storyboarding that set the script in motion; and see the scenes that were cut out of the finished version. (Disney, not one to waste any effort, resurrected a number of these in subsequent features, most notably "Sleeping Beauty." Even adults--especially those who bought the movie for their offspring--who have seen "Snow White" a number of times will find this how-they-did-it video greatly entertaining.