Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Many movies are advertised with phrases such as ‘groundbreaking’ or ‘innovative’ but when you get down to it most really haven’t contributed anything worthy of such praise. Actually the best most movies can truthfully claim is to improve on techniques previously used by other film makers. To truly earn the use of words like this a film has to literally go where no previous movie has gone; introduce something completely novel. You may have to go back a lot of years to find an example but it is worth it to watch such films and gain some historical perspective. Now that many studios are opening their vaults and releasing some of their classic titles the aficionados of cinema can add these films to their collections. One movie that falls into this category is ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. The movie was originally released by the then new Walt Disney studios way back in 1937. Disney is paying tribute to this wonder of cinema with a newly restored Diamond anniversary edition in both standard DVD and high definition Bur-ray. You might think that a film that is approaching its seventy-fifth year would be dull and primitive but the fact is this movie is as fresh, entertaining and delightful as when our grandparents watched it. This movie is the epitome of being a classic and is truly timeless.

One of the many notable aspects of this movie is the fact that it was the very first feature length animated film. Now this format has become so popular and lucrative that there is a category in the academy Awards specific to it this was the trail blazer that all animate movies owe their existence to. This animation was meticulously done by hand which means a human animator had to draw each individual cell. That is 24 frames required for each second of screen time or almost 146 million frames to provide the animation for this film. For this new release each frame has been carefully restore to bring the movie back to the bright colors and texture that made the movie so beloved by several generation. If you think high definition is wasted on ‘ancient’ animation just wait until you see what was done for this release. Like most people my age I grew up with this film seeing it in one of the revivals in the theater and many times on television. not previous presentation of this movie you have ever seen can prepare you for what the Blu-ray edition will bring into your living room.

Posted 10/03/09