Not only is the pen mightier than the sword, but its powers are limited solely by the imagination.
A poetic symphony of color, fantasy, and creative daring, Walt Disney's first feature length cartoon has made cinema history, points the way to a new art form of untold possibilities. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" employs every technical device known to its flesh-and-blood brothers – music, montage, dramatically constructed story, beauty of setting, camera flexibility.
But this $1,500,000 paint-pot whimsy, produced after three years of painstaking labor, is more "animated painting" than cartoon. Is closer to Rembrandt than to Mickey Mouse. Especially rich in pictorial charm are the forest and mountain backgrounds, their reality being considerably enhanced by the third-dimensional effect of the new multiplane camera. And in the eerie scene where the villainous queen pilots her craft across the lake to carry the deadly apple to Snow White, one can almost feel the clammy caress of the fog.
Characters, with their interesting and clear-cut personalities, hold interest throughout, are drawn with a strict regard for naturalness. The animals are animals and do not speak, although, in some cases, they are gifted with amusing human traits. (Watch the frustrate turtle!)
Although a light fantasy spun of dream-stuff and moonbeams, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," in its artistic perfection, will delight adults as well as children. The cartoon has definitely come of age.
