TO THE consternation of professional music-tasters. and to the bewilderment and mixed delight of his vast audience, Walt Disney has produced the first successful concert in motion picture form.
Regardless of the eventual effect of "Fantasia" on professional music groups, this picture has broadened the field of movie-making more than any production since Griffith's "The Birth of A Nation."
In "Fantasia. Disney has developed color to an almost unbelievable point of beauty and mobility; he has pioneered an entirely new form of feature presentation, opening the way for producers to utilize the vast literature available in the short subject field for variety, or concert pictures; he has developed an entirely new method of recording and projecting music, immeasurably broadening the potential use of music and pictures; above all, "Fantasia" itself is an audacious, stirring, austere and entirely new kind of movie.
Musically, the concert consists of six familiar eighteenth and nineteenth century classical numbers, and one fairly modern composition. Stravinsky's *Rite of Spring." recorded by the Philadelphia Orchestra, under the direction of Leopold Stokowski.
The concert is presented in two parts, with Deems Taylor appearing on the screen before each number, explaining in easy, intimate terms, either the meaning of the score, the intent of the composer. or some bit of program gossip connected with the selection.
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