Snow White (1916)

Snow White is a motherless princess, who arouses the jealousy and hatred of Mary Jane, her mother's former lady-in-waiting, who is the ugliest woman in the kingdom, but aspires to the ... See full summary »

Director:

J. Searle Dawley

Writers:

Winthrop Ames (by), Winthrop Ames

Stars:

Dorothy Cumming, Creighton Hale, Lionel Braham

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dorothy Cumming	...	Queen Brangomar (as Dorothy G. Cumming)
Creighton Hale	...	Prince Florimond
Lionel Braham	...	Berthold - the Huntsman
Alice Washburn	...	Witch Hex
Marguerite Clark	...	Snow White

Storyline

Snow White is a motherless princess, who arouses the jealousy and hatred of Mary Jane, her mother's former lady-in-waiting, who is the ugliest woman in the kingdom, but aspires to the throne. She gives her heart to the witch, Hex, in return for which she becomes beautiful and wins the love of the king. While hunting, the king falls from his horse and is killed, leaving Mary Jane, who has been rechristened Brangomar, upon the throne. Brangomar forces Snow White to work in the kitchen and takes her lovely clothes away from her. When Snow White accidentally meets a young hunter she becomes interested in him and he is fascinated, though neither has any idea who the other is. So they are dumbfounded when he comes to Snow White's castle and presents a letter to the queen, asking for the hand of Snow White, for he is the Prince Florimund, who has been sent to ask for the hard of the little princess, whom he has never seen. Brangomar, who believed that the prince was coming to sue for her ...

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Plot Keywords:

snow white | queen | fairy tale | dwarf | prince | 

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Genres:

Fantasy | Romance

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Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the 50 films in the 4-disk boxed DVD set called "Treasures from American Film Archives (2000)", compiled by the National Film Preservation Foundation from 18 American film archives. This film was preserved by the George Eastman House. This version has an uncredited piano music score and runs 63 minutes. Marguarite Clark starred in the play "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" by Jessie Braham White; it opened in New York on 7 November 1912 and ran for 72 performances. This movie's writer, Winthrop Ames, produced that play and no doubt was greatly influenced by it. Sketches of the sets and costumes from the play were used for this film.

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Goofs

A crew member's shadow is visible on the ground in front of Snow White after Berthold the Huntsman leaves her in the forest.

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Alternate Versions

Original release prints contained, according to a review by Variety, a sequence in which a stork delivers the infant Snow White to her mother, is not in the Treasures from American Film Archives print.

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Connections

Referenced in Il était une fois... Walt Disney (2006)

User Reviews

Blame Disney on This

Supposedly this what got Disney's mind oriented toward cartoon versions of well known "fairy tales."

But we can hardly blame it for the patronizing travesty he has performed on children's literature. The story here is a bit Bolwderized (some sex, and much cruelty have been removed from the traditional version). But it is still complex and has lots of side stories, like how she disguises herself as one of her maids in waiting. And how the stepmother tried a comb first, before the apple.

The structure of the play on which this is based is supposedly influenced by the revival of Macbeth then current in London, where the Shakespeare story is explained as controlled by the three witches. Here it is almost as if the witch were responsible for the Faustian deal the ugly stepmother makes.

This film was conceived as a direct result of the amazing popularity of "Birth of a Nation," perhaps the most influential film in history. That's because Birth cemented the notion that movies are like plays — not an entirely predetermined outcome. This was the first big budget play to be movie-ized afterward.

The film is in bad condition, so you have to imagine which cuts were original and which are because of missing segments. I prefer to imagine most of the jumps as missing material because the thing moves so languorously in what we see. For instance, there's a clearly drawn Queen's Toady who we spend many minutes watching in pompous walk.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Details

Official Sites:

George Eastman Restoration site

Country:

USA

Language:

None English

Release Date:

25 December 1916 (USA)

Also Known As:

Белоснежка

Filming Locations:

Georgia, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Famous Players Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

63 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1