Fantasia (1940)

A collection of animated interpretations of great works of Western classical music.

Directors:

James Algar (uncredited), Samuel Armstrong (uncredited)

Writers:

Joe Grant (story direction), Dick Huemer (story direction)

Stars:

Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor, Corey Burton

8 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Leopold Stokowski	...	Himself - Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra
Deems Taylor	...	Himself - Narrative Introductions

Storyline

Disney animators set pictures to Western classical music as Leopold Stokowski conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" features Mickey Mouse as an aspiring magician who oversteps his limits. "The Rite of Spring" tells the story of evolution, from single-celled animals to the death of the dinosaurs. "Dance of the Hours" is a comic ballet performed by ostriches, hippos, elephants, and alligators. "Night on Bald Mountain" and "Ave Maria" set the forces of darkness and light against each other as a devilish revel is interrupted by the coming of a new day.

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Plot Keywords:

classical music | disney | mouse | orchestra | apprentice | 

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Taglines:

Walt Disney's Technicolor FEATURE triumph

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Genres:

Animation | Family | Fantasy | Music

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 July 1941 (UK)

Also Known As:

Bach to Stravinsky and Bach

Filming Locations:

Walt Disney Studios, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,280,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$980,798, 10 February 1985, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$76,408,097

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min (2000 roadshow restoration) 125 min (original 1940 roadshow release) 80 min (1942 cut) 120 min (VHS release) 115 min (1946 cut)

Sound Mix:

3 Channel Stereo (RCA Sound System) (as Fantasound)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

From the beginning of its development, Walt Disney expressed the greater importance of music in Fantasia compared to his past work: "In our ordinary stuff, our music is always under action, but on this ... we're supposed to be picturing this music-not the music fitting our story." Disney had hoped that the film would bring classical music to people that, including himself, had "walked out on this kind of stuff."

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Goofs

The Pastoral sequence has Iris sweeping across the sky after the storm, leaving a rainbow in her wake. The colors of the rainbow are reversed: Red should be at the top and violet at the bottom.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Deems Taylor: How do you do? Uh, my name is Deems Taylor, and it's my very pleasant duty to welcome you here on behalf of Walt Disney, Leopold Stokowski, and all the other artists and musicians whose combined talents went into the creation of this new form of entertainment, "Fantasia". What you're going to see are the designs and pictures and stories that music inspired in the minds and imaginations of a group of artists. In other words, these are not going to be the interpretations of trained ...

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Crazy Credits

The roadshow cut of the film features no credits or title music, just the Art Deco title card placed at the intermission. The general release cut (the one shown most often) places the title card at the beginning, as on most films.

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Connections

Featured in Hewy's Animated Movie Reviews: The Top 20 Greatest Animated Villain Songs: Part 1 (2010)

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Soundtracks

Dance of the Hours
(1876)
from the opera "La Gioconda"
Composed by Amilcare Ponchielli
Partly re-orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski (uncredited)
Played by The Philadelphia Orchestra
Conducted by Leopold Stokowski

User Reviews

Classic animation

I've recently bought the Silly Symphonies DVD. My daughter Sarah and I have watched one cartoon every day, culminating in Fantasia. We didn't watch it all at once, but spread it over the course of a week (I tend to agree with other comments - it's too much for kids in one viewing). She sat on my lap and loved every minute of it, even 'Night on Bald Mountain'. I must admit I hadn't watched it for years and forgot about this section, but she wasn't scared by it. This is surprising when you consider the spider in 'Mother Goose Melodies' frightened her!

In my opinion Fantasia is the ultimate Silly Symphony. It's obvious all the groundwork for the film came from them, which is why it's so good - the artists had ten years to hone and perfect their skills while Walt Disney had the vision to realise it. I wonder if he had thought of it a decade earlier and waited until the right moment to create it...? It's a real shame he never lived to see its success because he deserved to.

It's hard to find the right words to surmise this film; I suppose I could break each section down and give my opinion as others have done, but as a whole - well, it's got good bits and bad bits; happy and sad bits, it's scary and funny and gloomy and sunny. It's spirited, colourful, sparkling, animated... but let's not get carried away here. It's only a film and some bits of it are quite boring.

If you randomly wound through it you could find yourself watching any one of the above, and this to me sums it up - it's unique. What other film can you say that about?

Fantasia is a light that will shine for generations to come. 9/10.