Schneewittchen und die sieben Zwerge

The lampoons, the snark, the mockery, the chorus of disapproval. Snow White Rebooted (not its official title) of 2025 has had such opprobrium heaped upon it, no doubt well deserved, that I found myself suddenly curious to see the 1937 original. I'd never wanted to before. Never saw it as a kid. Maybe I was just curious to see how far we have fallen as a species since those more innocent times.

Were they more innocent though? 1937. Before Pearl Harbor. Between the world wars. The dawn of Disney. The origin point. The first animated feature length movie, isn't it? But this was, basically, the same generation that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, the same US of A, right? Maybe just as Reds and Blues today regard each other as different species, maybe there was a duality of sorts even then? The human heart is a mystery, is it not?

Anyways, I was tickled by all the 1930s booty twerking going on (very innocent twerking), and it was a pleasant surprise to discover this film has operetta stylings, with coloratura trilling by Snow White, crooning by the prince, and a post-prandial party full of yodelling dwarves. All the forest creatures have the cutesy Bambi look, but I don't mind telling you, when the princess got scared in the forest so did I, and when she fell down weeping my heart ached for her. I also don't mind telling you that I did wish the movie would move along just a bit faster. Just five minutes. A bit more witchy Queen, a bit less tiptoeing dwarves, that would have suited me.

The Evil Queen is a marvellous meanie, and the princess Snow White is so adorably, queasily wholesome, so pure it makes you want to vomit (or possibly to ennoble yourself and become her protector?) that I felt some appreciation of why Alvy said he preferred Snow White's nemesis (in rom-com Annie Hall, 1979).

Seeing this chaste, landmark (birthmark!) fantasy, this jewel of cinema, one can better comprehend the shamelessness, the utter hubris of Disney's foolish decision to, ahem, 'update' the story for today. As I'm sure you know, Snow White 2025 was pilloried and lampooned, almost to oblivion, months before it even opened. What a saga it has been. A gift for social media snarks, but one can't blame them. To decide to remake an immortal classic is the kind of decision that could only come from the sort of people who are today busy crushing all the dreams in Hollywood's dream factory. Let them all be sacked and float away down river, eke out there remaining days in the wilderness; no fairytale cottage, just a one-room cave for the lot of them.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Virtue, not virtue-signalling. Pure of heart, not pure thru filters. Delight your children and the child within.

Before Cinderella lost her slipper and before Aladdin met the Genie, Walt Disney did his most crazy and insane project ever - a feature animated movie, the first of its kind. The title of the film is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Parents and kids loved this film decades ago and, a generation later, families can now enjoy this beautiful classic in Blu-Ray.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a musical with catchy, and beautiful singing done by Adriana Caselotti, (Snow White), Lucille La Verne (Queen) and others. There is also a sense of adventure, and a magical romance, between Snow White and the Prince.

The story begins when the Queen discovers that she is not the fairest of them all, and that Snow White is. Out of jealousy, she orders the death of Snow White. However, Snow White gets away. She comes upon 7 dwarfs which she befriends. The Queen angrily learns about her failed death, and decides to poison the young princess!

Since this is the Diamond Edition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, it is packed with extra features including a tour of the animation studios in the 1930s, actual interviews with Walt Disney, cool facts, (Did you know Snow White was originally designed to have gold hair? Who knew!) and so much more. My favorite part concentrates on how Walt Disney hired over 300 artists, how he spent so much money on making it perfect, and just how much speculation and hate he got for attempting to make (and being very successful as a result) a 90 minute animated film.

Even though this film was made almost a century ago, the quality of the animation is as good as films made today. Hand-drawn animation has a quality of from the human touch that CGI can never achieve. In terms of the soundtrack, Walt Disney had a knack for making his animated films not only have background music, but he created it in such as way that the music becomes an integral part of the story. For example, when Snow White and the Prince first meet, they sing a song together and it represents almost, "Instant love," better than words ever could. This story is based on a classic European fairy tale, and Walt Disney hired a few people who specifically made European-styled drawings, to make the film feel like the original fairy tale, which was perfect for the film. The voice-over sound quality is also top notch, amazingly so since again, it was made almost 100 years ago. I would easily compare it to the voice over acting and quality of the late 90s. This film was ambitious in terms of being the first animated feature film, but also was first feature film to have a female lead.

My favorite scene is the meeting of The Prince and Snow White. In the scene, Snow White is cleaning outside and she explains to her bird friends what a wishing well is. A prince overhears her fantastic singing and is love-struck when he meets her. This scene is one of my favorites because the music is beautiful, the animation is spectacular and this scene specifically illustrates my point about European artists designing the backgrounds. It really looks like a European castle of some sort.

This film was designed for all ages and I still agree. I recommend it for ages 6 to 13 specifically. Younger kids will enjoy the bright colors, dancing and singing. Older kids can appreciate how difficult it was to make this film and the storyline itself. Adults who have happy memories of seeing this film years ago will also enjoy it. Overall, it's a great film for the family. I rate it 5 out of 5 stars because of the spectacular animation, exciting story (typical of films made by Walt Disney) and clear voice acting.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

**** (out of 4)

The beautiful and charming Snow White comes under attack by a man who has been hired by the evil Queen to kill her. She ends up taking shelter in the forest with seven dwarfs but soon the Queen has more plans to destroy her.

There's no question that this is a legendary film and a very important one to history as it was the first feature-length film from Walt Disney Studios. The film was a tremendous hit when it was first released and it really broke new ground in regards to what people would be willing to sit through. After all, it was a mystery if people in 1937 would be willing to sit through a feature-length cartoon and whether or not they'd be able to show emotions towards animated characters.

As for the film itself, it's certainly a great one from Disney's original Golden Age. There's no question that the most impressive thing is how great the actual animation is. I've seen plenty of cartoons from this era and the quality is usually good but there's no question that the amount of detail was just taken to a new level here. Just take a look at how much detail is in the forest scenes. Look at the detail to the seven dwarfs. Look at the terrific detail in the Queen's potions.

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS features a memorable and lovable lead character, a great villain and seven great comic relief characters. I also liked the fact that the darkness of the Grimm's Fairy Tale was also left in and this certainly makes the film more adult in a way. Disney would make a major breakthrough with this film and it remains refreshing all these years later.

There is a reason this movie is still watched even today. It's a charming story about friendship, love, and the power in being kind. Snow White is gentle, helpful, and does whatever she can to help those around her even when she's the one suffering the most. She is called the fairest in the land because she is beautiful inside and out. She's kind, carring, and just wants to feel safe and loved; something anyone can relate to even today. Snow White is so likable and you want to see her live happily ever after. Like the original tale its a story that's build on emotion and how it makes people feel. Walt Disney was called crazy when he said he was making an entirely animated film back in the 1930's at that time animation was only done in short few minute segments so an animation the length of a film was unheard of. Walt went into debt and mortgaged his own house just to get this movie made and it went on to be a huge success and opened the door for other artists to make feature length animated films. I heard he had other ideas to add to Snow White which included the Prince being in the story more and needing to be saved by Snow White and her animal friends but at the time the animators didn't think they could draw what Walt wanted so it was cut. I wish we could see a heartfelt animated remake or continuation that utilized the ideas Walt Disney left behind for the film he loved so much.

Snow White is the fairest one of all. The queen wants to be number one, so decides to come after her. Snow White, cut loose from the castle, stumbles upon a hut where seven dwarves are living - which is where the Queen comes for her, in disguise, with a poison apple...

This has classic written all over it. Disney's first major feature, the grand debut, cements the major features of those to come. It draws from very dark but fantastic material, Grimm's Fairy Tales, and alternates scenes of evocative darkness (the Queen's castle, the man sent to cut Snow White's heart out, and the forest that's alive, are some brilliant examples) with scenes of superlative cuteness and song and dance numbers.

Drawbacks:

There are some beautiful compositions, but the movement of the animation is not as fluid as it would become, even with Pinnochio, Disney's very next feature. Plus, the singing styles are very 1930's opera-style. I can see why i always used to just think of songs during musicals as things i had to wait through till the story got going again - its because almost every song in Snow White doesn't advance the story. Great musical numbers, like the ones in West Side Story, do. They don't feel like we're just waiting around. When most of the Snow White songs come on, the story gets put on hold.

Snow White is too naive, plain and perfect a character to hold our interest these days. Contemporary audiences just don't worship "perfect" people like this. Plus, the attempts at animation of real people is not good. Snow White and the Prince in particular just don't work - whereas the cartoony dwarves really come alive. Try watching her face when she talks.

Highlights:

All of the Queen's scenes are absolute gems, actually. And the dwarves are great. Seven great characters.

One of the best things Disney ever did was the Queen's angry walk down the staircase to the dungeon, and her subsequent making of a potion to transform herself into an old witch. The way the liquid she's mixing comes alive is fantastic, and the close-ups on the crow sitting on the skull are a nice touch.

The poison flooding towards the centre of the pot, engulfing the apple, and the jack o'lantern face on it afterwards.

Some of Disney's most classic songs come from Snow White: Whistle While You Work, Heigh Ho (its off to work we go), and one of the most beautiful Disney songs ever, Some Day My Prince Will Come.

There's also a very memorable piece of theme music that plays during the climactic storm scene.

10/10. An essential, marvellous work. A thing to see.