Snow White

Adapted by Winthrop Ames from his own 1912 Broadway adaptation of the tale published exactly a hundred years earlier by the Brothers Grimm, 'Snow White' was one of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players productions, the Famous Player on this occasion being Marguerite Clark in the role she had created on stage. Aged 33 when the film version was made but easily passing for a girl half her real age, Miss Clark is surrounded by a handsome if stagy production, lushly photographed by H. Lyman Broening, who when called upon also conjures up more spooky visuals for scenes such as down in the dwarfs' mine and - most vividly - the witch's lair; both of which can be recognised in the 1937 version produced by Walt Disney, who saw this as a 15 year-old. In this version, the witch and the wicked stepmother are separate characters; the former played for laughs by Alice Washburn, with Dorothy Cumming as the latter resembling Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth in John Singer Sargent's famous 1889 portrait.

Adolph Zukor's company Famous Players in Famous Plays, despite releasing some stagy early feature-length films (e.g. "Queen Elizabeth" (1912) and "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1913)), managed to sign two actresses who become two of the most popular movie stars, Mary Pickford and, the star of "Snow White", Marguerite Clark. Clark had already been a hit on Broadway, including playing the title role in the 1912 theatrical version of "Snow White", for which this film is based. In just her first film, Clark's performance in "Wildflower" (1914) was voted by fans for Motion Picture Magazine the second greatest performance to date by 1916--right above Henry B. Walthall's third place role in "The Birth of a Nation" (1915). As further evidence of her fame, Clark was voted the second most popular movie star in a 1918 Motion Picture Magazine poll, below only Mary Pickford. A Princeton poll in 1919 placed her third among screen actresses. And, she was voted the top female box-office draw by a 1920 Quigley poll.

The filmed "Snow White" is comparable in film technique to another available Famous Plays production, "Cinderella" (1914), which starred Mary Pickford (also to Pickford's "The Taming of the Shrew" (1914), although the print of it that I saw wasn't in the good condition these other two films are in). The camera generally remains stationary as in the earliest feature-length films and mostly from a long-shot framing, but the shot succession is more frequent and better paced in these later films—changing shots based on character movement and with some crosscutting—and there are a few medium shots and closer views, although not nearly enough. "Snow White" seems choppy in parts today, but that's at least partially due to some lost footage.

Although rather stagy even for a 1916 production, "Snow White" is a somewhat enjoyable, light fairytale. As mentioned elsewhere, it borrows from "Cinderella" the part of Snow White forced to do chores by her stepmother. It's also interesting to see Walt Disney's inspiration for his 1937 animated version. The dwarfs are amusing. Additionally, Snow White is friendly with animals in the forests. I don't know how a lion got to a woodland in what one assumes is somewhere in medieval Europe, though. There are a few special effects shots, including the basic superimpositions and substitution-splices for lapse dissolves, as well as a brief animation shot of the witch flying away on her broom, and the miniaturized double exposure of the actors in the introductory tie-in of the film's release with Christmas. Clark does as well as Mary Pickford did; and, unlike the film, she isn't too theatrical. Like Pickford, she was small and often played child and ingénue roles. Unfortunately, most of her films are now unavailable, which makes "Snow White" an even more recommended treat.

The 1916 SNOW WHITE is undoubtedly one of the most important movies in the history of fantasy pictures. Without it, we would have no Disney SNOW WHITE, and without a Disney SNOW WHITE, the 1939 WIZARD OF OZ would have never been greenlit, along with many other great fantasy films we have enjoyed in the subsequent years. Regardless of this significance, the 1916 SNOW WHITE is not necessarily a classic in its own right,

The positives first though: Marguerite Clark is an exuberant lead, channeling both the princess's innocence and her burgeoning romantic yearning for the prince. The aesthetics of the film are charming in a classic storybook mode, filled with the usual anachronisms you'll find in the world of fairy tales. I also thought the other actors were game with their performances, especially Dorothy Cummings as the vain, scheming queen.

My main issue with this version is the storytelling. So much time is wasted on uninteresting court politics or the Huntsman's cuddly little kids. The dramatic moments lack urgency: when Snow White learns the Huntsman plans to kill her, she basically laughs it off. There is nothing like suspense at all, even as the story builds to its climax. It makes a striking contrast with the Disney adaptation, which, despite its sentimental nature and cheerful songs, undoubtedly had narrative urgency and moments of pure terror that made the happy ending feel earned.

Another problem is the direction, which is flat and static even by 1910s standards. You never really feel transported into another world like you do with, say, Douglas Fairbanks' THE THIEF OF BAGDAD from a few years later. The few moments of interesting staging, such as a close-up of Snow White peeking into the dwarves' cottage through the window (later aped for the Disney movie), throw the overall flatness into even greater relief.

Still, regardless of how this movie plays today, it inspired young Walt Disney to the point where he still treasured the memory of it into his thirties. And for silent film enthusiasts, the survival of this movie is still a great blessing, not just because of the film's historical significance, but because it gives us a glimpse of the otherwise elusive Marguerite Clark, who has so little work surviving.

"Lost" movies are truly the stuff that dreams are made of. So many were destroyed simply on whims of studios because the movies were too old to make any more money or who wanted to make room in their vaults. In retrospect we now know that many real treasures were lost and that is why finding a film presumed lost is such a reason to rejoice. Just recently the 10 reel LOST WORLD (1925) was found and so were uncut prints of THE GHOUL (1933), ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930), the original 1925 print of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, and the jewel in the crown, the 1910 Edison FRANKENSTEIN. And that brings me to the film I am here to-night to talk about, the 1916 SNOW WHITE. It was the time of the child-woman, the waif-girl. Audiences did not want their illusions shattered and once an actress turned in a convincing performance in a juvenile role she was typecast in the eyes of the ticket buying public. That is why you could find 32 year old Mary Pickford playing a 16 year old orphan in SPARROWS and why 23 year old Mary Miles Minter played sweet, blushing virgins until her involvement in the William Desmond Taylor murder case shot her career down in flames. Mabel Normand was always the funny tomboy and Dorothy Dwan was sweet and winsome. Marguerite Clark was 34 when she played the teen-something heroine in this classic fairy tale. Luckily the camera loved her and her age is not at all obvious. Sticking pretty close to the Grimm fairy tale Snow White is a true princess here but must work as a scullery maid thanks to her jealous stepmother, the queen. Everyone in the castle treats Snow like the royalty she really is even though she looks like a ragamuffin. When by accident she meets up with handsome Prince Florimond (Creighton Hale, who would go on the play the comic hero in THE CAT AND THE CANARY(1927)) and he falls in love with her not realising who she is it incites the queen to demand Snow's life, thus setting in motion the story we all know so well. The Hollywood movie industry was still in its infancy in 1916 so one must wonder out loud where they found 7 midgets (and in truth most of them ARE midgets, not dwarves) to play the 7 Dwarves. Then again finding 7 was probably a cinch compared to the even dozen who appeared in the 1914 RIP VAN WINKLE and that was shot in upstate New York! With a running time of just over an hour this is a film that is a must see for film students and people who just love silent movies. Now if someone could just find A BLIND BARGAIN and LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT. Well . . .we can dream, can't we?

The 1916 film of "Snow White" is a screen adaptation of the 1912 Broadway play, written by Jessie Braham White. It tells the familiar tale of the "Stepmother from Hell" and the princess with "skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as night". It was thought to have been lost, until the George Eastman House located a print in a Danish film vault.....and the film world is so lucky they did!

Marguerite Clark recreates her Broadway role as "Snow White", and must have been born to play this faerie tale heroine!!! She is the epitome of this character!!!! I only wish that I was alive in 1912 to see her do the role live on stage.

Creighton Hale (The Cat and the Canary) is dashing as Prince Florimond, Snow White's love interest. It is a thankless role, but he manages to shine.

Dorothy Cumming is the vain "Queen Brangomar", Snow White's nemisis. It's ironic that years later she would play the "Virgin Mary" in "King of Kings".....quite a turn around!!!

The rest of the cast handles their roles equally as well as the above mentioned......including Lionel Braham (A Christmas Carol) as "Berthold the Huntsman", and Alice Washburn as "Witch Hex".

Hollywood folklore says that this is the film that inspired Walt Disney to create his animated classic. The similarities between the two are amazing! In the opening of the 1916 film, Snow White is a kitchen maid, going about her daily duties.....very much like Disney's heroine scrubbing the castle steps and crooning to doves. A little brown bird shows Snow White the way to the dwarfs' cottage....just like the animated animals did for her in the cartoon. She also cleans up the cottage, in both versions, before the dwarfs come home, and then falls asleep.

I highly recommend seeking out a copy of this film!!!!