Fantasia

"When we consider a new project, we really study it—not just the surface idea, but everything about it"

- Walt Disney "I like symphonic music. A good concert, if you're kind of relaxed, it can do something to you. It's sort of an emotional break you get by listening to music."

- Walt Disney

Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. With story direction by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer, and production supervision by Ben Sharpsteen, it is the third Disney animated feature film. The film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Music critic and composer Deems Taylor acts as the film's Master of Ceremonies, providing a live-action introduction to each animated segment.

Disney settled on the film's concept as work neared completion on The Sorcerer's Apprentice, an elaborate Silly Symphonies short designed as a comeback role for Mickey Mouse, who had declined in popularity. As production costs grew higher than what it could earn, Disney decided to include the short in a feature-length film with other segments set to classical pieces. The soundtrack was recorded using multiple audio channels and reproduced with Fantasound, a pioneering sound reproduction system that made Fantasia the first commercial film shown in stereophonic sound.

Program
Fantasia opens with live action scenes of members of an orchestra gathering against a blue background and tuning their instruments in half-light, half-shadow. Master of ceremonies Deems Taylor enters the stage (also in half-light, half-shadow) and introduces the program.


 * Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach: Live-action shots of the orchestra illuminated in blue and gold, backed by superimposed shadows, fade into abstract patterns. Animated lines, shapes and cloud formations reflect the sound and rhythms of the music.
 * The Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Selections from the ballet suite underscore scenes depicting the changing of the seasons from summer to autumn to winter. A variety of dances are presented with fairies, fish, flowers, mushrooms, and leaves, including "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", "Chinese Dance", "Arabian Dance", "Russian Dance", "Dance of the Flutes" and "Waltz of the Flowers".
 * The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas: Based on Goethe's 1797 poem "Der Zauberlehrling". Mickey Mouse, the young apprentice of the sorcerer Yen Sid, attempts some of his master's magic tricks but does not know how to control them.
 * Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky: A visual history of the Earth's beginnings is depicted to selected sections of the ballet score. The sequence progresses from the planet's formation to the first living creatures, followed by the reign and extinction of the dinosaurs.
 * Intermission/Meet the Soundtrack: The orchestra musicians depart and the Fantasia title card is revealed. After the intermission there is a brief jam session of jazz music led by a clarinettist as the orchestra members return. Then a humorously stylized demonstration of how sound is rendered on film is shown. An animated sound track "character", initially a straight white line, changes into different shapes and colors based on the sounds played.
 * The Pastoral Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven: A mythical Greco-Roman world of colorful centaurs and "centaurettes", cupids, fauns and other figures from classical mythology is portrayed to Beethoven's music. A gathering for a festival to honor Bacchus, the god of wine, is interrupted by Zeus, who creates a storm and directs Vulcan to forge lightning bolts for him to throw at the attendees.
 * Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli: A comic ballet in four sections: Madame Upanova and her ostriches (Morning); Hyacinth Hippo and her servants (Afternoon); Elephanchine and her bubble-blowing elephant troupe (Evening); and Ben Ali Gator and his troop of alligators (Night). The finale finds all of the characters dancing together until their palace collapses.
 * Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky and Ave Maria by Franz Schubert: At midnight the devil Chernabog awakes and summons evil spirits and restless souls from their graves to Bald Mountain. The spirits dance and fly through the air until driven back by the sound of an Angelus bell as night fades into dawn. A chorus is heard singing Ave Maria as a line of robed monks is depicted walking with lighted torches through a forest and into the ruins of a cathedral.

Why It's More Than An Apprentice

 * 1) This film was Disney Studios' most ambitious animated feature at the time, as well as being Disney's longest feature animated film.
 * 2) Walt Disney has been in early proponent in combining music and animation through the Silly Symphonies series. He and Leopold Stokowski would take part in creating the iconic The Sorcerer's Apprentice featuring Mickey Mouse, which was far more expensive than the average Mickey Mouse cartoon, which would indirectly lead to Fantasia being created (aside from Disney being allowed to pursue a more expensive project thanks to Snow White.)
 * 3) Additionally, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is the only segment to not have its "story" changed behind its music.
 * 4) The music in this film is fantastically gorgeous and beautiful. Among the combinations of sight and sound – some kitschy, others more elegant – are an abstract representation of J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, a performance of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite danced by flowers and fairies, an irreverent treatment of Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony." (more on that in Bad Qualities) and especially the final two pieces, Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria, which are meant to contrast each other in tone.
 * 5) The film integrates famous works of classical music with imagery that ranges from dancing hippos to abstract geometrics as it endeavors to combine high art with mass culture. The film simulates your imagination through the classical music and its breathtaking visuals.
 * 6) The animation in this film is very powerful and epic, especially Bill Tytla's animation on Chernabog from Night on Bald Mountain, and the animation on The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
 * 7) Chernabog is a very cool and intimidating villain from Night on Bald Mountain.
 * 8) Several funny scenes especially in The Pastoral Symphony and Dance of the Hours.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The Pastoral Symphony segment, while still good, is overall is the weakest segment of the film. It highlights the tricky part about supplying a story to music. By reducing Beethoven's piece to a plotline, it limits what his music can represent and you're forced to supply and explanation or narrative to all the piece's themes and melodies and contrast to the rest of the film where viewers and decide whether the visuals or music is more essential. (The main reason The Sorcerer's Apprentice worked but this didn't, is because the former's storyline was unchanged, and doesn't distract from the music)
 * 2) * Sunflower in particular has caused a lot of controversy due to her being an African-American stereotype to the point where she was edited out on later re-releases of this film.
 * 3) Chernabog might be a little too terrifying for young children.
 * 4) The "Rite of Spring" segment, while still great, features a lot of historical innacuracies, though to be fair, back then, we didn't have as much information about the dinosaurs or earth billions of years ago.
 * 5) The Sega Genesis game adaptation, released in 1991, is horrible.

Reception and Legacy
Fantasia was first released as a theatrical roadshow held in thirteen U.S. cities from November 13, 1940. While acclaimed by critics, it was unable to make a profit due to World War II cutting off distribution to the European market, the film's high production costs, and the expense of leasing theatres and installing the Fantasound equipment for the roadshow presentations. The film was subsequently reissued multiple times with its original footage and audio being deleted, modified, or restored in each version. Fantasia is the 23rd highest-grossing film of all time in the U.S. when adjusted for inflation. The Fantasia franchise has grown to include video games, Disneyland attractions, and a live concert. A sequel, Fantasia 2000, co-produced by Roy E. Disney, was released in 1999. Fantasia has grown in reputation over the years and is now widely acclaimed; in 1998 the American Film Institute ranked it as the 58th greatest American film in their 100 Years...100 Movies and the fifth greatest animated film in their 10 Top 10 list.

In 1990, Fantasia was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". On the 100th anniversary of cinema in 1995, the Vatican included Fantasia in its list of 45 "great films" made under the Art category; the others being Religion and Values.

Trivia

 * Story development on the film began in 1937 - before the completion of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - when Walt Disney decided to make a Silly Symphony cartoon short starring Mickey Mouse, set to French composer Paul Dukas' " The Sorcerer's Apprentice." When production costs began to mount, Disney decided to expand the project into a "concert feature."
 * Mickey Mouse was redesigned for his appearance in the iconic sequence based on Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" - represented for the first time in his 12-year-career with pupils in his eyes and with a chunkier, "cuter" aesthetic.
 * Employing an innovative recording and exhibition sound system called "Fantasound" that had been developed by engineers specifically for the film, Fantasia was the first commercial film ever released with stereophonic sound.

The Film
Fantasia

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