In celebration of Disney’s 100th anniversary, a 4K restoration of the Oscar-winning 1937 classic animated feature streams October 16.
In celebration of The Walt Disney Company’s 100th anniversary, a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 4K restoration comes to Disney+ on October 16. This new version of the 1937 classic comes thanks to the combined efforts of the Walt Disney Studios Restoration and Preservation team, who worked closely with key artists from Walt Disney Animation Studios - the same group recently worked together on the restoration of Walt Disney’s 1950 animated classic, Cinderella.
Disney Animation artists Michael Giaimo (production designer for the upcoming animated musical Wish, as well as Frozen and Frozen 2) and animator/director Eric Goldberg (head of hand-drawn animation for Disney Animation’s newest short, Once Upon A Studio; director, Pocahontas and Fantasia/2000) re-teamed with their colleagues at Walt Disney Studios on the project.
“The opportunity to help restore Snow White was both an honor and a challenge,” said Goldberg. “As the very first Walt Disney feature, Mike Giaimo and I felt we owed a debt to history to get it looking as beautiful, and as accurate to the original colors, as we could. The muted palette and the delicate watercolor backgrounds evoke the illustrated fairy tales that Walt so loved, and the story and characters continue to resonate to this day. I hope our work inspires future generations of animation artists to fully appreciate the masterful talent and care that has gone into this landmark film.”
Kevin Schaeffer, director of Restoration for Walt Disney Studios, said. “We are incredibly excited to go back to Walt’s original negative and use current state of the art technology to restore this stunning classic to its original beauty.”
In the film, the beautiful and kindhearted princess Snow White charms every creature in the kingdom except one -- her jealous stepmother, the Queen. When the Magic Mirror proclaims Snow White is the fairest one of all, she must flee into the forest, where she befriends the lovable seven dwarfs -- Doc, Sneezy, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Sleepy, and Dopey. But when the Queen tricks Snow White with an enchanted apple, only the magic of true love's kiss can save her!
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the first full-length cel animated feature in the history of motion pictures. It was recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences with a special honorary Oscar - one large Oscar accompanied by seven smaller ones - which was presented to Walt Disney by Shirley Temple. The film is the highest-ranked animated feature on the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Movies” list and was inducted into the National Film Registry in the registry’s inaugural year, 1989.
Source: Disney+
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
