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 feature in the Disney animated features canon. 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, who introduces each segment in live action interstitial scenes.

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, he 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.

Fantasia was first released in theatrical roadshow engagements held in thirteen U.S. cities from November 13, 1940. It received mixed critical reaction, and was unable to make a profit. In part this was due to World War II cutting off the profitable European market, but due as well to the film's high production costs and the expense of leasing theatres and installing the Fantasound equipment for the roadshow presentations. Also, audiences who felt that Disney had suddenly gone "highbrow" stayed away, preferring the standard Disney cartoons. The film was subsequently reissued multiple times with its original footage and audio being deleted, modified, or restored in each version. As of 2012, Fantasia has grossed $76.4 million in domestic revenue and is the 22nd highest-grossing film of all time in the U.S. when adjusted for inflation.^[4] Walt's nephew Roy E. Disney co-produced a sequel released in 1999 titled Fantasia 2000.

Program[link]

Fantasia opens with live action scenes of members of an orchestra gathering and tuning their instruments. Master of ceremonies Deems Taylor enters the stage 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.^[5]
• Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Selections from Tchaikovsky's 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", "Dance of the Flutes", "Arabian Dance", "Russian Dance" and "Waltz of the Flowers".^[6]
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas. Based on Goethe's 1797 poem Der Zauberlehrling. Mickey Mouse, an apprentice of the sorcerer Yen Sid, attempts some of his master's magic tricks but doesn't know how to control them.^[7]
• 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.^[8]
• 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.^[9]
• The Pastoral Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven. A mythical ancient Greek world of centaurs, 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 throws lightning bolts at the attendees.^[10]
• 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.^[11]
• Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky and Ave Maria by Franz Schubert. At midnight the devil Chernabog summons evil spirits and restless souls from their graves. 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.^[12]

Production[link]

Origins[link]

Leopold Stokowski

In 1936, Walt Disney felt that the Disney studio's star character Mickey Mouse needed a boost in popularity. He decided to feature the mouse in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a deluxe cartoon short based on the poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and set to the orchestral piece by Paul Dukas that was inspired by the original tale.^[13] The concept of matching animation to classical music was used as early as 1928 in Disney's cartoon series, the Silly Symphonies, but he wanted to go beyond the usual slapstick, and produce shorts where "sheer fantasy unfolds...action controlled by a musical pattern has great charm in the realm of unreality."^[14][15] Upon receiving the rights to use the music by the end of July 1937,^[16] Disney considered using a well-known conductor to record the music for added prestige. He happened to meet Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1912, at Chasen's restaurant in Hollywood, and talked about his plans for the short. Stokowski recalled that he did "like the music"; was happy to collaborate on the project, and offered to conduct the piece at no cost.^[17]

Following their meeting, Disney's New York representative ran into Stokowski on a train headed for the East. In writing to Disney, he reported that Stokowski was "really serious in his offer to do the music for nothing. He had some very interesting ideas on instrumental coloring, which would be perfect for an animation medium".^[17] In his excited response dated October 26, 1937, Disney wrote that he felt "all steamed up over the idea of Stokowski working with us...The union of Stokowski and his music, together with the best of our medium, would be the means of a success and should lead to a new style of motion picture presentation."^[18] He had already begun working on a story outline, and wished to use "the finest men...from color...down to animators"^[19] on the short. The Sorcerer's Apprentice was to be promoted as a "special" and rented to theatres as a unique film, outside of the Mickey Mouse cartoon series.^[17][20]

Deems Taylor

An agreement signed by Disney and Stokowski on December 16, 1937 allowed the conductor to "select and employ a complete symphony orchestra" for the recording.^[21] Disney hired a stage at the Culver Studios in California for the session. It began at midnight on January 9, 1938, and lasted for three hours using eighty-five Hollywood musicians.^[22] As production costs of The Sorcerer's Apprentice climbed to $125,000, it became clearer to Disney and his brother Roy, who managed the studio's finances, that the short could never earn such a sum back on its own.^[13] Roy wanted his brother to keep any additional costs on the film to a minimum. He said, "because of its very experimental and unprecedented nature...we have no idea what can be expected from such a production."^[17] Ben Sharpsteen, a production supervisor on Fantasia, noted that its budget was three to four times greater than the usual Silly Symphony, but Disney "saw this trouble in the form of an opportunity. This was the birth of a new concept, a group of separate numbers—regardless of their running time—put together in a single presentation. It turned out to be a concert—something novel and of high quality."^[23]

Ideas to produce a complete feature film were pursued in February 1938, when enquiries were made to extend Stokowski's contract.^[23] In August, Disney asked Stokowski's representative to have him return to the studios to select material for the new film, which was initially titled The Concert Feature.^[17] The pair further thought of presenting the film with an on-screen host to introduce each number in the program. Both had heard composer and music critic Deems Taylor provide intermission commentary during radio broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic, and agreed he would be most suitable for the role.^[18] Disney did contact Taylor about the project, but by then work on Pinocchio, Bambi, and development on his new Burbank studio kept him too busy to work on the new feature.^[24] In a change of plans, Taylor was asked during a call on September 3, 1938 leave for the studios as soon as possible. He left New York City for Los Angeles by train two days later for a months visit.^[18]

Development[link]

Taylor arrived at the studio one day after a series of meetings began to select the musical pieces for The Concert Feature. Disney made story writers Joe Grant and Dick Huemer gather a preliminary selection of music and along with Stokowski, Taylor, and the heads of various departments, discussed their ideas.^[23] Each meeting was recorded verbatim by stenographers with participants being given a copy of the entire conversation for review. As selections were considered, a recording of the piece was located and played back at the next gathering.^[25] Disney did not contribute much to early discussions; he admitted that his knowledge of music was instinctive and untrained.^[26] In one meeting, he inquired about a piece "on which we might build something of a prehistoric theme...with animals".^[27] The group was considering to use The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky, but Taylor noted that his "Le Sacre du printemps would be something on that order", to which Disney replied upon hearing a recording, "This is marvelous! It would be perfect for prehistoric animals. There would be something terrific in dinosaurs, flying lizards, and prehistoric monsters. There could be beauty in the settings."^[28]

Numerous choices were discarded as talks continued, including Moto Perpetuo by Niccolò Paganini with "shots of dynamos, cogs, pistons" and "whirling wheels" to show the prduction of a collar button. Other deletions were Prelude in G minor and Troika by Sergei Rachmaninoff, and a rendition of "The Song of the Flea" by Mussorgsky which was to be sung by Lawrence Tibbett.^[29] On September 29, 1938, around sixty of Disney's artists gathered for a two-and-a-half hour piano concert while he provided a running commentary about the new musical feature. A rough version of The Sorcerer's Apprentice was also shown that, according to one attendee, had the crowd applauding and cheering "until their hands were red."^[30] The final pieces were chosen the following morning, which included Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor, Cydalise et le Chèvre-pied by Gabriel Pierné, The Nutcracker Suite, Night on Bald Mountain, Ave Maria, Dance of the Hours, Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy, The Rite of Spring and The Sorcerer's Apprentice.^[30] Disney had already begun working out the details for the segments, and showed greater enthusiasm and eagerness as opposed to his anxiety while starting on Pinocchio.^[31]

Clair de Lune was soon removed from the Fantasia program, but Disney and his writers encountered problems of setting a concrete story to Cydalise. Its opening march, "The Entry of the Little Fauns", first attracted Disney to the piece which at first provided suitable depictions of fauns he wanted. On January 5, 1939, following a search for a stronger piece to fit the mythological theme, the piece was replaced with sections of Beethoven's sixth symphony.^[32] Stokowski disagreed with the switch, believing that Disney's "idea of mythology...is not quite what this symphony is about." He was also concerned about the reception from classical music enthusiasts who would criticize Disney for venturing too far from the composer's intent.^[33] Taylor on the other hand welcomed the change, describing it as "a stunning one", and saw "no possible objection to it."^[34]

The new feature continued to be known as The Concert Feature or Musical Feature as late as November 1938. Hal Horne, a publicist for Disney's film distributor RKO Radio Pictures, wished for a different title, and gave the suggestion Filmharmonic Concert. Stuart Buchanan then held a contest at the studio for a title that produced almost 1,800 suggestions including Bach to Stravinsky and Bach and Highbrowski by Stokowski. Still, the favorite among the film's supervisors was Fantasia, an early working title that had even grown on Horne, "It isn't the word alone but the meaning we read into it."^[35] From the beginning of its development, 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."^[36] Disney had hoped that the film would bring classical music to people that, including himself, had "walked out on this kind of stuff."^[37]

Design and animation[link]

Animation on The Sorcerer's Apprentice began on January 21, 1938 when James Algar, the director of the segment, assigned animator Preston Blair to work on the scene when Mickey Mouse wakes from his dream.^[38] Each of the seven hundred members of staff at the time received a synopsis of the Goethe tale, and were encouraged to complete a twenty-question form that requested their ideas on what action might take place.^[16][22] Layout artist Tom Codrick created what Dick Huemer described as "brilliantly colored thumbnails" from preliminary storyboard sketches using gouache paints, which featured bolder use of color and lighting than any previous Disney short.^[39] Mickey was redesigned by animator Fred Moore who added pupils for the first time to achieve greater ranges of expression.^[16][40] Most of the segment was shot in live action, including a scene where a UCLA athlete was asked to run and jump across one of the studio's sound stages with barrels in the way, which was used for reference when Mickey traverses through water.^[41]

Disney had been interested in producing abstract animation since he saw A Color Box by Len Lye from 1935. He explained the work done in the Toccata and Fugue was "no sudden idea...they were something we had nursed along several years but we never had a chance to try".^[42] Preliminary designs included those from effects animator Cy Young, who produced drawings influenced by the patterns on the edge of a piece of sound film.^[32] In late 1938 Disney hired Oskar Fischinger, a German artist who had produced numerous abstract animated films, including some with classical music, to work with Young. Upon review of three leica reels produced by the two, Disney rejected all three. According to Huemer all Fishinger "did was little triangles and designs...it didn't come off at all. Too dinky, Walt said."^[43] Fischinger, like Disney, was used to having full control over his work and was not used to working in a group. Feeling his designs were too abstract for a mass audience,^[13] Fishinger left the studio in apparent despair, before the segment was completed, in October 1939.^[44] Disney had plans to make the Toccata and Fugue an experimental three-dimensional film, with audiences being given cardboard stereoscopic frames with their souvenir programs, but this idea was abandoned.^[42]

In The Nutcracker Suite, animator Art Babbitt is said to have credited The Three Stooges as a guide for animating the dancing mushrooms in the Chinese Dance routine. He drew with a music score pinned to his desk to work out the choreography so he could relate the action to the melody and the counterpoint, "those nasty little notes underneath...so something has to be related to that".^[45] The studio filmed professional dancers Joyce Coles and Marjorie Belcher wearing ballet skirts that resembled shapes of blossoms that were to sit above water for Dance of the Flutes. An Arabian dancer was also brought in to study the movements for the goldfish in Arab Dance.^[46]

An early concept for The Rite of Spring was to extend the story to the age of mammals and the first humans and the discovery of fire and man's triumph. John Hubley, the segment's art director, explained that it was later curtailed by Disney to avoid controversy from creationists, who promised to make trouble should he connect evolution with humans.^[47] To gain a better understanding of the history of the planet the studio received guidance from Roy Chapman Andrews, the director of the American Museum of Natural History, English biologist Julian Huxley, paleontologist Barnum Brown, and astronomer Edwin Hubble.^[48][19] Animators studied comets and nebulae at the Mount Wilson Observatory, and observed a herd of iguanas and a baby alligator that were brought into the studio.^[49] The camera was kept at a low position throughout the segment to heighten the immensity of the dinosaurs.^[48]

For inspiration on the routines in Dance of the Hours, animators studied real life ballet performers including Marge Champion and Irina Baronova.^[40] Animator John Hench was assigned to work on the segment, but resisted as he knew little about ballet. Disney then gave Hench season tickets to the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo with backstage access so he could learn more about it.^[50] Béla Lugosi, best known for his role in Dracula, was brought in to provide reference poses for Chernabog. As animator Bill Tytla disliked the results, he used colleague Wilfred Jackson to pose shirtless which gave him the images he needed.^[13] There were ideas of releasing scents throughout the theater during Fantasia, including the smell of incense during Ave Maria.^[51]

Over one thousand artists and technicians were used in the making of Fantasia,^[52] which features more than 500 characters.^[53] Segments were color-keyed scene by scene so the colors in a single shot would harmonize between proceeding and following ones.^[54] Before a segment's narrative pattern was complete, an overall color scheme was designed to the general mood of the music, and patterned to correspond with the development of the subject matter.^[54] The studio's character model department would also sculpt three-dimensional clay models so the animators could view their subject from all angles.^[38]

Soundtrack[link]

Recording[link]

The Philadelphia Academy of Music.

Disney wanted to experiment in more sophisticated sound recording and reproduction techniques for Fantasia. "Music emerging from one speaker behind the screen sounds thin, tinkly and strainy. We wanted to reproduce such beautiful masterpieces...so that audiences would feel as though they were standing at the podium with Stokowski".^[55] For the recording of The Sorcerer's Apprentice in January 1938,^[22] engineers at Disney collaborated with RCA Corporation for using multiple audio channels which allowed any desired dynamic balance to be achieved upon playback. The stage was altered acoustically with double plywood semi-circular partitions that separated the orchestra into five sections to increase reverberation.^[56] Though as the production of Fantasia developed, the setup used for The Sorcerer's Apprentice was abandoned for different multi-channel recording arrangements.

On January 18, 1939, Stokowski signed an eighteen-month contract with Disney to conduct the remaining pieces with the Philadelphia Orchestra.^[21] Recording began that April and lasted for seven weeks at the Academy of Music, the orchestra's home which was chosen for its excellent acoustics.^[55][57] In the recording sessions, thirty-three microphones were placed around the orchestra that captured the music onto eight optical sound recording machines placed in the hall's basement. Each one represented an audio channel that focused on a different section of instruments: cellos and basses, violins, brass, violas, and woodwinds and tympani. The seventh channel was a combination of the first six while the eighth provided an overall sound of the orchestra at a distance.^[55][58][59] A ninth was later added to provide a click track function for the animators to time their drawings to the music.^[60][58] In the forty-two days of recording 483,000 feet of film was used.^[55] Disney paid all the expenses which included the musician's wages, stage personnel, a music librarian, and the orchestra's manager that cost almost $18,000.^[21] When the finished recordings arrived at the studio, a meeting was held on July 14, 1939 to allow the artists working on each segment to listen to Stokowski's arrangements, and suggest alterations in the sound to work more effectively with their designs.^[61]

Fantasound[link]

The Disney brothers contacted David Sarnoff of RCA regarding the manufacture of a new system that would "create the illusion that the actual symphony orchestra is playing in the theater". Sarnoff backed out at first due to financial reasons, but agreed in July 1939 to make the equipment so long as the Disneys could hold down the estimated $200,000 in costs.^[62] Though it was not exactly known how to achieve their goal, engineers at Disney and RCA investigated many ideas and tests made with various equipment setups.^[56] The collaboration led to the development of Fantasound, a pioneering stereophonic surround sound system which innovated some processes widely used today, including simultaneous multi-track recording, overdubbing, and noise reduction.^[58]

Fantasound employed two projectors running at the same time. With one containing the picture film with a mono soundtrack for backup purposes, the other ran a sound film that was mixed from the eight tracks recorded at the Academy to four. Three of which contained the audio for the left, center, and right stage speakers respectively, while the fourth became a control track with amplitude and frequency tones that drove variable-gain amplifiers to control the volume of the three audio tracks.^[56] In addition were three "house" speakers placed on the left, right, and center of the auditorium that derived from the left and right stage channels which acted as surround channels.^[58] As the original recording was captured at almost peak modulation to increase signal-to-noise ratio, the control track was used to restore the dynamics to where Stokowski thought they should be. For this, a tone-operated gain-adjusting device was built to control the levels of each of the three audio tracks through the amplifiers.

The illusion of sound traveling across the speakers was achieved with a device named the "pan pot", which directed the predetermined movement of each audio channel with the control track. Mixing of the soundtrack required six people to operate the various pan pots in real time, while Stokowski directed each level and pan change which was marked on his musical score. To monitor the recording levels at lower frequencies, Disney ordered eight three-color oscillators from the newly-established Hewlett-Packard company,^[63] a predecessor from VU meters used today. Between the individual takes, prints, and remakes, approximately three million feet of sound film was used in the production of Fantasia.^[55] Almost a fifth of the film's budget was spent on its recording techniques.^[64]

Soundtrack album[link]

The soundtrack album of the film was released in 1957 in mono, and years later, in stereo, on a 3-LP album set that also contained a booklet written by Deems Taylor with illustrative artwork from the film. The album contained all of the music in the film (minus the jam session and the "Meet the Soundtrack" segment), but not the spoken commentary or the "tuning up" segment from the very beginning of the film. It was released by both Disneyland Records (mono version) and Buena Vista Records. In 1990, a few years after the digital Irwin Kostal version of the soundtrack appeared on CD, the original Stokowski version was issued, by Walt Disney Records. The Fantasia album was the longest soundtrack album of a Disney film up to that time, and still remains so, running nearly two hours.

Release history[link]

Theatrical runs[link]

1940–1941 roadshows with Fantasound[link]

The Broadway Theatre

RKO balked at the idea of distributing what it described Fantasia as a "longhair musical",^[65] and believed its duration of two hours and five minutes was too long for a general release.^[66][67] It relaxed its exclusive distribution contract with Disney, who wanted a more prestigious exhibit in the form of a limited-run roadshow attraction. A total of thirteen roadshows were held across the United States; each involving two daily screenings with seat reservations booked in advance at higher prices and a fifteen-minute intermission. Disney hired film salesman Irving Ludwig to manage the first eleven engagements,^[68] who was given specific instructions regarding each aspect of the film's presentation, including the setup of outside theater marquees and curtain and lighting cues. Patrons were taken to their seats by staff hired and trained by Disney,^[69] and were given a program booklet illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa.^[70]

The first roadshow opened at the Broadway Theatre in New York City on November 13, 1940.^[70] The Disneys had secured a year's lease with the venue that was fully equipped with Fantasound, which took personnel a week working around the clock to install.^[71] Proceeds made on the night went to the British War Relief Society for the efforts in the Battle of Britain.^[72] Ticket demand was so great that eight telephone operators were employed to handle the extra calls while the adjoining store was rented out to cater the box office bookings.^[73] Fantasia ran at the Broadway for forty-nine consecutive weeks, the longest run achieved by a film at the time.^[74] Its run continued for a total of fifty-seven weeks until February 28, 1942.^[75]

The remaining twelve roadshows were held throughout 1941, which included a thirty-nine week run^[74] at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles from January 29.^[76][77] Fantasia broke the long-run record at the venue in its twenty-eighth week; a record previously held by Gone with the Wind.^[78] Its eight-week run at the Fulton Theatre in Pittsburgh attracted over 50,000 people with reservations being made from cities located one hundred miles from the venue.^[79] Engagements were also held at the Geary Theatre in San Francisco for eight months,^[70] the Hanna Theatre in Cleveland for nine weeks,^[80][81] the Majestic Theatre in Boston,^[70] the Apollo Theater in Chicago,^[82] and those in Philadelphia, Detroit, Buffalo, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.^[83]

Fantasia grossed over $300,000 in the first sixteen weeks in New York; over $20,000 in the opening five weeks in San Francisco; and almost the same amount in the first ten weeks both in Los Angeles and Boston.^[73] The first eleven roadshows earned a total of $1.3 million by April 1941,^[74] but the $85,000 in production and installation costs of a single Fantasound setup,^[58][84] along with theatres having to be leased,^[85] forced the Disneys to exceed their loan limits.^[86] The onset of the Second World War ceased plans for a potential release in Europe, which formed as much as forty-five per cent of the studio's income.^[72] Up to eighty-eight engagements were outlined across five years, but wartime demands for equipment limited the number of Fantasound prints to sixteen.^[74] All but one of the setups were dismantled and given to the war effort.^[1] Upon acquiring the film's distribution rights April 1941, RKO continued the roadshow booking policy but presented the film in mono, which was easier to exhibit.^[87][88] The combined average receipts from each roadshow was around $325,000, which placed Fantasia at an even greater loss than Pinocchio.^[89]

1942, 1946, 1956 and 1963 runs[link]

Disney allowed RKO to handle the general release of Fantasia, but fought their decision to have the film cut. He gave in as the studio needed as much income as possible to remedy its finances, but refused to cut it himself, "You can get anybody you want to edit it...I can't do it."^[90] With no input from Disney, musical director Ed Plumb and Ben Sharpsteen reduced Fantasia to one hour and forty minutes at first, then to one hour and twenty minutes by removing most of Taylor's commentary and the Toccata and Fugue.^[86][91] Fantasia was re-released in January 1942 at more popular prices with a mono soundtrack, and was placed on the lower half of double bills with the Western film Valley of the Sun.^[92]

RKO reissued Fantasia once more in 1946 with most of the animated sequences left intact, while the scenes of Taylor, Stokowski, and the orchestra were either shortened, voiced over or removed. Its running time was restored to one hour and fifty-five minutes. This edit would be the standard form for the next few re-releases, and was the basis for the 1990 reissue.^[67]

By 1955 the original sound negatives began to deteriorate, though a four-track copy had survived in good condition. Using the remaining Fantasound system at the studio, a three-track stereo copy was transferred across telephone wires onto magnetic film at an RCA facility in Hollywood.^[1] This copy was used when Fantasia was reissued in stereo by Buena Vista Distribution in SuperScope, a derivative of the anamorphic widescreen CinemaScope format, on February 7, 1956.^[67] The projector featured an automatic control mechanism designed by Disney engineers that was coupled to a variable anamorphic lens, which allowed the picture to switch between its Academy standard aspect ratio of 1.33:1 to the wide ratio of 2.35:1 in twenty seconds without a break in the film. This was achieved by placing the cues that controlled the mechanism on a separate track in addition to the three audio channels. Only selected parts of the animation were stretched, while all live action scenes remained unchanged.^[93] This reissue garnered some criticism from viewers, as the widescreen format led to the cropping and reframing of the images.^[94]

On February 20, 1963, Fantasia was re-released in both standard and SuperScope versions with stereo sound, though existing records are unclear. Its running time was fifty-six seconds longer than the previous issue which is unexplained.^[67] This was the final release that occurred before Disney's death in 1966.

1969, 1977, 1982, 1985 and 1990 runs[link]

Fantasia began to make a profit from its $2.28 million budget after its return to theaters on December 17, 1969.^[1][67] The film was promoted with a psychedelic-styled advertising campaign, and it became popular among teenagers and college students who were reported to have taken drugs for a psychedelic experience.^[95] Animator Ollie Johnston recalled that young people "thought we were on a trip when we made it...every time we'd go to talk to a school or something, they'd ask us what we were on."^[96] The release is also noted for the controversial removal of four scenes from The Pastoral Symphony over racial stereotyping. Fantasia was issued on a regular basis, typically for exhibition in art houses in college towns, until the mid-1970s.^[67]

The film was reissued nationwide once more on April 15, 1977, this time with simulated stereo sound.^[1][72] This edit featured the RKO distribution logo being replaced with that of Buena Vista Distribution, since RKO had not been part of a release since 1946. It had not been removed earlier as the credit sequence would have required to be re-shot. A two-and-a-half-minute reduction in the film's running time in this version remains unclear in existing records.^[67]

Tim Matheson (left) provided the narration in the 1985 re-release.

For the 1982 and 1985 releases Disney presented Fantasia with a completely new soundtrack recorded in Dolby Stereo. First released on April 2, 1982^[67] this version of the film marked the first time a film's soundtrack had been digitally re-recorded in its entirety. To replace Stokowski's recordings, the noted film conductor Irwin Kostal was engaged. He directed a 121-piece orchestra and 50-voice choir^[97] for the recording that took place over eighteen sessions and cost $1 million.^[98] To maintain continuity with the animation Kostal based his performance on the tempos and pacing of the Stokowski recordings, including the cuts and revisions to The Rite of Spring. However, for Night on Bald Mountain he used Mussorgsky's original orchestration instead of Leopold Stokowski's own edition that was part of the original soundtrack. The new recording also corrected a two-frame lag in projection caused by the old recording techniques used in the 1930s.^[2] Deems Taylor's scenes were deleted and a much briefer voiceover narration was recorded by Hugh Douglas^[67] as the studio felt the modern audience "is more sophisticated and knowledgeable about music."^[2] This version returned to around 400 theaters in 1985,^[99] this time with actor Tim Matheson providing the narration.^[100]

For its fiftieth anniversary, Fantasia returned to 550 theaters nationwide on October 5, 1990 in its traditional 1946 version including the live action scenes with Taylor and the original Stokowski score. The film underwent a two-year restoration process which began after a six-month search to piece together the original negatives that had been in storage since 1946. This marked the first time since then that a release of the film had been processed from the original and not from a copy.^[101] Each of its 535,680 frames were restored at YCM Laboratories,^[102] and an untouched print from 1951 was used for guidance on color and tone.^[101] Theaters were required to have specific stereo equipment installed, and to present the film in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio with black borders on the side of their screens.^[96][103] The Stokowski soundtrack was digitally remastered using the 1955 magnetic soundtrack, with an estimated three thousand pops and hisses being removed in the process.^{[57][58][103]} The 1990 reissue of Fantasia went on to gross $25 million domestically.^[104]

Home media[link]

Audio[link]

Disney considered to release a three-LP set of the Stokowski score in conjunction to the film's 1940 roadshow release, but this idea was let go.^[21] The set was ultimately released in sixteen countries^[105] by Disneyland Records in 1957^[70] under the catalog number WDX-101. Disney was required to obtain permission from Stokowski, who initially rejected the deal unless the Philadelphia Orchestra Association received a share of the royalties.^[105] The soundtrack was remastered and issued as a two-disc CD in 1991 which attracted sales of 100,000 units^[70][106] and was re-released in 2006. In 1982, Buena Vista Records released a two-disc edition of the Kostal recording.^[97]

Video[link]

Fantasia has received three home video releases. The first, featuring the 1990 restored theatrical version, was released on VHS and laser disc on November 1, 1991 as part of the "Walt Disney Classics" line. The 50-day release prompted 9.25 million advance orders for cassettes and a record 200,000 for discs, doubling the figure of the previous record. The "Deluxe Edition" package included the film, a "making of" feature, a commemorative lithograph, a 16-page booklet, a two-disc soundtrack of the Stokowski score and a certificate of authenticity signed by Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt.^[104] Fantasia became the biggest-selling sell-through cassette of all time with 14.2 million copies being purchased.^[107] The record was surpassed by Beauty and the Beast in December 1992.^[108] This version was also released as a DVD in 2000, outside of the U.S. in the United Kingdom and other countries, again under the "Walt Disney Classics" banner.^[109]

In November 2000, Fantasia was released on video for the second time, this time along with Fantasia 2000, on DVD with 5.1 surround sound. The films were issued both separately and in a three-disc set called The Fantasia Anthology. A variety of bonus features were included in the bonus disc, The Fantasia Legacy. This edition attempted to follow as closely as possible the runtime and format of the original roadshow version, and included additional restored live-action footage of Taylor and the orchestra, including the bookends to the film's intermission.^[110] In the 2000 and 2010 releases, Deems Taylor's voice has been overdubbed throughout by Corey Burton because most of the audio tracks to Taylor's restored scenes have been lost.^[111] The 2000 UK release, however, was in the 1991 video version.^[109]

Both films were reissued again by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment in November 2010 separately, as a two-disc DVD/Blu-ray set and a combined DVD and Blu-ray four-disc (named the "Fantasia 2 Movie Collection") set that featured 1080p high-definition video and 7.1 surround sound.^[112] The 2010 version of Fantasia featured a new restoration by Reliance MediaWorks and a new sound restoration,^[113] but was editorially identical to the 2000 version.^[114] This marked the first time the roadshow version was released in Europe. Fantasia was withdrawn from release and returned to the "Disney Vault" moratorium on April 30, 2011 (although it remains on sale until existing stocks are depleted).^[115][116]

Reception[link]

Critical response[link]

Among those at the film's premiere was film critic Bosley Crowther of The New York Times, who noted that "motion history was made last night...Fantasia dumps conventional formulas overboard and reveals the scope of films for imaginative excursion...Fantasia...is simply terrific."^[72] Peyton Boswell, an editor at Art Digest, called it "an aesthetic experience never to be forgotten."^[84] Time magazine described the premiere as "stranger and more wonderful than any of Hollywood's" and the experience of Fantasound "as if the hearer were in the midst of the music. As the music sweeps to a climax, it froths over the proscenium arch, boils into the rear of the theatre, all but prances up and down the aisles."^[49] Dance Magazine devoted its lead story to the film, saying that "the most extraordinary thing about Fantasia is, to a dancer or balletomane, not the miraculous musical recording, the range of color, or the fountainous integrity of the Disney collaborators, but quite simply the perfection of its dancing."^[72] Variety also hailed Fantasia, calling it "a successful experiment to life the relationship from the plane of popular, mass entertainment to the higher strata of appeal to lovers of classical music."^[117] The Chicago Tribune assigned three writers to cover the film's Chicago premiere: society columnist Harriet Pribble; film critic Mae Tinee; and music critic Edward Barry. Pribble left amazed at the "brilliantly-attired audience", while Tinee felt the film was "beautiful...but it is also bewildering. It is stupendous. It is colossal. It is an overwhelmingly ambitious orgy of color, sound, and imagination." Barry was pleased with the "program of good music well performed...and beautifully recorded" and felt "pleasantly distracted" from the music to what was shown on the screen.^[82] In a breakdown of reviews from both film and music critics, Disney author Paul Anderson found 33% to be "very positive", 22% both "positive" and "positive and negative", and 11% negative.^[118]

Those who adopted a more negative view at the time of the film's release were mostly music critics who resisted the idea of presenting classical music with visual images, arguing that doing so would rob the musical pieces of their integrity. Composer and music critic Virgil Thomson praised Fantasound which he thought offered "good transmission of music", but disliked the "musical taste" of Stokowski, with exception to The Sorcerer's Apprentice and The Rite of Spring.^[72] Olin Downes of The New York Times too hailed the quality of sound that Fantasound presented, but felt that "much of Fantasia distracted from or directly injured the scores."^[72] Film critic Pauline Kael dismissed parts of Fantasia as "grotesquely kitschy".^[119] Some parents resisted paying the higher roadshow prices for their children, and several complained that the Night on Bald Mountain segment had frightened them.^[90]

There were also a few negative reactions that were more political in nature, especially since the film's release happened at a time when Nazi Germany reigned supreme in Europe. One review of the film in this manner, written by Dorothy Thompson for The New York Herald Tribune on November 25, 1940, was especially harsh. Thompson claimed that she "left the theater in a condition bordering on nervous breakdown," because the film was a "remarkable nightmare." Thompson went on to compare the film to rampant Nazism, which was "the abuse of power" and "the perverted betrayal of the best instincts." Above all, Thompson claimed, the film depicted nature as being "titanic" while man was only "a moving lichen on the stone of time" and was a negative "caricature of the Decline of the West," because the film was "cruel" and "brutal and brutalizing." In fact, she was so distraught by the film, Thompson claimed, that she even walked out of it before she saw the two last segments, Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria, because she did not want to be subject to any more of the film's "brutalization."^[120]

Fantasia holds a "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a website which aggregates film reviews. Its consensus — "A landmark in animation and a huge influence on the medium of music video, Disney's Fantasia is a relentlessly inventive blend of the classics with phantasmagorical images". 98% of critics gave the film a positive review based on a sample of 48 reviews, with an average score of 8.6 out of 10. Among the website's "top critics" it holds a positive rating of 86% from seven reviews.^[121] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated the film four stars out of four, and noted that throughout Fantasia, "Disney pushes the edges of the envelope".^[122]

Remarks have also been made about Fantasia not being a children's film. Reporting on the popular culture site Inside Pulse and in The Eagle newspaper, Robert Saucedo remembered to be "not the only one...having to sit through the movie as a kid fidgeting in your seat as the film delivers abstract image after abstract image", concluding that Fantasia is "for adults and very nerdy kids,"^[123][124] while news and gossip website PopSugar included Fantasia in its "10 Movies That Scared Buzz Readers as Kids" list.^[125] Paul Trandahl of the non-profit advocacy group Common Sense Media, referred to both of the aforementioned criticism, saying "While there are enchanting dancing flowers, hippos, unicorns,...there are at least as many very threatening images intensified by the shadowy dark music" and that "some additional selections...are very long, slow and may not fully engage today’s kids", with the site giving the film an 'Ages 6 and Up' rating.^[126]

Awards and honors[link]

Fantasia ranked fifth at the 1940 National Board of Review Awards in the Top Ten Films category.^[127] Disney and Stokowski won a Special Award for the film at the 1940 New York Film Critics Circle Awards.^[128] Fantasia was the subject of two Academy Honorary Awards on February 26, 1942 — one for Disney, William Garity, John N. A. Hawkins, and the RCA Manufacturing Company for their "outstanding contribution to the advancement of the use of sound in motion pictures through the production of Fantasia", and the other to Stokowski "and his associates for their unique achievement in the creation of a new form of visualized music in Walt Disney's production Fantasia, thereby widening the scope of the motion picture as entertainment and as an art form".^[129]

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".^[130] 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.^[131]

Fantasia is featured in three lists that rank the greatest American films as determined by the American Film Institute. The film ranked number 58 in 100 Years... 100 Movies in 1998^[132] before it was dropped from its 10th Anniversary revision in 2007,^[133] though it was nominated for inclusion.^[134] The 10 Top 10 list formed in 2008 placed Fantasia fifth under Animation.^[132]

Controversies[link]

In the late 1960s, four short scenes from The Pastoral Symphony were removed that depicted two characters in a racially-stereotyped manner. A black centaurette called Sunflower was depicted polishing the hooves of a white centaurette, and a second named Otika appeared briefly during the procession scenes with Bacchus and his followers.^[135] According to Disney archivist David Smith, the sequence was aired uncut on television in 1966 before the edits were made for the film's 1969 theatrical reissue.^[136] John Carnochan, the editor responsible for the change in the 1991 video release, said "It's sort of appalling to me that these stereotypes were ever put in".^[137] Film critic Roger Ebert commented on the edit – "While the original film should, of course, be preserved for historical purposes, there is no need for the general release version to perpetrate racist stereotypes in a film designed primarily for children."^[138] The edits have been in place in all subsequent theatrical and home video reissues.

In May 1992, the Philadelphia Orchestra Association filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company and Buena Vista Home Video. The orchestra maintained that as a co-creator of Fantasia, the group was entitled to half of the estimated $120 million in profits from video and laser disc sales.^[106] The orchestra dropped its case in 1994 when the two parties reached an undisclosed settlement out of court.^[139] British music publisher Boosey & Hawkes filed a further lawsuit in 1993, contending that Disney did not have the rights to distribute The Rite of Spring in the 1991 video releases because the permission granted to Disney by Stravinsky in 1940 was only in the context of a film to be shown in theaters.^[140] The United States district court backed Boosey & Hawkes's case in 1996,^[141] but the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling in 1998, stating that Disney's original "license for motion picture rights extends to video format distribution."^[142]

Additional material[link]

Disney had wanted Fantasia to be an ongoing project, with a new edition being released every few years.^[143] His plan was to substitute one of the original segments with a new one as it was complete, so the viewer would always see a new version of the film.^[70] From January to August 1941, story material was developed based on additional pieces, including Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner, The Swan of Tuonela by Jean Sibelius, Invitation to the Dance by Carl Maria von Weber, Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov,^[13][70] which was later adapted into the Bumble Boogie segment in Melody Time (1948), and there was even consideration for a segment inspired by the Polka and Fugue from Schwanda the Bagpiper by Jaromír Weinberger. The film's disappointing initial box office performance and the advent of World War II brought an end to these plans.^[144] Taylor had prepared introductions for The Firebird by Stravinsky, La Mer by Claude Debussy, Adventures in a Perambulator by John Alden Carpenter, Don Quixote by Richard Strauss, and Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky "to have them for the future in case we decided to make any one of them".^[143][145]

Clair de Lune was another segment that was part of the film's original program. After being completely animated, it was cut out of the final film to shorten its already long running time. The segment featured two egrets flying through the Everglades on a moonlit night. The sequence was later edited and re-scored for the Blue Bayou segment in Make Mine Music (1946). A workprint of the original was discovered and Clair de Lune was restored in 1992, complete with the original soundtrack of Stokowski with the Philadelphia Orchestra. It was included as a bonus feature in The Fantasia Anthology DVD in 2000.^[111]

Legacy[link]

Sequel[link]

In 1980, the Los Angeles Times reported that animators Wolfgang Reitherman and Mel Shaw had begun work on Musicana, "an ambitious concept mixing jazz, classical music, myths, modern art and more, following the old Fantasia format."^[146] Animation historian Charles Solomon wrote that development took place between 1982 and 1983, which combined "ethnic tales from around the world with the music of the various countries". Proposed segments for the film included a battle between an ice god and a sun goddess set to Finlandia by Sibelius, one set in the Andes to the songs of Yma Sumac, and another featuring caricatures of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. The project was shelved in favor of Mickey's Christmas Carol.^[147]

Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt, co-produced Fantasia 2000 which entered production in 1990 and features seven new segments performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with conductor James Levine.^[148] The Sorcerer's Apprentice is the only segment retained from the original film. Fantasia 2000 premiered at Carnegie Hall on December 17, 1999 as part of a five-city live concert tour, followed by a four-month engagement in IMAX cinemas^[149] and a wide release in regular theatres, in 2000.^[150]

Parodies and spin-offs[link]

Fantasia is parodied in A Corny Concerto, a Warner Bros. cartoon from 1943 of the Merrie Melodies series. The short features Elmer Fudd^[151] in the role of Taylor, wearing his styled eyeglasses, who introduces two segments set to pieces by Johann Strauss (Tales from the Vienna Wood and the Blue Danube, both featuring Porky and Bugs and Daffy respectively). In 1976, Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto produced Allegro Non Troppo, a feature-length parody of Fantasia.^[152] Walt Disney Pictures used the story of The Sorcerer's Apprentice as a basis for its eponymous fantasy-adventure film in 2010.^[153]

The animated television series The Simpsons references Fantasia in a few episodes. Matt Groening, the creator of the franchise, expressed a wish to make a parody film named Simpstasia; it was never produced, partly because it would have been too difficult to write a feature-length script.^[154] In "Treehouse of Horror IV", director David Silverman had admired the animation in Night on Bald Mountain, and made the first appearance of Devil Flanders resemble Chernabog.^[155] The episode "Itchy & Scratchy Land" references The Sorcerer's Apprentice in a snippet titled "Scratchtasia" that features the music and several shots parodying it exactly.^[156]

Fantasia is also referenced in the animated series South Park in the episode "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls", where Mr. Hankey dons a wizard outfit and drives out an independent film festival by summoning a wave of sewage, similar to Mickey's dream of summoning a storm in The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Theme parks[link]

The Sorcerer's Hat is the icon of Disney's Hollywood Studios, one of the four theme parks located at Walt Disney World Resort. The structure is of the magic hat from The Sorcerer's Apprentice.^[157] Also located at the resort is Fantasia Gardens, a miniature golf course that integrates characters and objects from the film in each hole.^[158] The fireworks and water show Fantasmic! features scenes from The Sorcerer's Apprentice and other Fantasia segments on water projection screens, and involves the plot of Mickey as the apprentice doing battle with the Disney Villains.^[159]

For the 20th anniversary of Disneyland Paris, Mickey will be depicted in a special version of his Sorcerer's Apprentice outfit.

Video games[link]

In 1991, a side-scrolling eponymous video game developed by Infogrames was released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis system.^[160] The player controls Mickey Mouse, who must find missing musical notes scattered across four elemental worlds based upon the film's segments.

There are several film reel levels based on the Sorcerer's Apprentice that appear on Epic Mickey, a game released in 2010 for the Wii console. Yen Sid and Chernabog also make cameo appearances in the game (with the former narrating the opening and ending of the game and the latter as a painting).^[161]

The Disney/Square Enix crossover game series Kingdom Hearts features Chernabog as a boss in the first installment.^[162] The Night on Bald Mountain piece is played during the fight. In Kingdom Hearts II, Yen Sid is given a speaking role and is voiced in English by Corey Burton. Symphony of Sorcery, a world based on the movie, appears in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. Like the Timeless River world in Kingdom Hearts II, it is featured as a period of Mickey Mouse's past. ^[163]

Credits[link]

Musical score conducted by Leopold Stokowski. Performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, except as noted.

References[link]