Fantasia 1940

[Rosalee Ocegueda]

Fantasia is a 1940 American animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney Productions, with story direction by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer and production supervision by Walt Disney and Ben Sharpsteen. It 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.

Disney settled on the film's concept in 1938 as work neared completion on The Sorcerer's Apprentice, originally an elaborate Silly Symphony cartoon designed as a comeback role for Mickey Mouse, who had declined in popularity. As production costs surpassed what the short could earn, Disney decided to include it in a feature-length film of multiple segments set to classical pieces with Stokowski and Taylor as collaborators. The soundtrack was recorded using multiple audio channels and reproduced with Fantasound, a pioneering sound system developed by Disney and RCA that made Fantasia the first commercial film shown in stereo and a precursor to surround sound.

Fantasia was first released as a theatrical roadshow that was held in 13 cities across the U.S. between 1940 and 1941 by RKO Radio Pictures; the first began at the Broadway Theatre in New York City on November 13, 1940. While acclaimed by critics, it failed to make a profit owing to World War II's cutting off distribution to the European market, the film's high production costs, and the expense of building Fantasound equipment and leasing theatres for the roadshow presentations. Since 1942, the film has been reissued multiple times by RKO Radio Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution with its original footage and audio being deleted, modified, or restored in each version. When adjusted for inflation, Fantasia is the 23rd highest-grossing film of all time in the U.S.

The Fantasia franchise has grown to include video games, Disneyland attractions, and a live concert series. A sequel, Fantasia 2000, co-produced by Walt's nephew Roy E. Disney, was released in 1999. Fantasia has grown in reputation over the years and is now widely acclaimed as one of the greatest animated films of all time; 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."

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.

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 1797 poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and set to the 1897 orchestral piece by Paul Dukas inspired by the original tale.[14] 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."[15][16] Upon receiving the rights to use the music by the end of July 1937,[17] 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.[18]

Following their meeting, Disney's New York representative ran into Stokowski on a train headed for the East Coast. 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."[18] 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." 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.[18][20]

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] Stokowski was paid $5,000 for his work.[22] 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.[23]

Ideas to produce a complete feature film were pursued in February 1938, when inquiries were made to extend Stokowski's contract.[24] 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.[18] Disney agreed to pay Stokowski $80,000 plus royalties for his services.[22] 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 that he would be most suitable for the role.[25] 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.[26] In a change of plans, Taylor was asked during a call on September 3, 1938, to come to the studios as soon as possible. He left New York City for Los Angeles by train two days later for a month's visit and was paid $1,440 per week.[27]

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.[24] 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.[28] Disney did not contribute much to early discussions; he admitted that his knowledge of music was instinctive and untrained.[29] In one meeting, he inquired about a piece "on which we might build something of a prehistoric theme ... with animals".[30] The group was considering 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."[31]

Numerous choices were discarded as talks continued, including Moto Perpetuo by Niccol Paganini with "shots of dynamos, cogs, pistons" and "whirling wheels" to show the production of a collar button. Other deleted material included 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.[32] 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".[33] The final pieces were chosen the following morning, which included Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Cydalise et le Chvre-pied by Gabriel Piern, 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.[33] 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.[34]

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", 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.[35] 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.[36] Taylor on the other hand welcomed the change, describing it as "a stunning one", and saw "no possible objection to it".[37]

More than 1,000 artists and technicians were used in the making of Fantasia,[41] which features more than 500 animated characters.[42] Segments were color-keyed scene by scene so the colors in a single shot would harmonize between preceding and following ones.[43] 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.[43] The studio's character model department sculpted three-dimensional clay models so the animators could view their subject from all angles.[44] The live action scenes were filmed using the three-strip Technicolor process, while the animated segments were shot in successive yellow, cyan and magenta-exposed frames. The different pieces of film were then spliced together to form a complete print.[45] A multiplane camera that could handle seven levels, three more than the studio's original model, was built specifically for the film.[46] Fantasia has 3,500 feet of multiplane footage, more than Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio combined.[47]

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