Fantasia Narrator

[Hildegard Lobach]

Disneysettled 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 during that time). As production costs grew higher and the project getting pushed back, he decided to make 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. Mickey was redesigned by Fred Moore into his current design starting in The Pointer;, here, though, he is dressed in a red sorcerer robe and, to complete the look, he dons his master's Sorcerer Hat. The energy absorbs into his blood, whereupon he performs magical feats not unlike those of his mentor.

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 theaters 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. Walt's nephew Roy E. Disney co-produced a sequel released in 1999 titled Fantasia 2000.

The host and narrator of the film, Deems Taylor, introduces each piece in the program and gives background on the composer's original intent. Of course, there was no intent to deceive anyone into thinking that Disney's interpretation was the "original intent" of the composer.

Without opening credits of any sort, curtains open to reveal an orchestra stand. Musicians are seen ascending the stand, taking their seats, and tuning their instruments. Master of ceremonies Deems Taylor arrives and delivers an introduction to the film. Conductor Leopold Stokowski appears and begins conducting the first strains of his own orchestration of the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, by Johann Sebastian Bach (originally written for solo organ).

Although the Philadelphia Orchestra recorded the music for the film (excepting The Sorcerer's Apprentice), they do not appear onscreen; the orchestra used onscreen in the film is made up of local Los Angeles musicians and Disney studio employees like Jimmy MacDonald and Paul Smith, who mime to the prerecorded tracks by Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Originally, the Philadelphia Orchestra was slated to be filmed in the introduction and interstitial segments, but the union and budgetary considerations prevented this from coming to pass.

The Nutcracker Suite, a selection of pieces from Tchaikovsky's classic ballet, is a personified depiction of the changing of the seasons; first from summer to autumn, and then from autumn to winter. Unlike the ballet, this version has no plot. It features a variety of dances, just as in the original, but danced by animated fairies, fish, flowers, mushrooms, and leaves; no actual nutcracker is ever seen in this version. Many elements are rendered carefully and painstakingly using techniques such as dry brush and airbrush. The musical segments are as follows:

In the final musical segment, "Waltz of the Flowers," autumn fairies color everything they touch brown and gold with their wands. Then the frost fairies arrive and everything becomes part of an icy, jewellike pattern among falling snowflakes.

One quaint novelty of the full-length roadshow version of Fantasia is that during his commentary on the Nutcracker Suite, Deems Taylor observes that the complete ballet The Nutcracker "is never performed anymore." The United States did not see a complete staging of the Nutcracker until 1944, four years after Fantasia, and George Balanchine's 1954 staging with the New York City Ballet established the modern tradition of performing the ballet at Christmas time.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice, perhaps the best-known Mickey Mouse short after his debut in Steamboat Willie (1928), was adapted from Goethe's poem "Der Zauberlehrling". It is the story of the sorcerer Yen Sid's ambitious, but lazy, assistant who attempts to work some of the magical feats of his master before he knows how to properly control them. Mickey plays the role of the apprentice in the segment and became one of the most famous segments in the movie.

After the music ends, Mickey and conductor Leopold Stokowski, seen in silhouette, congratulate each other with a live-action/animation handshake. In the original roadshow version, after Mickey leaves, Deems Taylor and the musicians applaud Mickey and Stokowski.

Disney's interpretation of The Rite of Spring features a condensed version of the history of the Earth from the formation of the planet to the first living creatures to the age, reign, and extinction of the dinosaurs. The sequence showcased realistically animated prehistoric creatures including Tyrannosaurus Rex, Dimetrodon, Parasaurolophus, Apatosaurus, Triceratops, Ornithomimus, and Stegosaurus (see list of dinosaurs used), and used extensive and complicated special effects to depict volcanoes, boiling lava, and earthquakes. The large carnivorous dinosaur attacking the Stegosaurus is a villainous Tyrannosaurus rex according to the preliminary introduction to the segment by Deems Taylor, and concept sketches by the artists. Disney also changed the order of the movements in the piece. The segment, after beginning with the first, second, and third movements, omits the fourth and reorders all the others. The Danse de la terre is placed near the end of the cartoon rather than midway through the work. At the end, the orchestra replays the slow introduction to the Rite, which does not happen in the original work. (The original ends with a violent Sacrificial Dance - also omitted in the Disney version - and an orchestral crash.)

The roadshow version of the film features a humorous moment omitted from the general release version. When Deems Taylor announces the title of the work, there is a sudden loud crash in the percussion section, and we see that the chimes player has accidentally fallen against his instrument. He sheepishly gets up, to the amused chuckling of Taylor and the other musicians.

Deems Taylor announces a fifteen-minute intermission following the conclusion of The Rite of Spring. The musicians are seen departing the orchestra stand, and the doors close to reveal a title card. In a proper roadshow of Fantasia, the theater's curtains would close simultaneously with the closing doors on the screen, and the title card would remain projected for fifteen minutes while the guests are briefly excused. Following the intermission, the film would be started again. On-screen, the stage doors are opened again, and Taylor and the orchestra musicians are seen returning to their respective places. The intermission did not appear in the 1990 version as well as the 1991 UK VHS release.

After either the intermission (or The Rite of Spring in the 1990 version as well as the UK VHS release), a "jam session" in the orchestra is started by a bassist playing a jazzed-up version of a theme from the third movement of the Pastoral Symphony, which the clarinetist and other instruments take up. This is followed immediately by the brief Meet the Soundtrack sequence, which gives audiences a stylized example of how sound is rendered as waveforms to record the music for Fantasia. The sequence features animation by effects animator Joshua Meador and his team, who give the soundtrack (initially a squiggly line which changes into various shapes based on the individual sounds played on the soundtrack) a distinct personality.

The Pastoral Symphony utilized delicate color styling to depict a mythical ancient Greek world of centaurs, families of pegasi, the gods of Mount Olympus, fauns, cupids, unicorns, and other legendary creatures and characters of classical mythology. It tells the story of the mythological creatures gathering for a festival to honor Bacchus, the god of wine riding his horned donkey, Jacchus, which is disturbed by Zeus, who decides to amuse himself by throwing lightning bolts at the attendees.

Disney originally intended to use Cydalise by Gabriel Piern as the music for the mythological section of the program. However, due to problems fitting the story to the music, the decision was made to abandon Cydalise for other music.

This portion of the film was criticized for brief yet blatant nudity on the female centaurs. Other criticisms center on the racial images of two female centaur servants named Sunflower and Otika, who are part African human, part donkey, and two attendants to Bacchus, who are part African Amazons, part zebra. The servants have been excised from all prints in circulation since 1969 (often by the use of pan and zoom, so the scenes don't focus on them ), although the clips have recently turned up on various blogs and internet media.

The dancers of the morning are represented by Madame Upanova and her ostrich students. The dancers of the afternoon are represented by Hyacinth Hippo and her hippo servants. (For this section the piece is expanded by a modified and reorchestrated repetition of the "morning" music.) The dancers of the sunset are represented by Elephanchine and her bubble-blowing elephant troupe. The dancers of the night are represented by Ben Ali Gator and his rival alligators. The finale sees the chaotic chase that ensues between all of the characters seen in the segment until they eventually decide to dance together.

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