Fantasia

UPC: 717951004611

Studio: Walt Disney Video

MPAA Rating: G   Contains:[Child Classic, Scary Moments]

Summary: Fantasia, Walt Disney's animated masterpiece of the 1940s, grew from a short-subject cartoon picturization of the Paul Dukas musical piece The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Mickey Mouse was starred in this eight-minute effort, while the orchestra was under the direction of Leopold Stokowski. Disney and Stokowski eventually decided that the notion of marrying classical music with animation was too good to confine to a mere short subject; thus the notion was expanded into a two-hour feature, incorporating seven musical selections and a bridging narration by music critic Deems Taylor. The first piece, Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor", was used to underscore a series of abstract images. The next selection, Tschiakovsky's "Nutcracker Suite", is performed by dancing wood-sprites, mushrooms, flowers, goldfish, thistles, milkweeds and frost fairies. The Mickey Mouse version of "Sorcerer's Apprentice" is next, followed by Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring", which serves as leitmotif for the story of the creation of the world, replete with dinosaurs and volcanoes. After a brief jam session involving the live-action musicians comes Beethoven's "Pastorale Symphony", enacted against a Greek-mythology tapestry by centaurs, unicorns, cupids and a besotted Bacchus. Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours" is performed by a Corps de Ballet consisting of hippos, ostriches and alligators. The program comes to a conclusion with a fearsome visualization of Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain", dominated by the black god Tchernobog (referred to in the pencil tests as "Yensid", which is guess-what spelled backwards); this study of the "sacred and profane" segues into a reverent rendition of Schubert's "Ave Maria". Originally, Debussy's "Clair de Lune" was part of the film, but was cut from the final release print; also cut, due to budgetary considerations, was Disney's intention of issuing an annual "update" of Fantasia with new musical highlights and animated sequences. A box-office disappointment upon its first release (due partly to Disney's notion of releasing the film in an early stereophonic-sound process which few theatres could accommodate), Fantasia eventually recouped its cost in its many reissues. For one of the return engagements, the film was retitled Fantasia Will Amaze-ya, while the 1963 reissue saw the film "squashed" to conform with the Cinemascope aspect ratio. Other re-releases pruned the picture from 120 to 88 minutes, and in 1983, Disney redistributed the film with newly orchestrated music and Tim Matheson replacing Deems Taylor as narrator. Once and for all, a restored Fantasia was made available to filmgoers in 1990. A sequel, Fantasia 2000, was released in theaters in 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Musical

Awards: U.S. National Film Registry – Library of Congress 100 Greatest American Movies – American Film Institute Honorary and Other Awards – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Honorary and Other Awards – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – National Board of Review Special Award – New York Film Critics Circle 10 Best Films – New York Times

Features: Restored, remastered original theatrical version
Audio commentaries by Roy E. Disney and conductor James Levine
Rare archival interviews with Walt Disney
"The Making of Fantasia" featurette
THX-certified, including THX optimode
DTS Digital Surround
Dolby Digital 5.0 Surround Sound
Original theatrical aspect ratio (1.33:1)

Fantasia

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 11/14/2000

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 125 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Menu Group #1 with 18 chapter(s) covering 02:04:15
1. Opening/Narrator's Introduction. [3:58]
2. "Toccata And Fugue In D Minor"- Johann Sebastian Bach. [3:20]
3. Narrator's Introduction. [6:19]
4. "The Nutcracker Suite"- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. [:39]
5. Narrator's Introduction. [6:08]
6. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"- Paul Dukas. [5:11]
7. Narrator's Introduction. [3:08]
8. "The Rite Of Spring"- Igor Stravinsky. [1:01]
9. Intermission. [6:09]
10. Meet The Soundtrack. [3:07]
11. Narrator's Introduction. [:30]
12. "The Pastoral Symphony"-Ludwig Van Beethoven. [3:04]
13. Narrator's Introduction. [7:49]
14. "Dance Of The Hours"- Amilcare Ponchielli. [7:57]
15. Narrator's Introduction. [6:52]
16. "Night On Bald Mountain"- Modeste Moussorgsky. [1:09]
17. "Ave Maria"- Franz Schubert. [:12]

Emru Townsend

Among other things, Walt Disney was a man who was good at letting things spiral out of control -- usually to the enjoyment of the public for generations to come. In this case, it was a "Silly Symphony" featuring Mickey Mouse as the title character in Paul Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice which eventually blossomed into Fantasia -- Disney's longest animated feature, which went from being a box-office bomb when it was released in 1940 to a widely recognized masterpiece decades later. It's not hard to see why; despite stunning, powerful animation that is unparalleled to this day, audiences in 1940 didn't know what to make of a feature cartoon with prancing centaurs, pirouetting nymphs, tutu'd hippos, and no story or narration. It wasn't until the psychedelic '60s that Fantasia began ascend to its current status, and the rise of increasingly thorough animation historical studies didn't hurt either. After decades of various alterations (including an ignominious shortened version, rescored sound, and new narration), a restored, nearly intact print of the original Fantasia was re-released in 1990 to critical and popular acclaim. Disney's original plan was to periodically re-release the movie, gradually replacing old segments with new music and animation, but its initial failure kept that dream from becoming reality. Work began on just such a sequel shortly after the 1990 restoration, which was eventually released in late 1999 as Fantasia 2000. ~ Emru Townsend, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Leopold Stokowski  Actor 
Deems Taylor  Actor 
Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra  Actor 
Walt Disney  Actor 
Bela Lugosi  Actor 
Campbell Grant  Screenwriter 
James Algar  Director 
Samuel Armstrong  Director 
Ford I. Beebe  Director 
Walt Disney  Director 
Walt Disney  Producer 
Otto Englander  Screenwriter 
Norman Ferguson  Screenwriter 
Joe Grant  Screenwriter 
Graham Heid  Director 
Graham Heid  Screenwriter 
Wilfred Jackson  Director 
Hamilton Luske  Director 
Perce Pearce  Screenwriter 
Bill Peet  Screenwriter 
Erdman Penner  Screenwriter 
Bill Roberts  Director 
Paul Satterfield  Director 
Ben Sharpsteen  Director 
Norman Wright  Director 
Norman Wright  Screenwriter 
Arthur Heinemann  Screenwriter 
Webb Smith  Screenwriter 
Elmer Plummer  Screenwriter 
Lee Blair  Screenwriter 
Phil Dike  Screenwriter 
Sylvia Moberly-Holland  Director 
Sylvia Moberly-Holland  Screenwriter 
Albert Heath  Director 
Albert Heath  Screenwriter 
Bianca Majolie  Director 
Bianca Majolie  Screenwriter 
Carl Faliberg  Screenwriter 
Leo Thiele  Screenwriter 
Robert Sterner  Screenwriter 
John Fraser McLeish  Screenwriter 
Jim Handley  Director 
Joseph Sabo  Screenwriter 
T. Hee  Director 
William Martin  Screenwriter 

Country: USA