"Snow White" was the first animated feature
film ever. For a while after
its release the film was the highest-grossing motion picture of all time, until
it was finally surpassed by "Gone With the Wind" a couple of years later. This
statistic is all the more surprising when one realizes that children were paying
a dime to get into the theaters in 1937, and the film, of course, had great
appeal to that age group. The original worldwide gross was $8.5 million, a
figure that would translate into several hundreds of millions of dollars today.
In England, the film was deemed too scary for children, and those under 16 had
to be accompanied by a parent.
Sleepy sneaks in his Z's
anytime and anywhere he can, but none of the other dwarfs ever
complains. Maybe that's because he works just as hard in their
diamond mine as the others, albeit in a more relaxed fashion. In
fact, he's so relaxed, and yawns so widely, that the resident
housefly keeps buzzing into his mouth in hopes of finding a nice
warm home. But even on the perpetual verge of a nap, Sleepy
turns out to be twice as observant as his fellows when it most
matters. Strangely goaded and prodded by the forest animals
outside their mine, none of the dwarfs can figure out what's
going on until Sleepy yawns, "Maybe the old Queen's got Snow
White." Thanks to Sleepy, the dwarfs are soon off to the rescue
A princess of noble birth, Snow White is forced
into rags as a scullery maid by her jealous stepmother, the Queen. Blessed with
an innocent's indomitable spirit, the fair maiden never loses faith that one day
the wishing well will grant her wish for a true love to come and take her away.
When her dream is answered by a serenading young prince, the evil Queen orders
Snow White killed. Faced with the girl's innocence, the huntsman assassin can't
kill her, and begs her to flee deep into the forest, never to return. Once again
her innocence saves her as the forest animals lead her to the Seven Dwarfs'
cottage, where she takes the role of their adopted mother (even the woman-wary
Grumpy can't help but warm to her eventually). The Queen, however, will use the
girl's naiveté against her as she dons the guise of a helpless peddler hag to
lure Snow White into taking a bite from a poisoned apple. Falling into a
sleeping death, Snow White can only be awakened by love's first kiss.
More than shy,
Bashful's a hopeless (make that hopeful) sentimentalist. When
the dwarfs return to find their cottage mysteriously tidied up,
he's even sentimental about his newly cleaned cup, lamenting
that "the sugar's gone" as if he'd lost a dear friend. While
everyone's suspicious upon finding Snow White asleep across
their beds, Bashful's the first one to see her for who she
really is, observing, "She's beautiful, like an angel." Indeed,
Bashful can't help but blush, twist his beard into knots, and
bat his eyelashes whenever Snow White's around. And when the
dwarfs ask her to tell them a story, Bashful, of course,
requests "a looove story." To his delight, that's exactly what
they get.
No, Sneezy doesn't sneeze
all the time ... just at the worst of times, like when the
dwarfs have returned from the diamond mine to search for the
mysterious "cleaning monster" in their midst. After a
particularly violent sneeze, which sends them tumbling in its
wake, he protests, "I couldn't help it ... when you gotta go,
you gotta ... I-I-I, i-i-i-it's comin'." So his pals quickly
jump him and tie his nose in a knot. Instead of getting angry,
poor Sneezy's grateful. He's just as annoyed by his condition as
the other dwarfs. But when all is said and done, his fellows are
quick and happy to lend him a sneeze-stifling hand. It's all
part of being a dwarf. Just keep Sneezy away from the goldenrod
...
Without Happy
around, Grumpy might not be quite as grumpy. For Happy's just
too infernally cheerful about everything. When the dwarfs think
there's a monster hidden under the blankets, Happy cheerily
asks, "Which end do we kill?" And when the "monster" turns out
to be a slumbering Snow White, Happy's even happier. But not
even he can find any joy in his life after Snow White's bitten
into the Witch's apple and fallen into a sleeping death. With
any luck he'll get to live up to his name again someday ...
No matter what
anyone says, Grumpy is against it. This know-it-all naysayer has
the disposition of an old boot: tough, craggy, and resistant to
anything. When the dwarfs first find Snow White lying asleep
across their beds, Grumpy gripes, "Angel, huh? She's female, an'
all females is poison! They're full o' wicked wiles." When
Bashful asks, "What're wicked wiles?" Grumpy admits, "I don't
know, but I'm agin 'em." Like many an old boot, however, this
one's really a softy inside. When Snow White kisses him on the
forehead despite his complaints, he even smiles for a moment
before regaining his mal-composure. Could it be that Grumpy may
be grumpy partially to see who cares enough to put up with him?
Whatever its source, his stubborn determination eventually
proves invaluable. When the forest animals warn of trouble so
dire that even his bossy rival, Doc, stammers, "What do we do?"
it's Grumpy who leads the charge to save Snow White from the
Wicked Queen.
Dubbed "Dopey" by his brothers, this
loose-limbed dwarf has never spoken a word; as Happy explains to
Snow White, "He never tried." But Dopey isn't really dopey, he's
just childlike. Is it dopey to try and steal a second and third
kiss from Snow White on your way to work, or to make yourself
tall enough to dance with her by climbing on Sneezy's shoulders?
Not at all. Dopey's a genius at fun and games (and a whiz at the
drums to boot). He just doesn't mind looking silly along the
way. So what if he wiggles his ears and shuffles his feet to his
own skippity-skip beat? He's simply being himself, and that's
pretty smart.
If the Seven Dwarfs have a leader, it has
to be Doc (though he's far too good-natured to ever make it official). When
there's an important decision to be made, Doc is usually the one to make it.
After returning to the cottage to find it mysteriously tidied up, he
nervously demands: "Search every cook an' nanny, uh, hook an' granny, uh,
crooked fan -- uh, search everywhere." Doc's mind often works faster than
his mouth when he's excited, but his judgment's always sound. Doc takes it
upon himself to convince his fellows that the hardships they must endure in
allowing Snow White to stay are worth it -- even that strange custom of
washing up. And only he knows how to get that "old warthog" Grumpy into the
wash trough. Sometimes Doc himself doesn't know how wise he is. As the
dwarfs leave for the mine after Snow White arrives, he warns Snow White,
"Now don't forget, my dear, the old Queen's a sly one, full of witchcraft.
So beware of strangers."
