Fantasia (1940)

Directors:

James Algar
Samuel Armstrong

Writers:

Joe Grant (story) &
Dick Huemer (story) ...

Release Date:

6 January 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Fantasy | Music

Tagline:

Walt Disney's Technicolor FEATURE triumph

Plot:

A collection of animated interpretations of great works of Western classical music.

Plot Keywords:

Classical Music | Elephant | Orchestra | Sorcerer | Dinosaur

Awards:

5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Leopold Stokowski	...	Himself (Conductor, The Philadelphia Orchestra)
Deems Taylor	...	Narrator (1940 original)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Julietta Novis	...	Soloist (segment "Ave Maria") (voice)

Also Known As:

The Concert Feature (USA) (working title)
Walt Disney's Fantasia (USA) (poster title)
Fantasia (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
Fantasia (Argentina) (Peru) [es]
Fantázia (Hungary) [hu]
Fantajia (Japan) [ja]
Fantasia (Brazil) [pt]
Fantasia (Sweden) [sv]
Fantasia (Greece) [el]
Fantasia (Germany) [de]
Fantasia (Finland) [fi]
Fantasia (Italy) [it]
Fantazja (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

120 min | USA:124 min (restored roadshow version) | USA:125 min (original release) | USA:80 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (1956 re-release) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints) (re-release) | Fantasound (original release) | Mono (1941 roadshow screenings) | Mono (1947 re-release)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Approved (PCA #5920) | South Korea:All | Portugal:M/12 | USA:G (re-rating) (1969) | Netherlands:AL | Argentina:Atp | Canada:G | Chile:TE | Finland:K-10 | Germany:6 | Peru:PT | Sweden:11 (re-release) | Sweden:15 | UK:U | Brazil:Livre

Filming Locations:

Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

Disney digitally re-recorded the soundtrack for the 1982 re-release because the original Leopold Stokowski soundtrack from 1940 sounded dated and very limited in fidelity. But for the 1990 50th Anniversary release, Disney reverted to the original soundtrack from 1940, which they cleaned up as best as possible (although the limited fidelity could not be corrected) and this is the soundtrack the film has today.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence, as Mickey walks toward a stone wall his shadow grows slowly larger. Instead, it should grow smaller.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: How do you do? My name is Deems Taylor, and it's my very pleasant duty to welcome you here on behalf of Walt Disney, Leopold Stokowski, and all the other artists and musicians whose combined talents went into the creation of this new form of entertainment...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ikite wa mita keredo - Ozu Yasujirô den (1983)

Soundtrack:

Rite of Spring

Best Animated Film Ever

This without a doubt the greatest animated film in history. While highly acclaimed and well-known today, it was not terribly popular when it was first released. The idea of "Fantasia" is to take great pieces of music and draw animated sequences that match them. In doing so, it reverses the purpose of a movie's score; the movie serves and matches the music, not the other way around. This set up also means that there is no typical formula plot that is present in the vast majority of movies. In the first piece, the animation is vague and abstract, but in later ones it is of definite actions, objects, and stories. The two most famous(and my favorite) parts are probably "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "Rite of Spring". "Fantasia" is not only the best animated film ever made, but one of the greatest films period.