Fantasia (1991, VHS)

I watched this film again, for the fourth time in my life, just last night, although I have seen parts of it on many occasions. This time, there was a dimension to it that I had not previously appreciated, and that is (or was) it's historical vision. Love or hate Walt Disney, you have to admire his creativity! For an animated film of this nature to be produced in 1939 (It was released in 1940) is nothing short of amazing.

PLOT OR LACK OF IT

FANTASIA (the original) does not have a plot. That in itself deviates from anything done up to that point. The movie is a series of 8 classical music pieces. The animated part is simply imagination. Artistic imagination with color and movement.

Each piece is animated, interspersed with narration. My only real objection to this film from the first time I saw it is the choice of music. I speak as a classical cellist for twenty years. The cello part in Beethoven's PASTORAL SYMPHONY is downright boring and I hated playing it.

Interestingly enough, some of the pieces already had a pre-set theme (Nutcracker Suite, for example) which Disney and his animators threw out and substituted with another of their own imagination. This must have thrown the elite in the audience out of kilter.

Disney's original version featured what we now call Surround Sound, and it would have taken a great deal of money to fit the theaters of the day with equipment to play the sound track. Fortunately, it is restored to the DVD version.

Disney originally planned to introduce and delete pieces to the program on a regular basis, so a FANTASIA concert would be different every year. His intention was to create it as a concert series, a dream that could not be funded.

The centaur females have little breasts (very risque) and there are a few "lasciviously" naked scenes flashed before the audience which must have been shocking.


THE ART

The art is my favorite in Disney Animation, because it is three dimensional. It looks almost like some of my favorite Japanese woodcuts, but each of the images has depth, and is meticulously drawn. By far the best ART in the movie is the Creation of the earth sequence. To explain it to non artists may be a little more difficult, but look at today's popular cartoons. What you see is a lined drawing with color filled in. Backgrounds are mere sketches. Contrast this with the opening piece in Fantasia. See the difference?


BAD STUFF but not seriously bad

I didn't particularly like the Bald Mountain Piece, and the gathering of the denizens of evil. It wasn't scary, but I may be jaded by special effects. The music conjures up evil, and Disney's version is merely cute.

The choice of programs was a little hackneyed even for 1940, but it was important to bring recognizable classics to this new level of appreciation. The idea was avant guard enough for it's day. My grandmother, seeing the film with my mother, hated it, saying Disney "must have been drunk".

MY FAVORITE PARTS

I particularly liked the segment they call "Sound track" where a single line gives a visual interpretation of notes by various instruments, and the "Dance of the Hours", otherwise known as the "Camp Granada" Theme.

VIEWING THE FLICK FROM 1969-1976

I saw the movie two other times in these years. Hearing the "makers" of the film wondering why the movie had such a strong revival in that period I have to laugh. "Disney on acid" says it best, although some of us went just to watch the colors and did not require chemical enhancements. Burning hemp abounded in the theater space though. Later on, in New York, it was a Saturday afternoon ritual to attend the Disney festival, and my daughter and I saw most of the classics there together, and some more than once.

This movie did more to bring music appreciation to the "common man" than any effort since. Today, with most music programs cut from the public school agenda, I can only wonder about the generation of kids being raised without the sense of wonder that a movie like this one brings.
Classical music, and all the arts are being neglected. Imagination is important. Appreciation of the masterpieces of the past enriches our lives, but not unless you see it and hear it.

RECOMMENDATION

I heartily recommend this movie to be seen BEFORE the modern version. It is a classic, artistically and historically. It is fun to watch, and wonderful to hear. If all this classical music boggles your brain, digest it one chapter at a time.