h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Ultimate Disney Classic Animated Film Guide: 1937-1949 - A87809566
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

An article about Disney's animated films of the 1940s, and Snow White too.

I'll be honest and say that I don't actually own 'The Reluctant Dragon', 'Victory through Air Power' or 'Song of the South' as they've not been released on DVD in the UK. I have seen clips of them all, though, and did see 'Song of the South' when it was on the telly, which I think was in the early 90s. (Annoyingly, 'Victory through Air Power' has been released in an exciting-looking Region 1 'Wartime Collection'. This could have inspired a comparison article to the one I rescued on Warner Brothers' Wartime Animation, but I can't play Region 1).

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Hi Bluebottle

I found this fascinating, as I am a fan of Disney Animated Films (even though the ones I saw pretty much all made me cry when I was about 7, especially Pinocchio, which was a dark film...), and watched a few of the ones in this Entry in the cinema in the 80s because of the re-release policy.

The main thing I'm confused about is that the title refers to Classic films, but then you say that eg the Reluctant Dragon is not a classic...

I'm not overly familiar with Brer Rabbit, although I read the Enid Blyton versions in my youth (and wasn't particularly keen on them) - I've never seen it written as Br'er before, though, but that makes sense as it stands for Brother...

I thought from the title that this was a guide to Disney Classic animated films, but it is in fact a guide to all Disney animated films during the period.

I've changed it now to move the 4 non-Classic animated films to the end in their own section, to hopefully make it clearer as to what is a Classic and what isn't.

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Hi BB

In the section about Fantasia would it be worth mentioning that The Sorcerer's Apprentice is originally a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the animations closely follow the text? (it's a poem every child in Germany and Austria learns at school)

Also you mention 'Richard Strauss's Till Eulenspiefel' which must certainly be Till Eulenspiegel, a classic figure in German literature.

I must say I don't really like your large tables. I always try to skip them to get to the 'real' text.
I also don't really understand what you want to tell us with things like 'transformations'.

While I think that this Entry gives some valuable information about Walt Disney films I just don't like the style of it. I find it not good to read, sorry.

Eulenspiefel should be Eulenspiegel

Repoghi should be Respighi

The Panets should be The Planets

Thanks for your honesty, Tav – as always it is appreciated. Looks like I was having a really bad spelling day when I was writing about Fantasia, so those changes have been made, Gnomon.

As for the large tables – it is a way of trying to list the same information in the same format – it seemed to work on the article on James Bond films (which apparently someone actually read – Lanzababy said so!) so I thought I'd give it a go here. Not everyone will be interested in everything, true, but I hope there's something that will keep most people interested.
I do have a habit of looking out for common, recurring themes, such as which Disney films have British baddies, Wicked Witches, pathetic princes etc. Maybe I went a bit overboard, and so I've removed the Transformations section. I genuinely think it is interesting to see, say, that very few Disney films had a single director, as Walt was afraid that if he gave anyone that much power, his authority would be threatened. You can also see how many films had, say, Sterling Holloway voicing a character as well as which songs go with which film (I've not bothered to say which songs are reprised).

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OK, time to review this.

1. You ask what makes a Disney film a "Classic"? Yet, after reading that section, I am not clear. You list lots of studios that made different films, and say that some films are classics and others are not. Is it that all the films from one particular studio are classics? Or is there some other reason, or do you not know. Whichever it is, you should state it clearly after asking the question.

2. You mention "his older brother Roy" twice. You only need to tell us that he is his older brother the first time, since the two references are very close to each other, and even I can remember for that long.

3. Might it be worth putting a footnote saying what "synchronised sound" is? I suspect it is the sort of sound that every film now has, but I can't imagine any other sort of sound.

4. The sentence about Disney, the first to do this and that, wanting to be the first to do something else as well is rather convoluted and long. Could you split it? (By the mid-1930s)

5. The footnote 1 has the phrase "a series of artwork". It has already been pointed out in Editorial Feedback that this phrase is poor in another entry and it was changed to "a series of pictures". Could you make the same change here, please?

6. The Dwarfs' Washing Song wasn't in the movie. It was written for the movie but abandoned, so it was never fully animated.

7. It should be "The Dwarfs' Yodel Song". (note position of apostrophe because there is more than one dwarf).

8. "wanting to be an actor, lying and heading to Pleasure Island" - it would be better to say "telling lies", as "lying" could mean lying down. Because of the double meaning, the brain stumbles on reading the line before realising what was meant.

9. "The film attracted some criticism for being too scary for children, yet too simple for adults. The main reason was that the world" -- this sounds as if you're saying that main reason the film was too scary was because the world had changed. I presume you mean that the main reason for the film failing. Say this.

10. Did Fantasia name the piece as "Night on the Bald Mountain"? In British English it is called "Night on the Bare Mountain", but this is an American film, so if they named it, stick with that.

Some spellings pointed out here because the sub-editor might not know them:

Lewis Carroll
Toccata and Fugue
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Rite of Spring

to be continued...

11. "Jumbo Junior fails to provide a successful climax" -- this sounds odd. It's not clear what you mean by it.

12. "a group of crows persuade him that he can fly" - I think this should be "persuade him he can use his giant ears to fly".

13. "largely animated by animators who had just finished work animating the dancing elephants" -- avoid repetition

14. The music is a variety of different styles. -- is in a variety

15. You say "Bongo would also have had a monkey best friend." -- but Dumbo didn't have a monkey best friend, so "also" isn't the right word here.

16. "Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear while Joh." Something missing at the end.

That's enough for the moment.

Good points all – I think I've addressed these first couple of questions. The only ones I'll comment on are:

Might it be worth putting a footnote saying what "synchronised sound" is? I suspect it is the sort of sound that every film now has, but I can't imagine any other sort of sound.

I've added a footnote about synchronised sound. Basically it is ensuring that the sound for a film's image occur at the same time – something that took quite a while to perfect.

The Dwarfs' Washing Song wasn't in the movie. It was written for the movie but abandoned, so it was never fully animated.
You're thinking of 'Music in your Soup' which also involves a bit of washing, but 'The Dwarfs' Washing Song' definitely is in the film. 'Snow White' is my 5 year old son's favourite film – the VHS copy of which was the best 10p I've spent.

Did Fantasia name the piece as "Night on the Bald Mountain"
Yep – would it be worth a footnote saying that in British English it is called "Night on the Bare Mountain", do you think?

"Jumbo Junior fails to provide a successful climax" -- this sounds odd. It's not clear what you mean by it.
To quote Timothy Mouse, 'Dumbo, you're a climax!' But I've rephrased the sentence.

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Just a note for those interested that "Fantasia" is on the TV tomorrow, 24th Dec, BBC2 at 4.15pm. I'm hoping my sister will have collected my mother by then so I can home to watch it with no interruptions. We used to have the video but then the video player broke and I never replaced it. I refused to pay £15 for the DVD. As the films go, I'd say this is Disney's masterpiece and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. It's not my favourite though - that's Bedknobs and Broomsticks

GB

I still have 'Fantasia' on VHS. As you say, with Disney charging £16 per DVD when everyone else charges around £3, it is a tad on the expensive side...

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Please check your spelling of Pinocchio. There should be one n and two c's. You spell it a few different ways in different places.

Also Gepetto / Geppetto.

Thanks Gnomon, I've amended those spellings.

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An awesome one Blubottle,

Your entry made me realise once again why I like H2G2 so much. I always like reading articles on things I like. I've read H2G2 articles on Sherlock Holmes, Agatha christie, Alexandre Dumas and many more ... and now Walt Disney films ...

Thank you so much Bluebottle for this wonderful entry.

BT <>

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