Donald receives his birthday gifts, which include traditional gifts and information about Brazil (hosted by Zé Carioca) and Mexico (by Panchito, a Mexican Charro Rooster).
When Cinderella's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, she gets some unexpected help from the lovable mice Gus and Jaq, and from her Fairy Godmother.
After being snubbed by the royal family, a malevolent fairy places a curse on a princess which only a prince can break, along with the help of three good fairies.
A poor boy named Arthur learns the power of love, kindness, knowledge and bravery with the help of a wizard called Merlin in the path to become one of the most beloved kings in English history.
Director:
Wolfgang Reitherman
Stars:
Rickie Sorensen,
Sebastian Cabot,
Karl Swenson
Disney animators set pictures to Western classical music as Leopold Stokowski conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" features Mickey Mouse as an aspiring magician who oversteps his limits. "The Rite of Spring" tells the story of evolution, from single-celled animals to the death of the dinosaurs. "Dance of the Hours" is a comic ballet performed by ostriches, hippos, elephants, and alligators. "Night on Bald Mountain" and "Ave Maria" set the forces of darkness and light against each other as a devilish revel is interrupted by the coming of a new day.Written by
David Thiel <d-thiel@uiuc.edu>
The dancing ostriches in "Dance of the Hours" are portrayed as females, but it is only the male ostrich that is black and white. The females are gray-brown. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Deems Taylor:
How do you do? Uh, 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, "Fantasia". What you're going to see are the designs and pictures and stories that music inspired in the minds and imaginations of a group of artists. In other words, these are not going to be the interpretations of trained ...
See more »
Crazy Credits
The roadshow cut shows the title card at the intermission rather than the beginning, as on most prints. See more »
Alternate Versions
For its first wide release in January 1942, RKO had the film severely edited down to 81 minutes and re-issued it with the tagline "Fantasia will Amazia!" Practically all of the Deems Taylor interstitual footage was removed, as well as the entire "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" sequence. This chopped version of the film (which was usually booked in theatres as a "B" picture) did disastrous box-office and was pulled from distribution after a relatively short run. See more »
The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a
(1892)
(features the compositions "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", "Chinese Dance", "Dance of the Reed Flutes", "Arabian Dance", "Russian Dance", and "Waltz of the Flowers")
Composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Played by The Philadelphia Orchestra
Conducted by Leopold Stokowski See more »
This movie is a feast for the eyes and ears. Incredibly revolutionary, especially for its time (1940). Even if it was made today for the first time it would be original.
I can only begin to imagine the creative processes that went into making this movie. Just the idea of taking classical music and added surreal scenes to them would have required a large amount of imagination. Then choosing the music and creating scenes around it would have been an incredible task. Stumping up the funding for such a bold project would have taken a huge amount of daring too...
But, thankfully, the movie was made and the end result is wonderful. A beautiful, often sweet and humorous, sensory ride. (This coming from someone who doesn't know much about classical music, though doesn't mind it).
A work of art.
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This movie is a feast for the eyes and ears. Incredibly revolutionary, especially for its time (1940). Even if it was made today for the first time it would be original.
I can only begin to imagine the creative processes that went into making this movie. Just the idea of taking classical music and added surreal scenes to them would have required a large amount of imagination. Then choosing the music and creating scenes around it would have been an incredible task. Stumping up the funding for such a bold project would have taken a huge amount of daring too...
But, thankfully, the movie was made and the end result is wonderful. A beautiful, often sweet and humorous, sensory ride. (This coming from someone who doesn't know much about classical music, though doesn't mind it).
A work of art.