"Walt Disney's Fantasia" Movies Page at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store

Synopses The working title for the then-innovative 125-minute "Fantasia" 1940 animated film was 'The Concert Film'; "Fantasia" is a series of eight animated musical sequences set to classical music, including abstract images set to J.S. Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor"; music from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" ballet; Paul Dukas's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" with Mickey Mouse; dinosaurs & volcanoes in Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring"; Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony"; "Dance of the Hours" by Ponchielli with delightful dancing hippos, crocodiles, ostriches, and elephants; and Mussorgsky's darkly apocalyptic "Night On Bald Mountain" which morphs into "Ave Maria" in the rain.
Walt expected that his studio could release "Fantasia" with perpetual revisions – every year or two removing one sequence and adding a new sequence – and developed sequences using 'Claire de Lune', 'Swan of Tuonela", and 'Ride of The Valkyries', but the film's box office failure halted those plans.

Animated musical sequences in the 75-minute "Fantasia 2000" feature include Beethoven's Fifth Symphony; whales at sea set to "The Pines of Rome"; 1930s New York City set to Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue"; "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" fairy tale set to Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto #2; a goofy flamingo and the finale of "Carnival of The Animals"; the classic sequence from the original film of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" starring Mickey Mouse; "Pomp and Circumstance" starring Donald Duck; and a forest sequence set to "The Firebird".

History of The Films            Walt Disney began in 1937 with the idea of boosting his Mickey Mouse character with a "Silly Symphonies" short based on the tale of the "Sorcerer's Apprentice", set to music. Walt mentioned the plan to symphony conductor Leopold Stokowski at lunch one day, and was surprised that Stokowski was eager to participate. High costs suggested including the sequence in a feature film of similar animations set to music, and in February 1938, the studio began the project as "The Concert Feature". The 'Ave Maria' sequence was completed just hours before the film premiered.
           The road show release of "Fantasia" [1940] is considered the first American film to be released with no credits at all shown on-screen: a single 'card' during the 15-minute intermission displayed only the film's title, the phrases "Color by Technicolor", "copyright 1940 by The Walt Disney Company", "certificate #5940", and "RCA Sound Recording" - even the customary "Walt Disney Presents" was omitted. Programs containing the credits were distributed to patrons at the initial showings in 1940; the full credits were added at the end of the movie on the 1990 50th-anniversary release.
           The studio devised a multi-channel stereo sound system called 'Fantasound' that was installed at 12 theaters in the U.S. for 'road show' engagements, making it the first commercial film released in multi-channel sound. But the film received critical disdain and meager box-office. R.K.O. took over the roadshow release in April 1941 and a wide release in 1942, with two versions: just a few wide Cinemascope™ prints, and many full screen prints (for theaters without wide screens). The studio tinkered with subsequent nationwide and foreign releases, using mono sound prints of various lengths. The 124-minute roadshow version was reduced to an 81-minute 'popular' version in 1942 by cutting the transitional sequences and the entire abstract Toccata & Fugue sequence. Even though the film ran for 28 weeks at the Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles (breaking the record set by "Gone With The Wind" [1939]) and for a full year in New York City, the film lost money, and the Disney Studio was soon in financial difficulties (the film did not make a profit until 1969). R.K.O. Radio Pictures re-released an 80-minute mono version in 1942, and the roadshow version in 1943 and in 1946. A widescreen Superscope stereo version was released in 1956.
           The studio promoted a re-release of the film in the 1960s as a psychedelic event, and the audience responded; since then, the film has continued to grow in popularity. An intended re-release in 1982 found that the original sound tracks had deteriorated, so new orchestral tracks were recorded using Dolby stereo technology, conducted by Irwin Kostal; the 1982 version was re-released in 1985.
           Year-long major restoration work in 1990 was based on the original negatives and used re-mastered Stokowski tracks; that re-issue earned $25 million at the box office. The original film was digitally-restored in 2000.

The original film was released on VHS & laserdisk in November 1991. The box-office successes of 1990 and of the home video release led the studio to devise the "Fantasia 2000" project, which was released in IMAX format in December 1999; the new sequences were performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Levine. The DVD release of "The Fantasia Anthology" in November 2000 included both films and a third disk of extras. Both films were re-issued in November 2010 on 'Special Edition' Blu-ray & DVD sets.

Honorary Oscar to Leopold Stokowski in 1942

"Fantasia"
[Disney/RKO Radio Pictures November 1940]
Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski; production supervisor Ben Sharpsteen; film won Honorary Oscars to Walt Disney & to Leopold Stokowski
in 1942; listed on National Film Registry (1990); listed in 2008 as #5 on A.F.I. Top Ten Animated Films; at end of 2011, held #22 box office ranking, at 83,043,500 tickets.
Narration by Deems Taylor, 1982 re-release narration by Hugh Douglas, 2000 restoration narration by actor Corey Burton; animators included Claude Coats,
Oskar Fischinger, Ollie Johnston, Walt Kelly, Hank Ketcham, Ward Kimball, Bill Melendez, Grim Natwick, Wolfgang Reitherman, Frank Thomas

"Fantasia 2000"
[Disney/Buena Vista Dec 1999]
Executive produced by Roy E. Disney; new music by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Levine; segments hosted by Steve Martin, Bette Midler,
James Earl Jones, Penn & Teller, Itzhak Perlman, Quincy Jones, and Angela Lansbury, with pianist Ralph Grierson & soprano Kathleen Battle.

Leopold Stokowski [1882-1977] and The Philadelphia Orchestra
Honorary Oscar to Leopold Stokowski in 1942

1940 narrator Deems Taylor [1885-1966]
1982 re-release narration by Hugh Douglas
2000 restoration narration by Corey Burton

Music from "Fantasia"
The soundtrack album, a 3-disk LP set of all the music used in the 1940 film, was not released until 1957.
In 1982, Buena Vista Records released a two-disc vinyl edition of the Kostal recording. The soundtrack
was remastered and issued as a 2-disc CD in 1991, with sales of 100,000 units.

	"Walt Disney's Fantasia" [1997] Performed by Budapest Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia, Camerata Budapest, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, BRT Philharmonic Orchestra Naxos soundtrack CD [5/97] 13 tracks for $10.39
	"Fantasia 2000" [1999] Performed by James Levine & The Chicago Symphony Orchestra imported soundtrack CD [12/2006] 8 tracks - out of prodn/used Walt Disney Records soundtrack CD [11/99] 8 tracks - out of prodn/many used Walt Disney Records Limited Edition soundtrack CD [undated] out of prodn/used

Magic Lantern Video & Book Store"Walt Disney's Fantasia"Movies of 1940 & 2000

Magic Lantern Video & Book Store
"Walt Disney's Fantasia"
Movies of 1940 & 2000