by Steve Collins
Fantasia is the third film Walt Disney produced and is perhaps the most ambitious. The film has no dialogue, relying instead on a sumptuous soundtrack performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski. Though the film is mostly animated, it does have some live-action sequences featuring Stokowski and the Orchestra. Fantasia was also notable for being the first major film to be screened in stereophonic sound.
Disney originally screened the film as a two-hour special engagement across the country. It was met with a lukewarm reception, forcing RKO Radio Pictures, which bought the rights to distribute the film in 1942, to cut the running time down to roughly 81 minutes. Between 1946 and 1977 the film was reedited, resulting in a version 9 minutes shorter than the 1941 original release. The complete version would not be released until the 2000 DVD reissue. By the late 1930s, Mickey Mouse had begun to lose popularity. In fact, Donald Duck was proving to be a more profitable character for Disney at the time. In an effort to reestablish Mickey’s dominance, Disney placed his protg in an animated short entitled The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Based on the Goethe’s story of the same name, the story artists had intended to feature Dopey from Snow White in the title role, but Disney would have none of that. To that end, Mickey was retouched and given a slew of new mannerisms, not to mention pupils. All of the reworking cost approximately $125,000, whereas a typical Disney animated short had cost the studio about $40,000.
