30th
Fantasia (1940): Walt Disney’s Experimental Art Film
Walt Disney had a dream. It was to create an audio-visual fantasy only possible with cartoons and the vision of artists. It was released in 1940 and nearly sent Disney broke. Yet while it was not an instant hit, it is now, 60 years later as popular as ever and still making money for the Disney Corporation. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.
There was so much that was revolutionary in this film. First of all it was presenting classical music in a form that made it attractive to ordinary people. It was the first to combine live action and animation. It was the first motion picture with stereo sound, and in Walt’s first releases in 1940 it was made into an event with the first surround sound in a motion picture. The film used an unusual technique when it came to titles and credits - it didn’t have any, although a still with the words Copyright Walt Disney was projected onto the curtain during intermission.
Disney dreamed of the film as an ongoing and fluid work of art. He imagined re-releasing it with new pieces of music added annually. Because it was a box office flop that did not eventuate, although in 2000 his brother Roy commissioned an updated version that is called Fantasia 2000.
