Fantasia movie, produced by Walt Disney in 1940, features animation set to classical music and no dialogue-only spoken introductions by host Deems Taylor before sections. The music was recorded under the direction of Leopold Stokowski and seven of the eight pieces were performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Fantasia's intro line: "What you are 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 they're not going to be the interpretations of trained musicians. Which I think is all to the good."
Fantasia movie sections:
"Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" movie - Johann Sebastian Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565.
The first third of the Toccata and Fugue is in live-action, and features an orchestra playing the piece, illuminated by abstract light patterns set in time to the music and backed by stylized shadows. The first few parts of the piece are played in each of the three sound channels as a demonstration of Fantasound.
"Nutcracker Suite" movie - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker Suite Op. 71a. The Nutcracker Suite movie is a personified depiction of the changing of the seasons; first from summer to autumn, and then from autumn to winter. It features a variety of dances, just as in the original, but danced by animated fairies, fish, flowers, mushrooms, and leaves; no actual nutcracker is ever seen in this version. Many elements are rendered carefully and painstakingly using techniques such as drybrush and airbrush. One quaint novelty of the full-length roadshow version of Fantasia movie is that, during his commentary on the Nutcracker Suite, Deems Taylor observes that the complete ballet The Nutcracker "is never performed anymore", a statement which may have been true in 1940, but is certainly not true today, as many productions of the complete Nutcracker are now performed throughout the world at Christmas time.
"The Rite of Spring" movie - Igor Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring. When Igor Stravinsky wrote his ballet "The Rite of Spring" his purpose was in his own words to express primitive life. And so Walt Disney and his fellow artists have taken the man's word. Instead of presenting the ballet in its original form as a simple series of tribal dances, they've visualised it as a Pageant. As the story of the growth of life on earth. It's a coldly accurate reproduction, of what science thinks went on during the first few billion years of this planet's existence. So now, imagine yourselves out in space, billions and billions of years ago looking down on this lonely, tormented little planet spinning through an empty sea of nothingness. Disney's imaginitive re-interpretation of the music to The Rite of Spring features a condensed version of the history of the Earth from the formation of the planet, to the first living creatures, to the age, reign, and extinction of the dinosaurs. The sequence showcased realistically animated prehistoric beasts like Apatosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and Dimetrodon, and used extensive and complicated special effects to depict volcanoes, boiling lava, and earthquakes. The large carnivorous dinosaur attacking the Stegosaurus is a Tyrannosaurus according to the preliminary introduction to the section by Deems Taylor, and concept sketches by the artists.
"Intermission - Meet the Soundtrack" movie. Fantasia's host: "I'd like to introduce somebody to you. Somebody who is very important to Disney Fantasia movie online. He is very shy and very retiring. I just happened to run accross him one day at the Disney Studios. But when I did I suddenly realized that he was not only an indispensable member of the organization but a screen personality. And so I am very happy to have this opportunity to introduce to you the Soundtrack." Deems Taylor announces a fifteen-minute intermission following the conclusion of The Rite of Spring. The musicians are seen departing the orchestra stand, and the doors close to reveal a title card. In a proper roadshow of Fantasia, the theater's curtains would close simultaneously with the closing doors on the screen, and the title card would remain projected for fifteen minutes while the guests are briefly excused.
"The Pastoral Symphony" movie - Ludwig van Beethoven - 6th symphony in F, Op.68 "Pastorale". Fantasia's host: The symphony that Beethoven called "The Pastoral" is said, is one of the few pieces of music he ever wrote that tells something like a definite story. He was a great nature lover, and in this symphony he paints a musical picture of a day in the country. The country that Beethoven described was the countryside with which he was familiar. But his music covers a much wider field than that. And so Walt Disney has given the Pastoral Symphony movie a mythological setting. The Pastoral Symphony movie utilized delicate color styling to depict a mythical ancient Greek world of centaurs, pegasi, the gods of Mount Olympus, fauns, cupids, and other legendary creatures and characters of classical mythology. It tells the story of the mythological creatures gathering for a festival to honor Bacchus, the god of wine riding his horned donkey, Jacchus, which is interrupted by Zeus, who decides to have a little fun by throwing lightning bolts at the attendees.
"Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria" movie - Modest Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain and Franz Schubert - Ave Maria. Chernabog is first seen when he awakes on top of Bald Mountain. It is Walpurgis Night and, using the powers of darkness, he raises ghosts, skeletons, demons, witches, harpies, goblins, and zombies from a nearby town and cemetery. He then summons fire and lava and makes the damned and the other creatures in his control dance and fly around, much to his delight, before he destroys them. In one part he picks up a patch of fire and transforms it into naked women, then into demonic animals, a fleet of imps and finally into fiery, blue satyrs. He drops them into the lava which seals their fiery doom.
The horror of the demons, ghosts, skeletons, witches, harpies, and other evil creatures in Night on Bald Mountain comes to an abrupt end with the sound of the Angelus bell, which send Chernabog and his followers back into hiding, and the multiplane camera tracks away from Bald Mountain to reveal a line of faithful robed monks with lighted torches. The camera slowly follows them as they walk through the forest and ruins of a cathedral to the sounds of the Ave Maria. The animation of the worshipers is some of the smallest animation ever done: the camera had to be so close to some of the work that it had to be rendered at only an inch or so high. Even a slight deviation in the width of the final painted line would have been distracting to a movie audience on the big screen. In fact, as told by animator Frank Thomas in the book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life the entire sequence had to be reshot twice, once because the wrong focal length lens was used, and once because of a small earth tremor that shook the animation planes out of alignment. The multiplane camera then finally tracks through the trees to reveal a sunrise as the film fades to its conclusion.
Fantasia movie awords:
In 1941 Fantasia movie won two Special Academy Awards: Walt Disney, William E. Garity and J.N.A. Hawkins (for their outstanding contribution to the advancement of the use of sound in motion pictures through the production of Fantasia) and Leopold Stokowski (for their unique achievement in the creation of a new form of visualized music in Walt Disney's production Fantasia, thereby widening the scope of the motion picture as entertainment and as an art form).
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"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" movie - Paul Dukas - The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The Sorcerer's Apprentice movie tells the story of Goethe's famous poem, which is a story of wizard's meek assistant who attempts to work some of the magical feats of his master, before he knows how to properly control them. Mickey plays the role of the apprentice, who causes a broom to come to "life" and perform his chore. Mickey directs the broom in his chore but falls asleep and dreams that he is a powerful wizard controlling the mighty seas and starry skies; awakening to find that the basin is overflowing and the broom is still filling it up. Mickey races to the wizard's spellbook looking for a counter-spell, but to no avail. After nearly drowning in a giant whirlpool, Mickey is rescued by the wizard, who magically halts the flood and causes the brooms to vanish.
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"Dance of the Hours" movie - Amilcare Ponchielli - La Gioconda: Dance of the Hours. The dancers of the morning are represented by Madame Upanova and her ostriches. The dancers of the daytime are represented by Hyacinth Hippo and her servants. The dancers of the evening are represented by Elephanchine and her bubble-blowing elephant troupe. The dancers of the night are represented by Ben Ali Gator and his troop of alligators. The finale sees the chaotic chase that ensues between all of the characters seen in the section until they eventually decide to dance together.
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Fantasia movie review: An innovative and revolutionary animated classic from Walt Disney, combining Western classical music masterpieces with imaginative visuals. The eight animation sequences are amazing colorful, impressive, free-flowing, abstract, and often surrealistic pieces. They include the most famous of all, Paul Dukas's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice movie" with Mickey Mouse as the title character battling brooms carrying endless buckets of water. Watch Fantasia movie included are J.S. Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor"; Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite movie"; dinosaurs and volcanoes in Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring"; the delightful "Dance of the Hours movie" with dancing hippos, crocodiles, ostriches, and elephants".
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