AMUSEMENTS

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 155, 8 March 1939, Page 1

AMUSEMENTS

“Snow White” Animated Film Feature, Ranks With World’s Ace Attractions.

Grimm Noted Tale in Sumptuous t Tecknituluu.n .Prod action by Walt—Disney receives the Acclaim of a Masterpiece.

‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’, Walt Disney’s gorgeously produced musical feature-length animated picture in Teehnicolour which screens at the De Luxe Theatre Thursday and Friday was launched with a notable world-premiere at the Garthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles shortly lie lore last Christmas, followed thereafter with a record-breaking run at New York’s world-famed Radio. City MusicHall. and has become: the sensation of motion picture entertainment. It has taken its place in the front ranks of important film attractions.

In production for three years, and costing a, million and g half dollars, “Snow White” is expected to establish a standard for future animated features in much the same manner that ‘The Birth of a Nation” influenced the epic cycle that followed. The Disney picture is a drastic departure from previous technique in the animated field, in that living, credible beings have been created in the persons of Snow White, the- seven dwarfs, the Queen, tlie Prince and other characters in the famous Grimms’ fantasy. In addition, the art treatment departs radically from cartoon expression. An illusion cf depth has been added through the use of the multiplane camera, an invention, perfected by Disney technicians. This new camera treatment makes three-dimensional figures out of characters urawii in a two-di-mensional medium.

Added interest attaches .to the eight musical numbers, in tlie feature, the outstanding one being “Hi-Ho,” a marching song sung by the uwaris. The -story relates the adventure of a beautiful young scullery maid wln-se youth and charm arouse the envy of a wicked Queen, who plots in various ways to get rid of her for ever. How the Queen nearly- succeeds after seeking out Snow White in the latter’s refuge among seven kindly dwarfs, and how the little heroine is finally rescued by her Prince Charming is - pictured with exquisite artistry and humour combined. /