Year: 1933
Director: Roland Crandall
Country: US
Language: English
Walt Disney wasn't the only animator with the famous fairy tale Snow White on his mind in the 1930's. Though David Fleischer is credited as director, Roland Crandall did virtually all of the animation in this Betty Boop short. He received the opportunity to make Snow White on his own as a reward for his many years of devotion to the studio. The result? A milestone in the Golden Age of American Animation.
A magic mirror proclaims Betty Boop to be "the fairest in the land", much to the anger of the Queen.
Snow White plays it very loose with the narrative of the original fairy tale. Only a few of the most obvious elements of the tale's story- the evil queen, the magic mirror, the glass coffin- are retained. The rest is a weird, yet entertaining, departure. There's a two minute long sequence in which a clown is tranformed into a ghost with the voice of Cab Calloway.
A little bit of history; in the 1930's, decades before the Civil Rights movement, African American entertainers were often not allowed to play in clubs or receive air-time on the radio. For many, the only time they could get their voice out was through animation, where they wouldn't be seen as "black".This is the reason why there are so many black performers in these old Betty Boop cartoons.
Having incredibly imaginative animations and background drawings, Snow White may not be the most faithful or comprehensible adaptation, but it's pretty damn catchy and entertaining. Anything can happen in anytime; it's clear Crandall goes out of his way to show his bizarre imagination onscreen.
No comments:
Post a Comment