#Ben Sharpsteen

[disney-daily]

♫"One heart, tenderly beating, ever entreating, constant and true"♫

-Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Directed by: David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Ben Sharpsteen, Perce Pearce, Larry Morey, and William Cottrell

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[Note: This poll is a re-do of an older poll, as the original poll for it received less than 2,000 votes.]

[atomic-chronoscaph]

The Cookie Carnival concept art (1935)

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Fantasia (1940, Sam Armstrong, James Algar, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Ben Sharpsteen, David Hand, Hamilton Luske, Jim Hadley, Ford Beebe, T. Hee, Norman Ferguson and Wilfred Jackson)

23/03/2025

[sesiondemadrugada]

Fantasia (1940).

[katharinehepburngf]

Various poster designs for films: DUMBO (1941, dir. Ben Sharpsteen), FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965, dir. Sergio Leone), MASCULIN FÉMININ (1966, dir. Jean-Luc Godard), 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick), LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972, dir. Bernardo Bertolucci), AMARCORD (1973, dir. Federico Fellini) and THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (1972, dir. Luis Buñuel).

[mikyapixie]

75 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝒶𝑔𝑜 𝓉𝑜𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝒞𝒾𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓁𝓁𝒶 𝓇𝑒𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈!!!

𝓒𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓹𝓽 𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓢𝓸 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓘𝓼 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓲𝓷 𝓒𝓲𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓪 𝓶𝓪𝓭𝓮 𝓫𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓼𝓽 𝓜𝓪𝓻𝔂 𝓑𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓻!!!

[cigarette-smoke-noir]

Building a Building (1933)

Mickey is a bit of a bumbling construction worker who keeps hurting Peg-leg Pete at their work site. The cat snatches Minnie to get even but Mickey saves the day. Very polished short that's well animated, but the plot is a bit boring and doesn't do much with the construction setting. Mickey is cute though, they've really streamlined his design by this point.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

There are many factors to consider when judging a film’s merit. An important but often overlooked factor is the film’s ambition. How many chances does it take and how far does it push the envelope? Under that criteria, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs couldn’t possibly score higher. If there was a full-length animated film released in American cinemas before this one, it's been forgotten to time and it certainly didn't leave the same mark as this one. Now approaching 100 years old, there's no other movie quite like Snow White. You watch it as a child and enjoy the familiar story. You appreciate it for wholly different reasons as an adult.

In a faraway land lives the beautiful and kind Princess Snow White (voiced by Adriana Caselotti), the envy of her wicked and vain stepmother (Lucille La Verne). When the Queen’s magic mirror reveals that Snow White has become more beautiful than she, the Queen sends the young princess to the woods to be murdered. Following her escape, Snow White stumbles upon a small cottage and is taken in by the seven little men who live there.

Traditionally animated films age incredibly gracefully. Whereas you can see the limitations Toy Story and its early descendants had to struggle with, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs looks as sharp as the day it was released. Snow White is not like the rubber-limbed Olive Oil from Popeye’s cartoons or any character from the many Disney animated shorts that preceded her. The fact that she can move alongside the decidedly anthropomorphized woodland creatures she befriends and the seven dwarves - all of which have cartoonish faces to match their outlandish personalities - is impressive.

Also helping the film remain timeless are the story and writing. There are no pop culture references, no fourth wall breaks, no ironic twists or subversions of the source material. There doesn’t need to be. Snow White simply is. Similarly, the songs are not the kind you’d hear playing on the top charts. They weren't made to sell records. They were made for the story. They’re used to develop the characters and move the plot forward. That doesn't mean they're not catchy. I think anyone who’s seen the film will be tempted to play Whistle While You Work whenever they begin cleaning and once you hear the dwarves’ Heigh Ho!, it becomes a part of your vocabulary. Nothing in Snow White feels like it was made to be more than part of the movie. There are no characters made to be turned into toys, for example. In that way, it feels more earnest than any other Disney film.

That's nice, but what really matters is how entertaining the film is. While this is a straightforward telling of a well-known, story (assuming you don't call the musical numbers "twists"), “Snow White” finds plenty of ways to make you care about its animated characters. There are many laughs throughout, courtesy of the seven dwarves. Her animal friends also provide memorable chuckles as they figure out inventive ways to help despite their limited sizes or limbs. My favorite has to be the deer who uses his antlers as a way to transport dirty laundry.

There's also drama and romance, courtesy of Snow White herself. Our heroine is so sweet and innocent your heart just can’t resist. When she talks about the handsome prince she dreams of meeting once again, it’s hard not to get as swept up in the emotions of the scene. There’s also a little bit of horror thrown in too - though only small children would be actually frightened. It makes the scenes when Snow White makes her escape in the dark woods and later, when the wicked Queen comes looking for her particularly memorable. On top of the emotions are the outstanding visuals. Even if you don't "know", I think a part of you knows or can tell everything you see was hand-painted and painstakingly put together. If there’s one criticism I can throw towards the movie, it’s that the ending feels abrupt. It still fits within the fairytale motif, but I wouldn’t mind if it was even 30 seconds longer.

There is so much to say about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The visuals, the characters, the direction, the story, the songs… every aspect of the filmmaking could be the subject of a thesis. It's a film that was destined for immortality and I think people knew it as soon as it was released. Even today, it still stands triumphant as one of the greatest films - animated or otherwise- ever made for its place in history, but also for the way it brings a particular kind of story to life. (November 12, 2022)

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Wikipedia link

Letterboxd link

[disney-daily]

"I can stand the sight of worms, and look at microscopic germs. But technicolor pachyderms, is really too much for me"

-Dumbo (1941)

Directed by: Ben Sharpsteen, Samuel Armstrong, Bill Roberts, Wilfred Jackson, Norm Ferguson, Jack Kinney, John Elliotte

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[moviehealthcommunity]

Fantasia (1940)

This is a Movie Health Community evaluation. It is intended to inform people of potential health hazards in movies and does not reflect the quality of the film itself. The information presented here has not been reviewed by any medical professionals.

Fantasia has extreme strobe effects during moments when magic is used in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. There are moments of brief but harsh lightning in the Rite of Spring and The Pastoral Symphony segments. Most segments of this film contain glittering specks of light.

Some images are briefly distorted in an underwater-type effect.

Flashing Lights: 8/10. Motion Sickness: 1/10.

TRIGGER WARNING: Racially-insensitive caricatures are used in multiple segments of this film.

Image ID: A promotional poster for Fantasia

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Pinocchio (1940, Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, Norm Ferguson, Bill Roberts, Jack Kinney, Wilfred Jackson and T. Hee)

25/03/2025

[thinkbolt]

The Worm Turns (Disney, 1937) - dir. Ben Sharpsteen

[film-mike]

Cinderella, dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, 1950

Cinderella dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen | 1950