Before the live-action remake starts, the animated classic “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” gets a new, improved home theater edition: For the first time, you can see the fairy tale that rewrote film history at home in 4K!
Successful producer Walt Disney never tired of emphasizing that it all started with a mouse. But it was a princess and her clumsy friends who turned an animation studio specializing in short films into a globally acclaimed studio that knows how to fill a full evening at the movies:
“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” is not only the first Disney feature-length film, but has been the biggest box-office hit in history in the interim. And thanks to its outstanding animation, it is an extremely popular classic even 86 years (!) after its premiere. Which now shines in new splendor: This week, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was released in 4K for the first time!
This is the result of a meticulous restoration on which animation experts have worked for a long time. Scans of the original 35mm film negative were used for this purpose.
In addition, animation experts such as animation legend Eric Goldberg (who drew the Genie in “Aladdin”) and “The Ice Queen 2” designer Michael Giaimo plowed through the Disney archives to find ideal reference material for detail issues. Like the correct color dramaturgy once intended by Disney and his team!
The same team recently completed a loving reworking of the Disney animated film “Cinderella”, which was received with great enthusiasm by fans and animation historians. That’s because the new 4K version of the animated classic restored the film to its former glory after important atmospheric details were smoothed out in its Blu-ray edition.
While “Cinderella” was therefore high on the restoration wish list of many Disney fans, the retrospective HD release of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” is commonly held in high regard. The fact that the David Hand-directed fairy tale film will be released in 4K this October can therefore certainly be seen as a celebration of the Disney company’s 100th anniversary.
But even apart from its film-historical relevance as a sensational box-office success that brought increased recognition to the medium of animation, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” offers itself as a candidate for a 4K remaster:
Before/After Comparison
During the planning stages, Disney and his people decided that “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” should feature muted colors, instead of the bright tones of many cartoons of the time. This was not only to give the fairy tale adaptation a more serious look, but also to make sure that audiences, who weren’t used to hour-long cartoons, would be spared eye-strain.
Still, Disney’s animation studios wanted to show off the talent of their staff and captivate with picturesque landscapes and striking character designs. The HD restoration of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” tended decently toward grayish muted color temperatures (due in part to the technical possibilities) in this tightrope act.
In the 4K restoration, however, Goldberg and the others responsible tickle out a wider color spectrum as well as stronger contrasts between the sunny flecks and the quiet earth tones – without turning up the brightness contrary to the original intent. As “Cinderella” led the way, the 4K version of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” should end up on Disney+ after its physical release.
If Goldberg and company have their way, by the way, it won’t stop at these two polishes: They already have the decidedly more cartoonesque animated classic “Alice in Wonderland,” the painting-like “Sleeping Beauty,” and the stylistic grab-bag “Fantasia” on the docket as further restoration wish projects.
