Published on Jul 12, 1998
Quick, what was the first animated feature film ever to be
released? Easy answer:
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, back in 1937.
But this movie was groundbreaking in more than one way. You see,
this was the first movie to spawn an
original motion picture soundtrack – one actually featuring
music from the film, not adaptations as had been done earlier.
Generations have grown up on this film (sorry to my friends at
Disney – I didn’t get around to watching the copy I bought for my
daughter), and its music could well be some of the longest lasting
popular music I know of. Songs from this score like “Someday My
Prince Will Come” and “Whistle While You Work” are still
occasionally hummed.
For the 60th anniversary of this film, a restored version of the
soundtrack was released. And while some of the music sounds very
dated, the fact this disc even exists is a miracle. Digitally
edited from several ancient sources, it very rarely sounds its
age.
Like most Disney soundtracks I’ve listened to, you can almost
follow the action in your head as the music plays, even without
having a picture in front of you. When the music for “Magic Mirror”
plays, you can almost see the evil queen gazing into the mirror,
hoping she’ll finally be declared the fairest of them all. You can
hear the poison apple being created, and you can see the dwarfs
mourning the apparent loss of their friend in the funeral-type
setting of “Chorale For Snow White”.
Unlike many of the Disney soundtracks I’ve reviewed, however,
this one, running a solid 73 minutes, might be a little much for
the young ‘uns to sit through. The kid in all of us adults, though,
will probably squeal with glee at the result of some painstaking
work those who rebuilt this soundtrack went through.
Only one song really shows its age – “You’re Never Too Old To Be
Young”. I can’t tell if this is a demo or not (guess I should have
held off on cleaning the bathroom this weekend and watched the
film), but from the faint “take two” at the start of the track, one
would guess that this particular song is a demo. And only one song,
“Music In Your Soup,” really gets annoying with the dwarfs slurping
up supper. (Frankly, this is one track you don’t want the kids to
hear – they’re so impressionable these days.)
Even with the minor weaknesses, this soundtrack shows why it’s
continued to captivate and charm listeners since 1937. I will
admit, however, that some of the songs are not the way I remember
them to be, meaning I didn’t hear them right the first time when I
was a kid. “Heigh-Ho” is one of those tracks that I expected to
hear in the skewed view my mind had of it. It’s still a charming
song, but it’s going to take time for me to unlearn the way I
always thought it was sung.
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs is another Disney soundtrack
that is aimed at the kids, but will end up pleasing the parente who
grew up with the film more.