Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

1930s

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on the German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, it is the first full-length cel animated feature in motion picture history, the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full color, the first to be produced by Walt Disney Productions, and the first in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series.[3] The story was adapted by storyboard artists Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears and Webb Smith. David Hand was the supervising director, while William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen directed the film's individual sequences.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre on December 21, 1937, followed by a nationwide release on February 4, 1938. It went on to gross a total of $8 million in international receipts in its opening release. The film was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 1989. It was one of two animated films to rank in the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films of all time in 1997 (the other being Disney's Fantasia), ranking number 49. It reached number 34 in the list's 2007 revision, this time being the only traditionally-animated film on the list. The AFI named the film as the greatest American animated film of all time in 2008.

Directed by David Hand (supervising)
William Cottrell
Wilfred Jackson
Larry Morey
Perce Pearce
Ben Sharpsteen
Produced by Walt Disney
Written by Ted Sears
Richard Creedon
Otto Englander
Dick Rickard
Earl Hurd
Merrill De Maris
Dorothy Ann Blank
Webb Smith
Based on Snow White by
The Brothers Grimm
Starring Adriana Caselotti
Lucille La Verne
Harry Stockwell
Pinto Colvig
Roy Atwell
Otis Harlan
Moroni Olsen
Billy Gilbert
Stuart Buchanan
Eddie Collins
Music by Frank Churchill
Paul Smith
Leigh Harline
Studio Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date(s)

December 21, 1937 (premiere)
February 4, 1938 (United States)

Running time 83 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1,488,423
Box office $416 million