In his book, Fantasia 2000: Visions of Hope, author John Culhane reflected on Walt Disney’s original plans for Fantasia: “It is our intention to make a new version of Fantasia every year,’ said Walt Disney in 1940. ‘Its pattern is very flexible and fun to work with – not really a concert, not a vaudeville or a revue, but a grand mixture of comedy, fantasy, drama, impressionism, color, sound and epic fury.’”
Sadly, Walt never saw these plans for future Fantasias become a reality. The film didn’t fare well at the box office. By the end of its run, Fantasia generated less than Pinocchio, which was released earlier the same year.
With that, Walt put plans for another Fantasia on a shelf, and the studio moved on to other projects. But through the years after its release, there were many others – film and animation historians among them – who wouldn’t let the world forget about Fantasia.
Now celebrating its 85th anniversary, Fantasia has achieved such heights of appreciation as a bold experiment ahead of its time and a shining example of the art of animation, that it’s hard to believe there was a time when the film was considered a disappointment.
Fantasia grew out of Walt’s love of music, which is seen as early as his Silly Symphony short subjects. In the late thirties, Mickey Mouse’s box-office popularity had declined, and Walt wanted to launch a comeback for his star with The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, based on a 1797 poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe about the title character who finds himself in trouble when he misuses magic.
The poem had been set to music by the composer Paul Dukas, and Walt thought it would be perfect for Mickey. He met with Leopold Stokowski, conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, to conduct the music for this potential short subject.
From that meeting came The Concert Feature, which eventually became Fantasia.
Disney, Taylor and Stowkowski
There was: “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” by Johann Sebastian Bach featuring surrealistic images; “The Nutcracker Suite” by Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky had anthropomorphic dances by fish, flowers, and fairies, in place of the traditional Christmas story; there was “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” bringing us Mickey in his, now iconic sorcerer role, trying to keep control of out-of-control brooms; Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” set against the formation of the Earth, complete with dinosaurs; “The Pastoral Symphony” by Ludwig van Beethoven brought to life characters from Greek mythology; Amilcare Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” a comic ballet with hippos, ostriches and alligators and “Night on Bald Mountain & Ave Maria” by Modest Mussorgsky, a clash of good and evil featuring one of the studio’s darkest characters, the mountainous Chernabog.
Walt wanted Fantasia treated less like a film and more like a concert. The film was distributed as a “roadshow attraction” (released to a limited number of theaters for a specific period), with an intermission. It was released in “Fantasound” (a pioneering version of today’s surround sound), and programs were provided.
It didn’t connect with audiences, and ideas for other versions of Fantasia were repurposed in a number of Disney’s “package films,” such as Make Mine Music (1946) and Melody Time (1948).
It was in the psychedelic ‘60s, when filmmakers began to experiment, particularly with visuals and music in movies (in films like the Beatles’ animated Yellow Submarine and director Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey), that Fantasia was rediscovered.
Three years after Walt’s death in 1966, Fantasia was re-released to theaters (complete with a now-famous psychedelic poster). A new appreciation for the film from a younger audience began to grow.
In Of Mice and Magic, author Leonard Maltin wrote about this resurgence for Fantasia: “Animator Art Babbitt was asked by some young people who saw the film for the first time if he and his colleagues had used drugs when they made the film 30 years before. ‘Yes, I was on drugs,’ Babbitt replied, “Ex-Lax and Pepto Bismol!’”
In the decades that followed, Fantasia grew in popularity. It would continue to be reissued to theaters, including a newly recorded digital soundtrack at one point and a complete restoration for the film’s 50th anniversary in 1990.
In 1991, Fantasia was released on VHS and went on to sell an impressive 8 million copies worldwide. From this success, Roy E. Disney, Chairman of Feature Animation was able to convince CEO Michael Eisner to move forward with a sequel to Fantasia.
Roy E. Disney had long wanted to realize his Uncle Walt’s dream, which became a reality on January 1, 2000, with the debut of Fantasia 2000.
The culmination of Walt’s original vision demonstrated just how far Fantasia had come. And, in the eighty-five years since its release on November 13, 1940, the world has come to see in Fantasia what Walt once envisioned in his grand plans, as evidenced by a story from the film’s production.
While working on Fantasia, a story artist asked Walt if he felt that they were really using the cartoon medium correctly. According to December 8, 1938, story meeting notes, Walt responded: “This is not the cartoon medium. It should not be limited to cartoons. We have worlds to conquer here.”
• MORE ABOUT FANTASIA: Jim Korkis talks about “Sunflower” [Click Here]
• MORE ABOUT FANTASIA: John Hench on Fantasia [Click Here]
• MORE ABOUT FANTASIA: Greg Ehrbar writes about Fantasia on vinyl records [Click Here]
• ADDITIONAL PLUG: For much more information on Fantasia – please read J.B. Kaufman’s latest book, “Worlds to Conquer: The Art & Making of Walt Disney’s Fantasia”, which goes on sale next Tuesday.
Michael Lyons is a freelance writer, specializing in film, television, and pop culture. He is the author of the book, Drawn to Greatness: Disney’s Animation Renaissance, which chronicles the amazing growth at the Disney animation studio in the 1990s. In addition to Animation Scoop and Cartoon Research, he has contributed to Remind Magazine, Cinefantastique, Animation World Network and Disney Magazine. He also writes a blog, Screen Saver: A Retro Review of TV Shows and Movies of Yesteryear and his interviews with a number of animation legends have been featured in several volumes of the books, Walt’s People. You can visit Michael’s web site Words From Lyons at: 
A young friend and I once polled each other on our favorite Disney films. His was “Alice in Wonderland.” Mine was “Fantasia.” Interesting because in many ways both films are atypical of the Disney output. They are also more free-form and less restricted by plot constraints than most of the features.
The reason for my choice is that “Fantasia” is a full flowering of everything that Walt and his animators had been striving toward up to that point. It is the ultimate “Silly Symphony.” During much of the 1930’s, Walt was a darling of the critics. He could do no wrong. His animations became the gold standard by which all other animations were measured. It was right around the time of “Fantasia” that he began to fall out of favor. Many critics felt that he had overreached himself. Many classical music purists felt that adding images to the music ruined both the images and the music. It was as though the inviolacy of the music world had been compromised by a medium that was considered by many as “lowbrow.” For whatever reason, it was this point in Disney’s career where he became associated less as an avant garde animator and more as a purveyor of family-friendly wholesomeness. The societal trend toward treating animation as purely kid stuff was also underway.
Having spent much of my lifetime analyzing Disney’s work, I consider that”Fantasia” seems to be a turning point. Until then, Walt’s creative instincts had for the most part created box office gold. With “Fantasia,” his judgement had come into question. This, plus the strike which was soon to follow, seems to have steered the course of the Disney empire in a different direction. Instead of setting the trend for public taste, the Disney product begins at this point to use public taste as the template and mold that it would follow. Although of course, many of his later innovations were still to come as with Disneyland and the TV shows plus the dazzling success of “Mary Poppins.” Walt was flexible and adaptable in his creativity. But more and more it became a question of “giving the public what they want.” In the later Disney climate–post-war, post-strike, post-critical approval–a “Fantasia” would most likely not have been attempted.
But Walt’s appreciation of classical music did not abate. It manifested in certain segments of “Make Mine Music” and “Melody Time” as well as using the Tchaikovsky music as the basis for the score of “Sleeping Beauty.” And for television there were among other things “The Peter Tchaikovsky Story” (essentially a promo for “Sleeping Beauty”) and “The Waltz King” (a dramatization of the life of Johann Strauss, Jr.). Plus, it’s interesting to note that Walt never lost a chance to introduce a “Fantasia” segment (where appropriate) into one of the hours he hosted on the “Disneyland” TV show. I’m sure he knew he had created a masterpiece, under-appreciated as it was. It was a matter of time before the world would wake up and realize the brilliance of it.
Walt was well-aware of his standing in art and intellectual circles, thanks to major efforts like “Three Little Pigs” and “Snow White”. In fact, part of the reason why he made “The Golden Touch” in 1935 (which he’d go on to deem a misfire) was to deliberately appeal to the eggheads by interpreting the age-old fable as a with subtle Depression-era satire (“My kingdom for a hamburger!”). And like you said, with Walt’s reputation set as a weaver of film fantasy thanks to Mickey, Donald, Snow White and Pinocchio, “Fantasia” came across to some as him stepping out of line to be hoity-toity and breaking the rules of not only motion-picture cartooning, but motion pictures in general.
Another turning point that came during the making of “Fantasia” was Roy’s suggestion that the cash-strapped studio go public. Walt was against this at first, saying that he didn’t want shareholders sticking their noses in his creative process. But in the end, he felt he had no choice, and the company launched its IPO in early 1940.
I never got to see “Fantasia“ before losing my sight. The only pieces I had seen of the movie came from the television show “the wonderful world of color“ and at the time I did not have a color television set. Actually, I take that back, it was on the earlier show, the Walt Disney presentation that was not in full color. The show was about the making of “Fantasia“, and the visuals intrigued me even in black and white. Then again, I watched many of the MGM cartoons. I’m always talking about, things like “dance of the weed“, which I had only ever seen in black-and-white and I was absolutely stunned by the beautiful animation. You could imagine rainbow of colors throughout. I’m so glad this film was given a resurgence.
Before turning 25 at the beginning of this year, the original ‘Fantasia’ had long been on my list of movies to revisit once I gained enough maturity, wisdom, and patience through my interpersonal and artistic upbringing. Now that I have seen ‘Fantasia’ on Blu-Ray, I hold such reverence for its artistic merits and legacy in animation history.
‘Fantasia 2000’ was a neat bonus, as well. But the original was absolutely worth revisiting 20 years after my dad took me to see it at Symphony Space!
“Fantasia” is the Disney feature I’ve seen more times than any other. I saw it on the big screen when it was reissued in 1979, 1985, and 1990, and it was probably the first Disney film I bought on home video (either that, or “Dumbo”). Once I even experienced it via a virtual reality helmet during a dental appointment!
Curiously, my parents never took us to see “Fantasia” when we were growing up, although they did take us to most Disney classics when they were reissued (as well as to a great many classical music concerts). I remember them telling me that they saw “Fantasia” together when they were dating, so they may have felt, with some justice, that parts of it were somewhat intense for small children.
I wish Walt Disney had been able to fulfill his goal of creating a new “Fantasia” every year. There are many pieces of music that I cannot listen to without imagining them given the full Disney animated treatment: Rimsky-Korsakov “Scheherazade”, Mussorgsky “Pictures at an Exhibition”, Tchaikovsky “Romeo and Juliet”, Berlioz “Symphonie Fantastique”, Messiaen “Turangalila”, John Adams “Short Ride in a Fast Machine”, etc. While “Fantasia” may have paid off for Disney in the long run, businesses still have to keep an eye on the bottom line quarter by quarter. All things considered, we’re lucky — and I mean, really lucky — that a masterpiece like “Fantasia” even exists at all. I’m not exaggerating in the least when I call it one of the crowning artistic achievements of human civilisation.
Perhaps the film should serve as a model showing how great music can stimulate the imagination. If we cultivate that ability, then each of us can create our own “Fantasia” whenever we close our eyes and listen to music — and it doesn’t cost us anything.
I was very fortunate, the first time I saw Fantasia was at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. I was about 9 or 10, late 1970s I think. If I’m not mistaken, the Rockettes did their routine during the intermission.
Made a very lasting impression on me. (the movie, not the Rockettes) (mostly)
I’m still holding out for another Fantasia, where Goofy gets his moment. I have envisioned 3 possibilities:
Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo”
Gershwin’s “American in Paris”
Beethoven’s “Rage Over a Lost Penny”
To be fair, the film was released as a road-show tour that went through less than fifteen theaters partly due to the expense of Fantasound which might be one of the factors of why it wasn’t a financial success.
Two thoughts:
1. I tend to agree with Michael Barrier and his assessment that Fantasia was a bewildering decision in light of what Snow White achieved both technologically and with its depiction of characters. It is in effect, a silent film appearing a decade after the first talkies. What stopped Walt from taking a more cohesive approach with some common strand across each of the segments we’ll never know, but it could have meant for a stronger overall film if he had.
2. In spite of this, from this distant viewpoint, Fantasia is a unique experiment that has stood the test of time precisely because it is unlike everything else that was being produced at the time. In some way, it set the stage for the melding of the sight and sound in a visual spectacle that can be found at almost any concert. The decision to use classical pieces undoubtedly contributes to its timelessness.
There was even more narration in the 1941 version. Actually, they cut footage down, but they added the additional narration for this release.
Seeing Fantasia in the theater with my mother is a cherished memory. Why? Our family came to the US from Cuba in the ’60s and my mother never really learned English. But Fantasia, with minimal spoken dialogue, was a treat for the eyes and ears we all could enjoy together.