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Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Fantasia (1940)
This review includes full spoilers. Proceed accordingly. For other movie reviews from me, click HERE: Dusty: ♫♫♫♫♫ Rating: GDirector: James Algar...(segment "The Sorcerer's Apprentice") (uncredited)Samuel Armstrong...(segm…
Fantasia opens with live-action scenes of members of an orchestra gathering against a blue background and tuning their instruments in half-light, half-shadow. Master of ceremonies Deems Taylor enters the stage (also in half-light, half-shadow) and introduces the program.
The Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Selections from the 1892 ballet suite underscore scenes depicting the changing of the seasons from summer to autumn to winter. A variety of dances are presented with fairies, fish, flowers, mushrooms, and leaves, including "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", "Chinese Dance", "Arabian Dance", "Russian Dance", "Dance of the Flutes" and "Waltz of the Flowers".
The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky. A visual history of the Earth's beginnings is depicted to selected sections of the ballet score. The sequence progresses from the planet's formation to the first living creatures, followed by the reign and extinction of the dinosaurs.
Intermission/Meet the Soundtrack: The orchestra musicians depart and the Fantasia title card is revealed. After the intermission there is a brief jam session of jazz music led by a clarinettist as the orchestra members return. Then a humorously stylized demonstration of how sound is rendered on film is shown. An animated sound track "character", initially a straight white line, changes into different shapes and colors based on the sounds played.
The Pastoral Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven. A mythical Greco–Roman world of colorful centaurs and "centaurettes", cupids, fauns and other figures from classical mythology is portrayed to Beethoven's music. A gathering for a festival to honor Bacchus, the god of wine, is interrupted by Zeus, who creates a storm and directs Vulcan to forge lightning bolts for him to throw at the attendees.
Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli. A comic ballet in four sections: Madame Upanova and her ostriches (Morning); Hyacinth Hippo and her servants (Afternoon); Elephanchine and her bubble-blowing elephant troupe (Evening); and Ben Ali Gator and his troop of alligators (Night). The finale finds all of the characters dancing together until their palace collapses.
Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky and Ave Maria by Franz Schubert. On Walpurgis Night, the giant devil Chernabog awakes and summons evil spirits and restless souls from their graves to Bald Mountain. The spirits dance and fly through the air until driven back by the sound of an Angelus bell as night fades into dawn. A chorus is heard singing Ave Maria as a line of robed monks is depicted walking with lighted torches through a forest and into the ruins of a cathedral
My Review:
Watching Fantasia for the first time in decades was like going through hypno-therapy. From Mickey Mouse in a sorcerer's hat, to a terrifying T-Rex killing a fellow dinosaur, to dancing hippos, to Satan clenching his first and unfurling his wings on Bald Mountain, I repeatedly experienced the sensation of recovering memories from my subconscious. All of those images from the film had been in my brain this entire time, but I had forgotten they were there. I wish I could say that I discovered something about myself in the process, though maybe that bit takes some time. I mean, who knows how these hidden images have impacted my life and personality. Maybe they were repressed for a good reason.
Fantasia has a reputation for being made with the purpose of proving that animation could be artistic and timeless. In that respect, the film absolutely succeeded. Between the familiar classical pieces, and the scenes playing on the screen, I could feel the "touring a museum" part of my brain being engaged throughout. We saw a piece featuring science, another featuring nature, another touching on Greek mythology, and the film concluded with Satan being overcome by the Church. The animation manages to run the gamut of interestingly abstract, objectively beautiful, funny, terrifying, and sacred. The film is an achievement.
I learned a few things on my rewatch that I must have missed a few decades ago. The film states that the tale of the Sorcerer's Apprentice is nearly two thousand years old. As I had previously believed this a Goethe original, I looked into it. The story Lover of Lies by the Ancient Greek writer Lucian bears a remarkable resemblance to the German poem written by Goethe and indeed may have been his inspiration. The lesson in all the stories though is not to mess with things in the spiritual realm unless or until you are qualified to do so.
I was also completely unfamiliar with "Bald Mountain" outside of its place in Fantasia. As it turns out, the term is Russian in origin so I looked into it further after I finished:
The original Russian title of the tone poem, Иванова ночь на лысой горе, translates literally as Saint John's Eve on Bald Mountain, usually shortened to Night on Bald Mountain. However, due to several ambiguities, the composition is also known by a number of alternative titles in English.
The Russian word "ночь" (noch′) is literally "night" in English, but idiomatically this would refer to the night following St. John's Day, variously observed between 21 June (the summer solstice) and 25 June. The night before St. John's Day is usually referred to as "St. John's Eve" in English; Russian does not make this distinction.
Bald Mountain is the most familiar translation of "лысой горе" (lysoy gore) in English, and is also the most literal. The adjective "bald" is commonly used in English place names for barren hills, mountains, and other features, and so is also idiomatic. However, because the most familiar use of "bald" describes hairlessness, this part of the title is also known as "Bare Mountain". The use of "bald" to describe barren landscapes is common in European languages. In French, the piece is known as Une nuit sur le mont Chauve and in Italian Una Notte sul Monte Calvo (A Night on Bald Mountain).
As you might expect, given the source material, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie soundtrack. I particularly enjoyed "Rite of Spring" by Igor Stravinsky. The recording of the film score is worth a listen, even if you don't opt to revisit the film. Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra did an incredible job.
I definitely recommend Fantasia to my fellow adults. I would hesitate to show this to a small child, though, especially not right before bed. Some people might take issue with Mickey performing magic, and attempting to murder his enchanted brook. The animators did not hold back in making their T-Rex and Satan quite frightening on screen. The T-Rex killing a fellow dinosaur was a particularly tough watch. That said, I definitely enjoyed the movie and I look forward to thinking about it more in the days ahead, now that I have unlocked those buried images from the places where they were previously hidden inside my mind. We'll see where I end up.
Have you seen Fantasia? If so, what did you think?
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