Audio Video News

If critics and filmgoers alike found it difficult to discuss Walt Disney's 1937 animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs without tripping over superlatives, then it is even more difficult to suppress those superlatives on viewing the studio's marvelous DVD of the same. This two-disc Platinum Edition is positively loaded with the kind of enhancements—and enchantments—that go far beyond the original film. After viewing the entire package, well, there won't be much of dear Snow White left to the imagination.

Back in 1987, and again in 1993, when Disney released progressively upgraded video versions of the film, much was said about the video and audio transfers. But the DVD version enhances the quality even further, with remarkable clarity in both sound and color. In true Disney fashion, even the segues and menu screens pay obsessive attention to animated detail.

Disc 1 includes a restored print of the film that is frankly astounding in its color treatment. It also includes a commentary by film historian John Canemaker, interspersed with archival comments from Walt Disney himself. There's also a 40-minute documentary on the making of Snow White, as well as a Silly Symphony animated short, The Goddess of Spring, that foreshadows some of Snow White's innovations and characterizations. Computer games, karaoke, and a new version of "Some Day My Prince Will Come," sung by Barbra Streisand, round out the disc.

Disc 2 delves even deeper into the myths and marvels of Disney's best film. Here you'll find information on character design and animation techniques, sketch galleries, and the live-action camera tests on which the animation was based. Snow White's Wishing Well features a production timeline, storyboard-to-film comparisons, and a text version of the Grimm brothers' original, grim fairytale. There are abandoned concepts, cut scenes, and musical outtakes, including a song cut from the original, "You're Never Too Old to Be Young." There's even a booklet!

All this, and I haven't even mentioned how magnificent, revolutionary, and entertaining the original film is. It may still be relatively early in the DVD game, but Disney has established a high-water mark for this young technology.