HERE AT LAST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 300, 20 December 1938, Page 4

HERE AT LAST.

"SNOW WHITE" FOR CIVIC. For years movie-goers the world over have been borne on the wings of fantasy by Walt Disney's animated characters for eight or ten minutes at a time, but now, in his first full-length feature, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," they are enabled to forget the world of realism and revel in the beauties of an idealised drama for an hour and a quarter. The gala premiere of this long-awaited classic will be held in the Civic Theatre on Thursday next at 8 p.m., in the presence of their Excellencies Lord and Lady Galway and the Mayor and Mayoress, Sir Ernest and Lady Davis. "Snow White" is made in its entirety of drawings animated into living action, but the drawings are quite different from those Disney used for his short features. In the first place, with the exception of the seven dwarfs, there is little caricature in the film. "'Snow White" herself is a charming little lady with "skin as white as snow, lips red as rose and hair black as ebony." And she has a charming singing voice -with ■ which she delivers four of the eight songs in the production. Further, unlike his short cartoons, this film has several emotional ingredients besides humour. High drama, pathos, excitement and suspense are all present, in addition to an abundance of delightful comedy, provided mainly by the quaint dwarfs. For the first time in any Disney feature, also, a character meets death in this film. wh«n the wicked queen is chased to her doom by the little men after she has attempted to poison "Snow White." Those who have seen the short feature, which has been exhibited in Auckland theatres for some weeks past, showing how the film was evolved, must realise the immense amount of work that has gone into making the 7000 ft production, and the marvellous direction needed to transform the thousands of individual sketches into the single smooth-running illustrated story that it is. I