Snow White
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
J. Searle Dawley
Marguerite Clark
Dorothy Cumming
Creighton Hale
Lionel Braham
Alice Washburn
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Because Queen Brangomar has always been jealous of the princess Snow White, she makes the girl work as a scullery maid. Yet, even this indignity is not enough, and when Prince Florimond falls in love with Snow White, Brangomar, herself in love with Florimond, decides to have the princess murdered and so commissions Berthold, the hunter, to do the job. Instead of killing her, however, Berthold takes Snow White to the safety of the forest, and from there she goes to live with seven dwarfs. Later, Brangomar tracks her down and gets her to take a bite from a poisoned apple, but Snow White recovers and marries Florimond, while the witch Hex, who years before had made Brangomar beautiful, but who is now fed up with her, turns the queen into a peacock.
Director
J. Searle Dawley
Cast
Marguerite Clark
Dorothy Cumming
Creighton Hale
Lionel Braham
Alice Washburn
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
This live-action version of the fairy tale that supposedly inspired Walt Disney to make the later animated version was thought to be lost, until discovered by George Eastman House in the Dutch film Archive. GEH acquired the nitrate and preserved it. They went back and, using the play script and translations, restored the English titles to the print. They also repaired some defects in the image and tinting of the film.
The first movie Walt Disney ever saw.
One of the 50 films in the 4-disk boxed DVD set called "Treasures from American Film Archives (2000)", compiled by the National Film Preservation Foundation from 18 American film archives. This film was preserved by the George Eastman House. This version has an uncredited piano music score and runs 63 minutes. Marguarite Clark starred in the play "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" by Jessie Braham White; it opened in New York on 7 November 1912 and ran for 72 performances. This movie's writer, Winthrop Ames, produced that play and no doubt was greatly influenced by it. Sketches of the sets and costumes from the play were used for this film.
Notes
Motion Picture News calls Snow White Paramount's first six reel film. Marguerite Clark starred in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a play by Jesse Graham White that opened in New York November 7, 1912. According to a news item, studies for the play by director Winthrop Ames, who wrote the scenario, and sketches for the costumes and settings, were used in preparation for the film. Among the many other film versions of the fairy tale are a 1917 Universal three-reeler, a short 1933 Fleischer animated film and Disney's feature-length 1938 animated film. For information on those and other film adaptations, please consult the entry for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40.
