Pretty soon, the live-action remake of Snow White will be a reality. If you—like us—can’t wait for it, why not reacquaint yourself with the original?
Now, there are some Snow White facts that everybody knows. For example, we know that it was Disney’s very first feature-length animated film. We know that it was originally a fairy tale made by the brothers Grimm in the nineteenth century.
Still, there are some things about the Snow White movie that aren’t common knowledge. Want to refresh your memory? Check out these five Snow White movie facts!
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1. The Innocent Princess
In the original designs, Snow White looked a lot like Betty Boop. Think long eyelashes, pouting lips, and a far more revealing outfit.
Walt Disney was against this, insisting that the Princess should be innocent. This led to the cute Snow White design that we know and love. It also led to other changes, such as the Queen getting killed by lightning instead of Snow White dispatching her.
2. Disney’s Folly
Though Disney believed in the movie, nobody else seemed to get it. Soon enough, everyone in Hollywood started referring to it as “Disney’s Folly.”
This made securing funding very difficult. In the end, Disney had to remortgage his house to get to the $1.4 million needed to make the movie. Once it became a hit, though, Disney used the profits to buy 51 acres of land and started building new studies on it.
3. A Darker Tale
For a Disney movie, Snow White is surprisingly scary. The cackling witch, a poisoned apple, the spooky forest—need we go further?
Interestingly enough, the original fairy tale was even scarier! For instance, once the witch thinks Snow White is dead, she tries to eat her organs! Her comeuppance is also more severe, as she dances to death in her red hot slippers.
4. Dwarfs vs. Dwarves
At the time of the movie’s release, the plural of “dwarf” was “dwarfs.” It only became “dwarves” once Tolkien’s The Hobbit became popular.
As for the little guys themselves, the original proposal had over 50 suggestions for them. One of them was Awful, a dwarf who “steals, drinks, and is very dirty.” Fortunately, the Seven Dwarfs names we ended up getting were all hits!
5. The Missing Prince
The artists on Snow White faced plenty of challenges. In a later interview, Disney said he wished he could “yank it back and do everything again.”
One particularly notable challenge was animating the Prince. As a result, many of his scenes ended up on the cutting floor. You could see proof of this in the final scene, where the Prince was shaking while he swept Snow White into his arms.
More on the Snow White Movie
By now, we know that none of the above issues stopped the Snow White movie from captivating its audience. Adjusted for inflation, the movie is a top 10 box office performer. Even 80 years after it came out, the Snow White fairytale remains a cultural centerpiece.
Interested in more cool movie trivia facts? Keep reading our Entertainment section!
