For the second consecutive year, the TCM Classic Film Festival will celebrate the legacy of The Walt Disney Studios. Turner Classic Movies (TCM), in collaboration with D23: The Official Disney Fan Club, will present a 75th-anniversary screening of Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Disney’s first hand-drawn feature-length animated film.
On Saturday, April 14, Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will screen at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre at 1 p.m. This film revolutionized the art of animation. Snow White and her story are more popular than ever.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bestowed a special Academy Award® on
Walt Disney, recognizing Snow White as “a significant screen innovation which has charmed
millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field.” The unique Oscar® trophy consisted
of one full-sized statuette standing next to seven miniature versions. The film also earned an
Oscar® nomination for Leigh Harline’s memorable score.
In 1997, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was named one of the 100 Greatest Films of All
Time by the American Film Institute (AFI). The following year, the AFI named it the greatest
American animated film of all time.
On Friday, April 13, at 2:45 p.m., Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas will be present at Grauman’s
Chinese Theatre for the first public screening of the newly restored 1954 adventure film epic,
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the first live-action feature film shot at Walt Disney’s Burbank
studios. Disney recruited an A-list cast including Kirk Douglas, James Mason and Paul Lukas,
and a set budget of $9 million, the largest in Hollywood history at that time.
Walt Disney had originally planned to turn Jules Verne’s tale of Captain Nemo’s battle to wipe
out warfare into an animated feature. But when he saw designer Harper Goff’s preliminary
sketches, he decided to make the switch to live action. To film the massive production – the
studio’s first in CinemaScope – Disney added a water tank and a third soundstage to his
studio, rented additional space from 20th Century-Fox and Universal, and sent cast and crew
to the Caribbean for underwater shooting. His technicians also had to develop new equipment
for the film’s many underwater scenes and create a giant, two-ton squid for the film’s most
impressive sequence.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea went on to earn two Oscars®, one for the eye-popping visual
effects and one for John Meehan and Emile Kuri’s art direction and set decoration. The film
earned a third nomination for Elmo Williams’ editing.
Operation Undersea, an episode of the Disneyland TV series highlighting the creation of the
film, won Emmys® for Best Individual Program of the Year (1955) and Best Television Film
Editing.
Each April, Hollywood rolls out the red carpet to welcome thousands of movie lovers,
filmmakers and legendary stars from around the globe for the TCM Classic Film Festival.
Marking its third year, the TCM Classic Film Festival is the place to experience classic movies
as they were meant to be seen: on the big screen, in some of the world’s most iconic venues,
with the people who made them. The four-day festival, which takes place Thursday, April 12
– Sunday, April 15, features a wide range of screenings, events and appearances starting
early in the morning and going into the late evening.
TCM host and film historian Robert Osborne will serve as official host of the TCM Classic Film
Festival, with TCM weekend daytime host Ben Mankiewicz also introducing several events.
Among the highlights of this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival: a gala opening-night screening
of the newly restored Cabaret (1972), with a live appearance by Oscar® winners Liza Minnelli
and Joel Grey*; a multi-tiered celebration of Kim Novak, including the taping of a TCM
special, a hand and footprints ceremony at Grauman’s Chinese Theater and a screening of the
Alfred Hitchcock classic Vertigo (1958); a tribute to director and choreographer Stanley
Donen; live appearances by Debbie Reynolds at anniversary screenings of the newly
restored Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and the western epic How the West Was Won (1962),
the latter presented in all its Cinerama glory; introductions by Dick Van Dyke, Shirley Jones,
Angie Dickinson, Robert Wagner and others; a multi-tiered look at Style in the Movies; a
salute to Paramount, featuring an appearance by Oscar-winning producer Robert Evans; the
U.S. premiere of the documentary Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room (2010), with live
appearances by “Baby Peggy” Diana Serra Cary and filmmaker Vera Iwerebor; newly
restored editions of such landmark films as Wings (1927), Casablanca (1942) and Grand
Illusion (1937); and much more.
The third-annual TCM Classic Film Festival is produced by TCM. Since launching in spring
2010, the TCM Classic Film Festival has quickly established itself as a destination event for
film lovers, drawing more than 25,000 attendees from around the country and around the globe
in 2011. Festival passes are on sale now at http://www.tcm.com/festival.
The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which has a longstanding role in movie history and was the
site of the first Oscars® ceremony, will serve as the official hotel for the festival, as well as
home to Club TCM, a central gathering point for passholders. Screenings and events will be
held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Chinese 6 Theatres, the Egyptian Theatre and, for the
first time this year, Arclight Cinema’s Cinerama Dome and The Avalon.
* Schedule permitting
