Fantasia (1940)
(James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe, Jr., US 1940, 124 min., DCP)
Walt Disney’s third feature-length animated film was this anthology of eight short films set to classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski. Its most famous chapter, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, was conceived as an elaborate Silly Symphony that was designed as a comeback for Mickey Mouse, who had been declining in popularity. When Disney decided to expand the concept, he brought in music by Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Straninsky, and Tchaikovsky, among others. Disney allowed his animators a great amount of freedom as they imagined nature scenes, fairies, dancing hippos, Greek gods, and the devil himself. A masterwork of animation and classical music, the achievement has been unequaled in the history of cinema.