Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an American animated musical fantasy film from 1937. It was produced by Walt Disney and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, adapting the 1812 Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Snow White." David Hand oversaw the project, working with five sequence directors: Perce Pearce, William Cottrell, Larry Morey, Wilfred Jackson, and Ben Sharpsteen. This movie was the first cel animated feature film ever made, and the first animated feature film produced in the United States.

The film premiered on December 21, 1937, at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, California, and had a general U.S. release on February 4, 1938. Although the film industry initially had doubts, it achieved both critical and commercial success. During its first run, it earned over $8 million internationally against a production cost of $1.5 million, making it the highest-grossing film of 1938 and briefly the highest-grossing sound film of all time. It also held the record for highest-grossing animated film for 55 years. Its popularity led to many theatrical re-releases until its home video debut in the 1990s. Adjusted for inflation, it ranks among the top ten North American box office performers and remains the highest-grossing animated film globally when adjusted, with an estimated $2,297,000,000. At the 1938 Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Musical Score, and the following year, Walt Disney received a unique honorary Oscar: one normal-sized statuette plus seven miniature ones, presented by Shirley Temple.

Snow White was a landmark in early animation and is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential films ever made, credited with launching the golden age of animation. Disney's version has had a major cultural impact, inspiring theme park attractions, a video game, a Broadway musical, and a 2025 live-action remake. In 1989, the U.S. Library of Congress selected it as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the National Film Registry, calling it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The American Film Institute ranked it among the 100 greatest American films and, in 2008, named it the greatest American animated film of all time.

**Plot**

Snow White, a princess who lost both parents young, lives with her wicked stepmother, the Queen. Fearing Snow White’s beauty will surpass her own, the Queen forces her to work as a scullery maid and daily asks her Magic Mirror, "who is the fairest one of all." For years, the mirror answers that the Queen is, pleasing her. One day, Snow White meets and falls in love with a prince who hears her singing. That same day, the mirror declares Snow White the fairest. The Queen orders her Huntsman to take Snow White into the forest, kill her, and bring back her heart in a jeweled box. Unable to do it, the Huntsman warns Snow White, who flees into the forest.

Lost and frightened, Snow White is befriended by woodland animals, who lead her to a hidden cottage. Finding seven small chairs, she assumes it is the untidy home of seven orphaned children. With the animals’ help, she cleans and cooks. She soon learns the cottage belongs to seven dwarfs—Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey—who work in a nearby mine. Returning home, they are alarmed by the clean cottage and suspect an intruder. Snow White introduces herself and explains her situation; the dwarfs agree to let her stay for protection. She cooks and washes for them while they mine jewels, and at night they sing, play music, and dance.

At the castle, the Magic Mirror reveals Snow White is still alive with the dwarfs. Enraged that the Huntsman gave her a pig’s heart, the Queen uses a potion to disguise herself as an old peddler and creates a poisoned apple that induces a Sleeping Death. She learns the curse can be broken by "love’s first kiss" but is certain Snow White will be buried alive first. The Queen visits the cottage while the dwarfs are away. The animals see through the disguise but cannot warn Snow White; they rush to find the dwarfs. The Queen tricks Snow White into biting the apple, and she falls into a death-like slumber.

The dwarfs return with the animals as the Queen leaves and chase her to a cliff. She tries to roll a boulder onto them, but lightning strikes the cliff, causing her to fall to her death. The dwarfs find Snow White asleep from the poison. Unwilling to bury her, they place her in a glass coffin in the forest, keeping watch with the animals. The following spring, the prince learns of her eternal sleep and visits the coffin. Saddened, he kisses her, breaking the spell and awakening her. The dwarfs and animals rejoice as the prince takes Snow White to his castle.

**Voice cast**

Adriana Caselotti voices Snow White, a sweet and innocent young princess forced to hide from her stepmother in the dwarfs’ cottage. Lucille La Verne voices the Queen, Snow White’s jealous and wicked stepmother obsessed with being "the fairest one of all." La Verne also voices the Witch, the Queen’s peddler disguise used to trick Snow White. Roy Atwell voices Doc, the pompous yet good-hearted leader of the seven dwarfs.