Snow-White (1933 film)

Synopsis

A magic mirror shaped like Cab Calloway tells Betty Boop she is the most beautiful person around, which makes the Queen furious. The Queen commands her guards, Bimbo and Koko, to kill Betty. They sadly take her into the woods, and though they prepare to carry out the order, they instead break their weapons to save her.

However, they tumble into a pit before they can set her free. Betty flees onto a frozen river, which traps her inside a block of ice like a coffin. The ice slides downhill to the home of the Seven Dwarfs, who bring the frozen Betty to a magical cave, where they bump into Koko and Bimbo. The Queen, now a witch, transforms Koko into a ghost while he performs "St. James Infirmary Blues." Thinking her enemies are gone, the Queen asks the mirror again who is the fairest, but the mirror bursts in magical smoke.

This smoke restores Betty and Koko to normal and twists the Queen into a hideous dragon-like creature. The monster chases the group until Bimbo seizes its tongue and pulls, flipping the creature inside out and making it run away. Betty, Koko, and Bimbo celebrate by dancing in a circle as the film ends.

Legacy

In the "St. James" number, Koko's dance moves, which include steps that resemble the later "moonwalk" and "dab," were created by tracing over footage of Cab Calloway. The United States Library of Congress declared this film "culturally significant" and added it to the National Film Registry in 1994. That same year, animation professionals ranked it 19th on their list of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time. Paramount holds the copyright, which was renewed in 1961.