Authors: John Culhane
Publication Date: 1983 (newest edition 1999; my edition 1987)
Publisher: Abradale Press / Abrams
Pages: 223 pages
It’s been so long since I did a book review and I’ve really missed them, so to get back into the groove, I’m taking a look at another volume by the late, great John Culhane. Walt Disney’s Fantasia was a relatively early art book, released many years before the string of polished Hyperion treasures from the nineties and long before every animated film had its own book devoted to it. Fittingly, its subject is one of Disney’s most ambitious artistic endeavours to date: the spectacular experiment that was Fantasia. Arguably, there’s nothing in the Disney canon more deserving of an art book than this film, in which Walt Disney famously attempted to combine the experiences of a concert hall, an art gallery and a theatre into one. Whether or not he was entirely successful, the fact is that Culhane clearly had a great deal of love for the 1940 classic, and being the excellent writer that he was, he turned its creation into a highly engaging story.
We open with “The Making of Fantasia,” in which Culhane outlines the entire production with warmth and enthusiasm, before going on to discuss its digital restoration in the early 1980s. From here, he talks about each individual segment on the programme separately, beginning with a colourful description of each piece as seen in the film and featuring plenty of supporting artwork. I’d love to see a newer reprint of this on higher-quality paper (like that used for The Illusion of Life); it could look stunning.
First comes “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,” where Culhane discusses the brief, strained collaboration with German-American artist Oskar Fischinger. Then he moves on to “The Nutcracker Suite,” from which Disney used the last six movements; Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Chinese Dance, Dance of the Reed Flutes, Arab Dance, Russian Dance and Waltz of the Flowers. The piece was made long before the Nutcracker ballet was revived as a Christmas staple, and played a role in bringing it back to its former level of popularity. Next comes “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” in which Culhane focuses on Walt’s meeting with Leopold Stokowski and the many inspirations for Mickey’s iconic performance. “Rite of Spring” is broken into eight sections; “Trip Through Space”, “Volcanoes”, “Undersea Life and Growth”, “Pterodactyls”, “Family Life”, “Fight”, “Trek” and “Earthquake”. Culhane covers the relationship between Walt and Igor Stravinsky (and the subsequent rumours of the composer’s dislike for the finished film, apparently unfounded), as well as the more scientific aspects of the piece (including the fear of a Creationist boycott should the artists connect humans with evolution).
There are a few words devoted to “Intermission: The Soundtrack,” with a transcript of the banter exchanged in that section, and then Culhane moves on to the “Pastoral Symphony”, which was once again divided into sections; “Mount Olympus”, “Centaurs and Centaurettes”, “Bacchanal”, “the Storm” and “Sunset”. I was glad he didn’t refrain from critiquing the kitschy model designs in spite of his general fondness for Fantasia, but he does also praise the skill of the animators and the ambitiousness of the piece. Next comes “Dance of the Hours,” which is broken into the Ostrich ballet; morning, the Hippo ballet; afternoon, the Elephant ballet; evening, and the Alligator ballet; night. Culhane here focuses mainly on the creation of Ben and Hyacinth and the positive reaction the segment got from the dance community at the time. To conclude, he then talks about “Night on Bald Mountain / Ave Maria,” that famously contrasted pair, noting that while Stokowski used the “tamer” Rimsky-Korsakov arrangement of Bald Mountain, Irwin Kostal chose Moussorgsky’s own orchestration for the 1982 digital redub. Culhane explains the segment’s roots in Slavic mythology (given added authenticity by Ukrainian-American animator Bill Tytla), and tells us that poet Rachel Field wrote a new English translation of the Ave Maria especially for the film.
Towards the end of this section, he also tells of the last-minute scramble to complete the film in time for the premiere, despite the numerous setbacks – there was even an earthquake at one point during a costly reshoot, but when the crew discovered the equipment was undamaged, they promptly started over. It’s quite a story; they got the last shot with one day to spare, but Walt made still further changes to the soundtrack and had them spliced onto the finished picture just hours before it opened.
The book concludes with the usual production credits, bibliography, acknowledgements (which include Walt himself, who Culhane met when he was seventeen) and an index. It’s filled with details and anecdotes for the curious collector, and Culhane’s jovial tone makes this a welcoming and enjoyable read from start to finish. My one regret was a personal one; since it’s long been out of print, I ordered my copy second-hand, but while the seller described it as “very good,” it was anything but. Some sort of sticky drink had evidently been spilled all over it at some point, leaving the thirty-year-old pages curled and partially stuck together. Isn’t it just awful to see a book so mistreated? I managed to pry them all apart (with a little tearing, sadly), but it would undoubtedly look much better without the damage. If you get yourself a copy, I hope you have better luck than I did!
Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this review. I’d strongly recommend checking out Culhane’s other art books for Disney, too, which I’ve reviewed earlier:
Book Review: Disney’s Aladdin: The Making of an Animated Film
Book Review: Fantasia 2000: Visions of Hope
The next article will be the Spirited Away film review, which I’m hoping to publish next week sometime, ideally before the end of the month, but we shall see. The research is underway; my notebook is already awash with unpronounceable words and phrases (makes me glad I don’t do audio versions of these articles). Until next time, take care and staaay animated!
Buy it on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Walt-Disneys-Fantasia-John-Culhane/dp/0810980789/ – UK
https://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disneys-Fantasia-John-Culhane/dp/0810980789/ – US
Feeling Animated 
Hopefully this is more interesting than the film for me, lol!
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Haha! You know, it did actually help me enjoy the film a bit more, so I hope it does for you too!
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