Fantasia (1940)

Produced by Walt Disney, eight animated segments are set to pieces of classical music with the renowned Leopold Stokowsi conducting the Philadelphia orchestra. A unique and daring concept for its day and if seen in one's childhood, the imagery is retained forever. Audacious for 1940, I suspect in today's reactionary atmosphere, some of the imagery would be attacked. Certainly in a Disney animated movie, one doesn't expect nude females practicing satanic rituals (Mussorgsky's NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN) or drunken orgies (Beethoven's PASTORAL SYMPHONY) and surely, the religious creationists would take offense at the suggestion that we evolved from lower creatures (Stravinsky's RITES OF SPRING). For me, the film's highlight has always been the charming comedic ballet of ostriches, elephants, hippos and alligators (Ponchielli's DANCE OF THE HOURS). The film is also the first use of stereophonic sound in a major motion picture. Considered a "longhair musical", the film was a surprise hit and ran in one theatre in New York City for almost a year. But the film's cost was prohibitive so FANTASIA didn't show a profit until many years later, notably in 1969 when it became popular with teenagers and college students because of its psychedelic features. When I saw the 1969 reissue, the aroma of marijuana  in the theatre was thick.