SLEEPING BEAUTY Academy Screening
by Andre Soares
As part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ Gold Standard series, the premiere screening of a newly restored digital version of the Walt Disney Studios’ 1959 animated feature Sleeping Beauty will be presented on Friday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The evening will be hosted by film critic Leonard Maltin.
Following the screening, a team from Walt Disney Animation Studios will take part in a panel discussion about Sleeping Beauty, including animator Andreas Deja; Dave Bossert, creative director of special projects; Theo Gluck, director of library restoration and preservation; and Terry Porter, sound department chief and head rerecording mixer.
As per the Academy’s press release, "Walt Disney envisioned Sleeping Beauty as his masterwork, and his nearly decade-long effort to bring the 17th century fairy tale to the screen at the then-shocking cost of $6 million resulted in an exquisitely detailed animated fantasy. With the enchanting fairies Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, the beautiful Princess Aurora, her valiant Prince Phillip, and the evil witch Maleficent all modeled on extensive footage of live actors, the human characters are remarkably lifelike, and Eyvind Earle’s visual and color stylings realize Disney’s conception of the film as a ‘moving illustration.’"
(I interviewed Eyvind Earle for my biography of Ramon Novarro — Earle’s father, Ferdinand Pinney Earle, had directed Novarro in his first important film role. Following our chat, he generously sent me a copy of his highly readable autobiography, Horizon Bound on a Bicycle, in which he discusses his work on Sleeping Beauty.)
The Academy release adds that "the new digital restoration of Sleeping Beauty comes from 4K scans of the camera original successive exposure Technirama negative. The 7.1 audio remix was created from the Disney Studio’s 35mm mag elements, including the original 3-track stereo music masters, which were recorded in Berlin in 1958."
Sleeping Beauty earned George Bruns an Academy Award nomination for Music — Scoring of a musical picture.
Original artwork from Sleeping Beauty can be found at the Academy’s exhibition "Ink & Paint: The Art of Hand-Drawn Animation," which focuses on the creative process of pre-computer animation, from storyboards and color keys to layouts and cels — including the work of Eyvind Earle. Ink & Paint is currently on display in the Academy’s Grand Lobby Gallery. The exhibition will be open for viewing following the Sleeping Beauty screening.
Tickets to Sleeping Beauty are $5 for the general public and may be purchased online at www.oscars.org, in person at the Academy box office or by mail. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. All seating is unreserved. For more information, call (310) 247-3600.
Photos: Courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library
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