Walt Disney wanted his 1959 animation version of the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" to be the biggest and brightest full-length cartoon the studio had ever produced--a pretty tall order, considering the predecessors: "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Dumbo," "Pinocchio," "Bambi" and "Fantasia."
"There is no question he wanted 'Sleeping Beauty' to be what the French call ne plus ultra," says Scott MacQueen, who restored "Sleeping Beauty" five years ago. "It was his biggest film--his most colorful. It was the most state-of-the-art presentation of animation that had ever been."
More than six years in the making, "Sleeping Beauty" cost $6 million--at the time a record for an animated film. Produced on 70-millimeter film using three-strip Technicolor and a wide-screen process called Technirama, it also boasted a six-track stereophonic mix.
Featuring the music from Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty Ballet," the enchanting, sometimes scary fairy tale tells the story of Princess Aurora, cursed as a newborn by an evil witch named Maleficent. The evil fairy declares that before Aurora reaches her 16th birthday, she will die. To prevent her death, the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, take Aurora to live in the country. But when she is 16, she is discovered by Maleficent and put to sleep. Only a kiss will awaken Aurora.
"Sleeping Beauty" has awakened in its original wide-screen splendor for a two-week engagement at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood that kicks off Thursday evening with a special making-of-the-movie panel discussion.
Mary Costa, the famed opera singer who provided the voice of Aurora, is scheduled to participate, as is legendary Disney animator Ollie Johnston, one of Disney's "Nine Old Men," who with Frank Thomas brought Flora, Fauna and Merryweather to delightful life. Rounding out the panel are MacQueen, animation critic Charles Solomon, musical historian Alex Rannie and current Disney animator Andreas Deja.
This fully restored wide-screen version of the film has been shown only once before in Los Angeles, says MacQueen. "It was at the wide-screen festival a few years back. The last time the El Cap ran the movie it was the 35-millimeter print, so the 7-millimeter hasn't had big exposure here."
Costa, now 72, is flying in from home in Knoxville, Tenn. She had done radio commercials and sang in her church choir in Glendale before landing the vocal role of Aurora. After the project, with Disney's encouragement, she pursued her dream of becoming an opera singer.
