''7 Wise Dwarfs'' (also known as ''Seven Wise Dwarfs'' and ''Walt Disney's 7 Wise Dwarfs'') is a 1941 four-minute educational

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

animated film Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

made by the Walt Disney Studios for

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, for the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

. The film was released theatrically on December 12, 1941, as part of a series of four films directed at the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

public to learn about

war bonds War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are a ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. ''7 Wise Dwarfs'' was directed by Richard Lyford and featured the voice talent of

Pinto Colvig Vance DeBar Colvig Sr. (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967), professionally Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, newspaper cartoonist, and circus and vaudeville performer whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. Co ...

as "Doc". ''7 Wise Dwarfs'' features the Seven Dwarfs from Disney's ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...

'', four years after the characters made their screen debut. Quite a bit of the short consists of reused work from the 1937 ''Snow White'' film. The film short, for example, typically shows Dopey doing things in a clumsy, belated and confused fashion for

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...

effect (as in the original film).

Plot

The Seven Dwarfs mining for

gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, ...

s, march past

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their architectu ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, and then rush to a post office, while Dopey goes to a nearby bank instead when he finds himself locked out, and invest their gems in Canadian War Savings Certificates. All the while, the dwarfs sing a variant of the song "

Heigh-Ho "Heigh-Ho" is a song from Walt Disney's 1937 animated film ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', written by Frank Churchill (music) and Larry Morey (lyrics). It is sung by the group of Seven Dwarfs as they work at a mine with diamonds and rubie ...

" (from the original film). A pastiche of war scenes follows, each of which ends with a message, usually coincidentally (like letters appearing from cracks made by bullets). The changed lyrics to the song typically talks of investing in the war effort by purchasing war savings certificates, and uses marketing phrases like "Five for Four" (a phrase coined to reflect a long term return of five

dollar Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...

s on every four invested - it is also the name of another short educational film advocating the same cause in Canada during the war).

Characters

All the Dwarfs: * Grumpy *

Sneezy ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' is a 1937 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on the 1812 German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, it is the first full-le ...

Sleepy Sleepy means feeling a need for sleep, also known as somnolence. It may also refer to: People * Sleepy (rapper) (born 1984), a South Korean rapper part of the hip hop duo Untouchable * Sleepy Bill Burns (1880–1953), American baseball player * ...

Doc DOC, Doc, doc or DoC may refer to: In film and television * ''Doc'' (2001 TV series), a 2001–2004 PAX series * ''Doc'' (1975 TV series), a 1975–1976 CBS sitcom * "D.O.C." (''Lost''), a television episode * ''Doc'' (film), a 1971 Wester ...

* Dopey *

Happy Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. Sinc ...

* Bashful

Production

In 1939, with the outbreak of a global war, Walt Disney Studios felt a great pinch in their finances due to the loss of much of their European markets. This was further limited with the

invasion of France France has been invaded on numerous occasions, by foreign powers or rival French governments; there have also been unimplemented invasion plans. * the 1746 War of the Austrian Succession, Austria-Italian forces supported by the British navy attemp ...

by Nazi forces in 1940, which meant that the next Disney release ''

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

'' (1940) was only dubbed in Spanish and Portuguese, a great deal less languages than previous Disney works.Barrier 2003, p. 272. Due to this loss of profit, and losses on recent films, Disney studios faced a bleak outlook of a deficit of over half a million dollars, layoffs and pay cuts for the first time in the studio, and a $2.23 million ceiling on their credit allowance. With bleak prospects, the studio was made into a corporation in April 1940, which raised $3.6 million to help pay off debts owed by the studio. To enable his studios to keep afloat and producing films, Walt Disney sought out external funding to cover production costs, which would allow him to keep employees on the payroll and keep the studio working.Cheu 2013, p. 27. On March 3, 1941, Disney invited over three dozen different representatives of various national defence industries to a lunch meeting, in an attempt to solicit work from them. He followed this luncheon with formal letters offering work "for national defence industries at cost, and without profit. In making this offer, I am motivated solely by a desire to help as best I can in the present emergency."Barrier 2003, p. 360. ''Four Methods of Flush Riveting'' (1941) was first training film that was commissioned by

Lockheed Aircraft Lockheed (originally spelled Loughead) may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Lockheed Corporation, a former American aircraft manufacturer * Lockheed Martin, formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta ** Lockheed Ma ...

. In response to Disney's efforts,

John Grierson John Grierson (26 April 1898 – 19 February 1972) was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. In 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" in a review of Robert J. Fla ...

, the head of the National Film Board of Canada entered into a co-production agreement for four animated films to promote the Canadian War Savings Plan. In addition, a training film for the Canadian Army, that eventually became ''

Stop That Tank! ''Stop That Tank!'' (aka ''Boys Anti-Tank Rifle'') is a 22-minute 1942 instructional film created during World War II by Walt Disney Productions for the Directorate of Military Training, The Department of National Defence and the National Film B ...

'' (1942) was commissioned.St. Pierre, Marc
"70 years of animation, Part 1 – When animation marches off to war".
''NFB.ca'', 2011. Retrieved: March 7, 2016.

Reception

While intended for a theatrical audience, ''7 Wise Dwarfs'', along with the other three films in the series, was effective in delivering its message to Canadians through their local War Savings Committee. When America entered the war, these shorts were later released as part of the eight bond drives in the United States.

Home media

The short was released on May 18, 2004, on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Walt Disney on the Front Lines''.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Barrier, Michael. ''Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. . * Cheu, Johnson. (Ed.). ''Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2013. . * Gabler, Neal. ''Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination''. New York: Vintage, 2007. . * Maltin, Leonard. ''The Disney Films'' (4th Edition). New York: JessieFilms Ltd., 2000. . * Shull, Michael S. and David E. Wilt. ''Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Short Films, 1939-1945'' (2nd ed.) Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers, 2004. . * Telotte, J. P. ''Animating Space: From Mickey to WALL-E''. United States: The University Press of Kentucky, 2010. . * Van Riper, Bowdoin A. ''Learning from Mickey, Donald and Walt: Essays on Disney's Edutainment films''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2011. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:7 Wise Dwarfs 1941 animated films 1941 short films 1940s Disney animated short films Films directed by Richard Lyford Films produced by Walt Disney Films set in Ontario Snow White (franchise) National Film Board of Canada short films National Film Board of Canada animated short films Canadian World War II propaganda shorts Canadian animated short films Quebec films Seven Dwarfs Films about dwarfs 1940s English-language films 1940s Canadian animated films