Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a fantastical 1912 Broadway play by Winthrop Ames, was adapted by Ames as a film in 1916, produced by Famous Players and released by Paramount just after Christmas that year. Two wonderful features of the film are the stunningly sumptuous costumes, sets and properties, and Ames’ adaptation of the fairy tale to modern psychological taste, including the social niceties of living as a princess with an evil stepmother and the motivation of the huntsman. And then there is Marguerite Clark. Her fame at the time rivaled that of Mary Pickford, but unfortunately so few of her films survive that we barely know her now. Here is a lovely introduction!
Two departures from the fairy tale are worth mentioning. The first is that the Prince meets Snow White, as a Princess, early in the film, in the scene shown in the attached image. What he does not yet know is that she has, minutes before, replaced her kitchen maid rags (evil stepmother, remember!) with finery borrowed from her bevy of maids in waiting, who also doff their shoes to disguise the fact that Snow White has none.
The other departure is that the evil queen, in this version of the story, is not herself a witch! Instead, she hires one to give her a magical nose job, and make her magic mirror and and the poisoned apple. Perhaps this was done to avoid the disturbing ending of the original tale (no red-hot shoes at the end of this, only a nose transformation) but it alters the queen’s character, making her more vulnerable – though still delightfully wicked.
For a link to the livestream and recording, please subscribe ($5 ticket/$10 subscription with access to all of our films). This is what sustains our series of fascinating silent films with Dr. Carli’s wonderful improvised accompaniments and commentary. We will stream this film live on Sunday, 12/22/24 at 2 pm; after the livestream the recording will remain available at the same link.