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Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)

Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution. Based on Charles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale, the production was supervised by Clyde Geronimi, and was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Eric Larson, and Les Clark. Featuring the voices of Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy, Barbara Jo Allen, Taylor Holmes, and Bill Thompson, the film follows Princess Aurora, who was cursed by the evil fairy Maleficent to die from a prick from the spindle of a spinning wheel. She is saved by three good fairies, who alter the curse so that the princess falls into a deep sleep and is awakened by true love's kiss.

Sleeping Beauty

  • Roy M. Brewer Jr.
  • Donald Halliday

  • January 29, 1959 (1959-01-29)

75 minutes

United States

English

$6 million[1]

$51.6 million (United States and Canada)[2]

Sleeping Beauty began development in 1950. The film took nearly a decade and $6 million to produce, and was Disney's most expensive animated feature at the time. Its tapestry-like art style was devised by Eyvind Earle, who was inspired by pre-Renaissance European art; its score and songs, composed by George Bruns, was based on Pyotr Tchaikovsky's 1889 ballet. Sleeping Beauty was the first animated film to use the Super Technirama 70 widescreen process and was the second full-length animated feature filmed in anamorphic widescreen, following Lady and the Tramp (1955).[3]


It was released in theaters on January 29, 1959, to mixed reviews from critics who praised its art direction and musical score and criticized its plot and characters. The film was a box-office bomb in its initial release, grossing $5.3 million, and losing $900,000 for the distributor and many employees from the animation studio became layoffs. Sleeping Beauty's re-releases have been successful,[4] and it has become one of Disney's most artistically acclaimed features. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture at the 32nd Academy Awards.


Maleficent, a live-action reimagining of the film from Maleficent's perspective, was released in 2014, followed by a sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, in 2019. The latter year, Sleeping Beauty was selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot[edit]

King Stefan and Queen Leah[a] welcome their newborn daughter, Aurora, and proclaim a holiday for their subjects to pay homage to the princess. At her christening, she is betrothed to Prince Phillip, the son of Stefan's friend King Hubert, in order to unite their kingdoms. The three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, each bless Aurora with one gift. After Flora and Fauna give her beauty and song, the evil fairy Maleficent appears, angry at not being invited. She places a curse on Aurora: before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Merryweather uses her gift to weaken the curse; Aurora will instead fall into a deep sleep until true love's kiss breaks the spell.


Still fearful, Stefan orders all the kingdom's spinning wheels burned. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather devise a plan to hide Aurora in a secluded location and raise her themselves until her sixteenth birthday. Stefan and Leah reluctantly agree. The fairies move into a forest cottage, giving up magic and living as peasants, and rename Aurora "Briar Rose".


On Aurora's sixteenth birthday, the fairies send her to gather berries so they can prepare a surprise party. In the forest, Aurora sings to the animals, drawing the attention of Phillip, now a handsome young man. They fall in love without revealing their names, and Aurora invites Phillip to the cottage that evening. Meanwhile, Flora and Merryweather's argument about the color of Aurora's birthday gown attracts the attention of Maleficent's pet raven, Diablo.[b] Aurora returns and tells her guardians that she has fallen in love. They reveal her true identity, which Diablo overhears, and tell her she cannot see the man again. Meanwhile, Phillip tells his father about the peasant girl he met and wants to marry, unaware she is the princess to whom he is betrothed. King Hubert unsuccessfully tries to dissuade him.


Shortly before sunset, the fairies bring Aurora to the castle for her birthday celebration. Maleficent appears and lures her to a tower room, where she pricks her finger on a spinning wheel that Maleficient conjures. The fairies place the sleeping Aurora in the highest tower and put the entire kingdom to sleep until their princess awakens. Flora overhears a conversation between Hubert and Stefan and realizes that Phillip is the man that Aurora met. The fairies rush to the cottage and discover that Phillip has been abducted by Maleficent.


At her domain, the Forbidden Mountain, Maleficent reveals Aurora's identity to Phillip. She plans to lock him away until he is an old man on the verge of death before releasing him to meet Aurora, who will not have aged a single day. The fairies rescue Phillip and arm him with the magical Sword of Truth and the Shield of Virtue. Maleficent surrounds Stefan's castle with a forest of thorns, but Phillip breaks through it. Outraged, she transforms into a giant, fire-breathing dragon. In the ensuing battle, Phillip kills Maleficent by thrusting his sword into her heart.


Phillip finds Aurora and awakens her with a kiss, bringing the rest of the kingdom out of their slumber. The two descend to the ballroom, where Aurora reunites with her parents and happily dances with Phillip as the good fairies look on with joy.

as Princess Aurora,[8] also known as Briar Rose and Sleeping Beauty,[9] an innocent and romantic daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leah who is cursed by Maleficent.[10]

Mary Costa

as Prince Phillip,[11] Aurora's bold and spirited "true love" to whom she was betrothed and King Hubert's son.[12][13] He is occasionally accompanied by his horse, Samson.[14]

Bill Shirley

as Maleficent,[15] a powerful evil fairy and self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who casts a curse on Aurora and is responsible for all misfortune in King Stefan's kingdom.[16][17]

Eleanor Audley

as Flora,[4] the domineering and responsible self-appointed leader of the Three Good Fairies.[18][19] Her signature color is red.[20]

Verna Felton

as Merryweather,[4] a feisty and impulsive good fairy who challenges Flora's leadership.[18][19] Her signature color is blue.[21]

Barbara Luddy

as Fauna,[4] a sweet and affectionate good fairy who is a peacemaker between Flora and Merryweather.[22][23] Her signature color is green.[24]

Barbara Jo Allen

as King Stefan,[25] Aurora's placid and dignified father.[26][27]

Taylor Holmes

as King Hubert,[25] Phillip's jovial and bombastic father.[28][29]

Bill Thompson

Candy Candido, Pinto Colvig, and Bob Amsberry voiced the Goons,[29][30] Maleficent's bumbling but loyal henchmen.[31] Candido also voiced Diablo,[32] Maleficent's pet raven.[31] Dallas McKennon voiced the Owl,[30] one of Aurora's animal friends,[33] with Purv Pullen providing the sounds of other forest animals.[32] Marvin Miller was the film's narrator.[34]

Production[edit]

Story development[edit]

Walt Disney first considered making an animated version of Charles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" in 1938.[35] Preliminary artwork was submitted by Joe Grant, but the project did not move forward.[36] Disney registered Sleeping Beauty as a planned production title with the Motion Picture Association of America on January 19, 1950, after a preview audience's positive response to Cinderella.[36][37] By November of that year, the Los Angeles Times officially confirmed the film's development.[38] Disney envisioned Sleeping Beauty as the pinnacle of his studio's achievements in animation and was willing to pool all resources needed to achieve that.[35][39] Recognizing the difficulty of producing another fairy-tale feature which would not be too reminiscent of his previous films, notably Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Cinderella (1950), he repeatedly told his staff during production that it had to be different.[34][40]


Key story work was done by Ted Sears, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, and Ralph Wright, who were joined by other story artists as production continued.[36][41] They decided to discard the second half of the original Perrault story (which describes a sleeping beauty married to a strange prince) and focus on its first half to develop a more convincing relationship between the characters.[41][42] The earliest known story outline was written by April 1951, featuring a climactic wake-up kiss and the encounter between prince and princess before she succumbs to the curse. It also included the names of the fairies, who had been reduced from eight to four, and their corresponding magical abilities: Tranquility, the Fairy of Dreams; Fernadell, the Fairy of the Forest; Merryweather, the Fairy of the Elements; and Maleficent, the Fairy of Darkness.[43] The story artists expanded the fairies' roles, turning the good fairies into comical guardians of the princess and the evil fairy into a more powerful villain.[44][45] In this version of the story, Maleficent would conjure an indestructible spinning wheel which the king and queen would unsuccessfully try to get rid of; they would be forced to hide their daughter in the castle walls and never let her out.[43] The princess was envisioned as a "poor little rich girl", burdened with her royal lineage and dreaming of exploring the world outside the castle.[36] Shortly before her sixteenth birthday, the princess was to switch clothes with her maidservant and secretly escape to a nearby forest (or country fair) where she would meet and fall in love with the prince.[43][46] He would travel to a faraway land and return a few years later to fight Maleficent with the help of the good fairies, find the sleeping princess and wake her up with the kiss.[43] Story ideas of that period also included the good fairies attempting to surround the castle with a protective circle and Maleficent having a comically-incompetent vulture sidekick, although the earlier outline depicted him as a sinister falcon.[43][46][47]

Reception[edit]

Critical response[edit]

Sleeping Beauty received mixed reviews from critics, with many praising its art direction, voice acting, and musical score but criticizing its plot and characters.[148][189] Ren Grevatt of Billboard called the film a "Disney best" and complimented its score, colors, and the final battle scene, which he described as a "hair-raiser for the youngsters and grown-up alike."[190] Variety praised the vocal work of Mary Costa and Bill Shirley, and called the scenes involving the Three Good Fairies "some of the best parts of the picture."[191] For The New York Daily News, Kate Cameron wrote that the film "will charm the young and tickle adults" and praised its story, voice acting, and character animation.[192] George Bourke of the Miami Herald described the film as a "magnificent achievement, offering suspense, action and happy humor, in a truly giant-size package."[193] Lorna Carroll, writing for the St. Petersburg Times, called the film a "masterpiece and the last word in the art of animation"; however, although Sleeping Beauty is "far more magnificent, far more advanced, it does not touch the heart as did Snow White."[194] Henry Ward of The Pittsburgh Press praised the film's art direction and said that children "undoubtedly will find the film completely enchanting", adding that a more-mature audience "may find this new effort somewhat of a carbon copy" of previous Disney animated features.[195]


Bosley Crowther wrote for The New York Times that "the colors are rich, the sounds are luscious and magic sparkles spurt charmingly from wands", but felt that the film's plot and characters were too similar to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).[196] Philip K. Scheuer of Los Angeles Times praised the film's visual design, animation quality, and the Three Good Fairies and Maleficent, but criticized its "stereotyped" human characters and found himself more impressed by the accompanying short film Grand Canyon (1958).[197] In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Harold V. Cohen praised the film's "sharp and unmistakable" art style and animation but found the characters underdeveloped and "not exactly memorable".[198] Harrison's Reports also noted the film's similarity to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), saying that although Sleeping Beauty is "unquestionably superior from the viewpoint of the art of animation", it lacked the "unforgettable" characters, songs, and the overall entertainment appeal of Snow White.[199] Time harshly criticized the film, particularly its design: "Even the drawing in Sleeping Beauty is crude: a compromise between sentimental, crayon-book childishness and the sort of cute, commercial cubism that tries to seem daring but is really just square."[200]


Among contemporary reviews, Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader described Sleeping Beauty as "the masterpiece of the Disney Studios' postwar style". Kehr praised its use of the Super Technirama 70 process, particularly in the final battle scene.[201] Charles Solomon wrote for the Los Angeles Times that the film "represents the culmination of Walt Disney's effort to elevate animation to an art form". Solomon praised its visual design, the character of Maleficent, and the finale battle scene, but felt that it lacks "the strong story line of the other Disney features" (particularly the "not very interesting" romance between Aurora and Phillip).[202] Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine praised the film's "limber, giddy" art style, calling it "one of [Disney's] studio’s most under-cherished works."[203] A Time Out reviewer wrote that although Sleeping Beauty "rarely achieves the heights of classics like Snow White and Dumbo, it still has its moments", highlighting its "polished if sometimes stodgy" animation, soundtrack, and the final confrontation between Maleficent and Phillip.[204]


In his book, The Disney Films, Leonard Maltin praised the film's design: "The fantastic effort and phenomenal expense do show up on the screen; it is unquestionably Disney’s most elaborate cartoon film."[205] Its animators, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, said on their website that Sleeping Beauty was "dazzling in color and design but lacked warmth."[206] The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film had an 89% approval rating based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. According to its consensus, "This Disney dreamscape contains moments of grandeur, with its lush colors, magical air, [and] one of the most menacing villains in the Disney canon."[207] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 from 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[208]

1959 in film

List of American films of 1959

List of animated feature films of the 1950s

List of Walt Disney Pictures films

List of Disney theatrical animated feature films

List of Disney animated films based on fairy tales

Medieval fantasy

Official website

at the American Film Institute Catalog

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at AllMovie

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at Box Office Mojo

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at IMDb

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at Rotten Tomatoes

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at the TCM Movie Database

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