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

animated film Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

made by the Walt Disney Studios for

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

, for the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

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

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

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 ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. ''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), known professionally as Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, 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 The Seven Dwarfs are fictional dwarfs in the 1812 fairy tale '' Snow White'' by the Brothers Grimm and other renditions and adaptations. History The Seven Dwarfs live in a tiny cottage and work in the nearby mines. Snow White stumbles upon thei ...

from Disney's ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

'', 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 as ...

effect (as in the original film).

Plot

The

mining for

gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewellery, jewelry or other adornments. Certain Rock (geology), rocks (such ...

s, march past

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern bank of the Ottawa River that houses the Parliament of Canada in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. It accommodates a suite of Gothic revival buildings whose ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, 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" (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 25 currencies. The United States dollar, named after the international currency known as the Spanish dollar, was established in 1792 and is the first so named that still survives. Others include the Australian d ...

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 * Sleepy *

Doc DOC, Doc, doc or DoC may refer to: People and characters * Doc, an abbreviation of doctor * Doc (nickname) * Doc (mascot), the Towson University mascot Persons * The D.O.C., American rapper (born 1968) * Doc Gallows (born 1983), ring nam ...

* Dopey *

Happy Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...

* 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 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 poor man 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 Mar ...

. In response to Disney's efforts,

John Grierson John Grierson (26 April 1898 – 19 February 1972) was a 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. Flaherty's '' ...

, 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!'' (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 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 English-language short films English-language Canadian films English-language war films