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Walt Disney was somewhat ahead of his time experimenting with music and animation in Fantasia, an experimental achievement of artistry, craftsmanship, and innovation in animation. It’s essentially a series of MTV-style music videos — some narrative, some more abstract — set to the tune of popular classical music pieces. I dig Fantasia, but as with most anthology features, it’s an uneven mix. The live-action host segments do not stand the test of time and the film runs a bit long at a full two hours. The saccharine segment featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, set to the imagery of horny centaurs, satyrs, and fat flying babies, is too weird and corny for me. (Some racially charged moments that appeared in the segment were removed from the film a few decades ago; all currently available versions are still censored.)

The highlights fortunately outnumber the low points. Mickey Mouse famously stars in the segment set to Paul Dukas’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” in which Mickey uses magic he can’t fully control. The ambitious sequence set to Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” depicts pre-historic Earth, including the rise of single-cell organisms through the death of the dinosaurs. A vicious fight between a tyrannosaurus rex and stegosaurus is especially memorable. Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” brings humorous levity with its depiction of caped alligators dancing with ballerina hippos. The film climaxes with a rousing rendition of Mussorgsky’s chilling “Night on Bald Mountain”. We see the devil Chernabog appear atop a mountain and raise the spirits of the dead to dance in wicked merriment — pretty psychedelic and spooky stuff for the Mouse House. The number immediately segues into Schubert’s ethereal “Ave Maria”, as the forces of light conquer the forces of darkness for a satisfying finale.

The soundtrack is famously conducted by Leopold Stokowsky. For it’s time, I’m sure it was a terrific recording, but I wish the music could be re-recorded. The volume levels are all over the place and the clarity of sound often leaves something to be desired.

With additional sequences set to Bach’s ‘Toccata and Fugue in D minor’ and Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker Suite’.

Academy Awards: Honorary Award for Achievement in Sound, Honorary Award for Achievement in Creating a New Form of Visualized Music