Hard to believe Disney had this in them at one point. They wouldn't touch this with a 100 foot pole now but it really demonstrated what they were capable of, guiding the audience from the heavenly heights to the bowels of hell in one film.
Well, back when they made this, they weren't yet the worldwide entertainment empire so branded with their own family-friendly image yet. They were just a team of artists exploring the then revolutionary potential of animated feature films. Not trying to bash modern Disney, it's just that in their beginnings they could get away with more because they weren't really established in the public conscious the way they are now.
I heard that Disney are speculating remaking 'A night on bald mountain' in the future. But I'm hoping it doesn't happen as this peice of animation is beautiful.
Walter Elias Disney himself even scaled Mount Triglav to make this sinister climax. Besides, Mount Triglav used to be part of Ukraine. Now, it's still part of Slovenia.
Andrew Taylor Why would it be banned? Most of us grew up with it too. I’m a millennial and I remember watching Fantasia a lot as a kid, though my favourite was the mushroom dancing sequence, granted. Still, I watched this and didn’t die. If anything, there’s /much/ worse than this for kids on this very website lmao. Ever hear of Elsa and Spider-Man?
@@joshualowe959 Not as much as this segment, it's true that the hunchback is one of the most darkest Disney movies of all, but this segment is showing the hell and Satan himself, Disney never would make something similar to this on this days.
You ever notice chernabog is vilified but all he does is wake up all the ghosties and ghoulies and throw a dance party? Then just goes back to bed… Dudes not a villain hes just a sick DJ
I was so terrified by this that I couldn't even watch this part at all. When I was little, after "Dance of the Hours" I'd stop the tape. It wasn't until I was about 10 that I had the guts to watch this. Truly one of the darkest moments in Disney animation.
+Classy Jelly The darkest Disney moment actually comes up in The Black Cauldron. There's nothing creepier than The Horned King getting sucked inside the cauldron while his flesh is ripped clean off his bones.
@@joshualowe959 Chaotic Evils should be judged either by how much they go out of their way to destroy/get what they want, or by how much they embody the destructive and contorted nature of evil itself. Lawful evils are more often those who are in the wrong and put their desires before everyone else. I'm not too sure tbh
@@joshualowe959 I'd argue that, yes. I know without a doubt that Frollo's a chaotic evil; he burns an entire city out of lust. Shan Yu and Scar might be more neutral evils, as they are more methodical and have a more based goal in mind, that being taking over a domain.
It was entirely too experimental in its day. There was only one full length animation film prior to this and the story was very accessible to all. Didn’t help that they also lost the European market due to WWII.
I personally love this bit: of course, it's scary as hell (quite literally actually), but the music is so dramatic and powerful, and the animation is a work of art.
Very simplistic. You can do this with anything. Disney villains: a con-man fox, or a fat puppet maker Disney villains now: an evil voodoo witch doctor who can communicate with and command spirits and demons.
@SCORPIO its actually means black god in slavic mythology and the devil has an angelic look and not a horned one, which Is Greek i believe correct me if I'm wrong.
lol, my little sister was obsessed with this when I was 5 years old. We actually got her a Chernabog doll for her birthday. But one day she was throwing some trash away and thought that the Chernabog doll was trash, so she threw it away by accident. When it was to late to get him back, she cried all day. r.i.p Chernabog....
Agreed! Modern cartoons sometimes explore dark themes, but back in 1940, children's movies and radio shows were cute and innocent. This was so out of place compared to what Disney had previously done that it must have really scared a lot of kids who saw it on the big screen at the theater (and disturbed their parents too.) But I'm thinking that Disney must have had a good reason to do something like this. Cinema often reflects what's going on in real life - and World War II was in its early phases when the movie came out. I'm wondering if the monster is supposed to be an allegorical representation of Hitler? Maybe the intended message here to the kids watching it is that life isn't all cute and innocent, and that great evil really does exist in our world.
4:09. This part creeped me out as a kid. When his hand goes into the flames and all those creatures in his hand turn into miniature devils. Today, it still is quite chilling to watch, especially with that powerful music. Especially for a movie that's 80 years old. And yet, the animation still holds up well. So impressive.
I've got a confession: this scene didn't scare me as a kid. Oh, it scares me now, don't get me wrong. But as a kid, I thought it was more cool than scary. The only thing that kind of got me was Chernabog's unnerving grin.
@@samwilsoncaptainamerica233 he is, Walt Disney himself and staff referred to him as devil himself or at least the only one in disney universe closest to that role
Now, I belong to group of people who weren't scared by this as a kid, just fascinated. I think it's because one of my childhood classics is "The little witch"(mala carodejnice) based on the book of the same name by Otfried Preussler. At the very beginning of it, there also is a witch sabbath scene, and IT ROCKS. The thing that interested me the most, is the wide spreading and variations of the same concept. In the little witch we are on the Blocksberg, celebrating the Valpurgisnight (the movie gives the alternative names of Rock Mountain and Philippus Jacobus night),i.e. the German version of the tale, while in Fantasia we have Chernabog (an old slavic PAGAN deity) on the Bald Mountain, celebrating saint John's Eve, the slavic version. Long story short, werever you go, a witch's Sabbath will always be more interesting than any party you ever threw.
3:00 - 3:10 Was the scene that always disturbed me as a kid. Not just scared me, but LEGITIMATELY made me feel ill. Chernabog doesn't JUST scoop the demons up, its very clear they clamber onto his fingers and jump into his grasp by choice. They very willingly go to him, obviously seeking to be near their creator, possibly to even gain his praise or affection. Only for him to immediately snarl at his OWN CREATIONS and cast them down into the pit to incinerate. I was never really religious as a kid. But it drew a parallel to the Christian version of God: a benevolent creator who unconditionally loved and protected everyone who came to him. But then when you see the opposite: Chernabog being swarmed by his worshipers and children... grinning to entice them... only to send them down into the volcano for no other reason than spite. I just remembered that single scene sticking with me for so long.
@@wemusthavechannelstocommen619 this scene would be more closelt related to ISLAM but since most americans are so willfully uneducated, I could see how a quasi religious american person sees god in this. These creatures are djinn. They are made from fire, manipulated by Allah. They are for Allahs will and pleasure only. Theres nothing like this in "the bible" especially not in the king james filtered version either.
@@whitealliance9540 Chernabog comes from Slavic mythology and the visual inspiration, including the flames, comes from the art of Heinrich Kley. None of this has anything to do with Arab mythology.
@@whitealliance9540 you really want me to go in on your stupidity? Cause you obviously can read but cannot decipher the code the you read. Don't get crappy with others learn to communicate without getting nasty...it's like you're one of the Djinn and don't even know you're serving the master...... Peace Love Wisdom
Honestly though, if they ever wanted to do something experimental again they would push it onto Pixar rather than tackle it themselves. And even Pixar is getting the modern Disney treatment of "make money not art".
Yeah, I’m not putting all that on Disney, you how to people still complain, it’s Star Wars bad but. Let’s just say if you had the balls to against a bunch of sensitive stuff prepare for threats that, ironically aren’t kid friendly.
@@grilledcheez08 On the DVD commentary, they had intended to actually have him be a model for Chernobog himself, too, but the head animator ended up really wanting to use himself. Or something like that, it's been a while since I watched the commentary.
You know I never realized how much cinematography was in this. Or the intensity of understanding of anatomy. It's been at least 3 years since I've seen fantasia and this makes me wanna go back and watch it again. If I missed this much artistry alone what more could have escaped me?
At 1:44 combined with the music, this was such an influential part of my childhood when my fascination for ghosts and spirits from the grave was proverbially awakened. This is the only version of this clip with the proper soundtrack to match the incredibly poignant and creepy vibe this clip exudes. All of the new versions have it where the song has picked up more and is quite frankly not as creepy as how the edit was originally
Was working while listening to "classical music when you're on a deadline" playlist then I heard this song, then suddenly, the visuals I saw 30 years ago flashed in my head. I had to pause and look this up to watch this again. Seeing this now, my my, what a very dark yet powerful animation. Can't believe this was being made during WWII as well. Amazing! Timeless classic!
This and the Pegasus are my all time favorites. The music, the color, the designs, smooth animation, the stories it all tells together. You don’t need dialogue and therefore can’t spoon feed everything to audience, because you don’t have to or shouldn’t have to. It’s definitely one of the things that’s made a life long lasting impression.
Rewatched this whole film on Disney plus and it's so amazing to think in 1940 they made this with nothing but classical music and imagination. Such an amazing movie.
@@danielecellamare3778 All-too-easily triggered SJW/PC snowflakes who refuse to understand or accept what constitutes a joke or what it means to truly take risks and push it to the absolute limit to create a masterpiece like this.
I love how everyone is saying that sjws would be offended when in reality right wing Christians would be the ones doing all the screaming with this number nowadays.
I'm 27 now but i remember having the Fantasia VHS, and watching this for the first time as a very young kid at night and it scared the absolute fuck out of me. I still get an oh no feelin lol
Never saw this movie until a few years ago when it used to be on Netflix. I really love the music because I’m a HUGE fan of epic music and the animation is superb, especially near the end. But his smile STILL manages to send chills down my spine and not very many things can make me do that
Outstanding bellissimo. I love to share with people. And am proud to announce I love this song and share it with all my neighbors in this apartment building. Philadelphia USA
Agreed, this used to scare me. But I now find it interesting. The souls coming from the graveyard are larger and more detailed than the souls coming from the surrounding area. I wonder why that may be.
Films like this had multiple animation teams with different animators and team leads. Because of this some scenes would have an different styles and might not even match perfect continuity with other teams.
My parents used to put fantasia on every night for me to go to sleep. They didn’t know I would sometimes still be awake for this part. I watched this every night as a 4 year old hahaha. Nightmare fuel
its amazing how they came up with the images to capture PERFECTLY the nature of this composition. Its like you can't unsee these images if you hear this song again anywhere. Excellent job!!
2:10 Wasn't that figure reused in The Black Cauldron? When Taran, Dallben and Henwen are looking at her vision, that's what the Horned King looks like.
This scared the crap out of me when I first watched this at age 5 but I don’t regret it. Children should be allowed to experience fear because without fear, how can one have the courage to face and overcome it?
"Bald Mountain, according to tradition, is the gathering place for Satan and his followers." Based on the music and the fear-inducing animation from this segment alone, they hit the F*CKING mark right on the head.
I like how pure evil this demonic being is... Disney had no problem back then to express faith / religious concepts in their films (Snow White the first Christian princess praying to God to bless the dwarfs, Prince Philip using the sword of truth and the cross of Christ in his shield against Maleficent the mistress of all evil and literally using powers of hell, Bagheera gently quotes scripture as a normal line, The Sword in the Stone referencing "A miracle ordained by heaven" in the sword itself, The Hunchback has religious concepts all the time, Mrs. Potts saying heavenly and thanks the Lord in her words in her songs, etc etc etc etc.) So they literally brought the concept of Satan in their classic hit of sound and color ... a true masterpiece! Yet a controversial at its time as well... This short confronted the Holy and the Profane... the everlasting battle between good vs evil...God vs the devil...Ave Maria’s church bells vs the Chernabog midnight party lol Many will say...”This isn’t the devil/ satan, this is a fake/false god character translation of his name, his name is Chernabog, not satan”... true, his name is Chernabog...but if you watch the original Fantasia, the narrator/orchestra conductor literally gives the backstory of this character by saying how Satan and his followers would dance at night in the mountains ... thus, he is the devil... even Disney animators and staff refer to him as the devil. He is the personification of EVIL, all the Disney villains are influenced and work for him! He does his work in the shadows ... he doesn’t says anything in the short because he doesn’t need to...his presence says it all...HE IS PURE EVIL, you will never find light in him, no love nor compassion, he brings temporal joy to his minions but ultimately destroys them...he is the opposition to good and enjoys making everyone suffer, even his own minions as presented in the short classic ! This short had guts and took risks back then and thus it holds today and is considered the darkest animation in the Disney history!
@@JonathanCurtis0117 No matter how many times and/or facts say that Chernabog is not the Devil, he literally is drawn to look and act like the Devil, he is the freaking devil aka Satan in my eyes and in the eyes of billions of people
I'm guessing every human in the village would have already locked their doors and put up any protection charms they had and basically spent the whole night praying.....
This still gets to my core to this day, at 38 yrs old😱 I remember beeing terrified (yet highly facinated) at age 10, seeing it now brings the emotions right back😳☠ Truly a masterpiece by Disney, sets so much emotions off.
Art Heinneman was the creative director on this, He sympathized with the 1940's animator's strike and Walt reported him to the House of un-american activities alleging that he was a communist. His name was erased from the credits forever. Let us not forget his amazing creative work.
As a child, I always refused to watch through the entire film 'cause of this segment. Back then, I was terrified of this mostly because of how scary the music sounded as well as all those close-ups of Chernabog's nightmarish snearing expressions, but with age, what's mostly terrifying about this scene now is the way he practically resurrects all the souls of the dead and does whatever he wants with them, like turning them into horrifying demons like himself just to repeatedly burn them all alive afterwards. It's just such a masterful representation of pure evil, which is one of the many reasons Fantasia is one of my alltime favorite Disney films these days. Not only is it one of the best-looking animated films to date, but each segment is purely unique and variate in both story, mood, and creativity, and it has made me gain new love and respect for classical music in later years (which has often never really been my favorite music genre, coming from a general metalhead, though even metal has made me love classical music all the more in my current age, seeing how many of my metal idols originally were influenced by classical pieces n' composers).
Remember kids: Circle-strafing and ammo conservation, especially for your bigger, heavier-hitting weapons, are your best of friends. ...Unless you're a madman that's willing to try pistol-starting *the entire fight* - in which case, *GOOD LUCK, BUDDYBOY!*
Interesting information: Witches, who flies to the bald mountain use as a transport not only a broom, they also uses tools such as a bread shovel, kocherga(a tool made of iron or other fire-resistant material for moving burning firewood and coals in the furnace furnace) or a pestle, that used as a transport by the oldest Kievan witch. I also want to say, that some slavic witches take an example from Baba Yaga-they fly in mortar, hold pestle or a tobacco horn, for example in Poltava if a witch is "sick" for riding(she can't ride a broom or horse, because it hurts her), then for a normal ride she sits in a millet mortar, harnessing two ghouls into it.
Remember watching this as a kid. It was beautiful artistry then and it's even more beautiful now, the Ghouls rising out of the graves, reapers on the skeleton horses, just pure beauty.
This scene is said to have inspired the animated opening sequence to the 1988 horror film 'Night of the Demons'. Apparently the Main Title Designer of that movie had worked for Disney at one time, and said 'Fantasia', specifically this sequence, had inspired her.
When I saw this as a kid in the theaters in 1950's Los Angeles i felt ice cold fear of terror run through me. This movie and those damn flying monkeys in "Oz" still creep me out even after pulling ten months combat in the Nam.
DISNEY cartoons once were good at introducing beautiful classic pieces of music as part of the cartoons. I saw FANTASIA as a young kid and never forgot this piece as well as Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours". I am 80 now and both have stayed in my mind..
To this day, Chernabog is the most ultimate Disney villain. His wickedness is not motivated by pride or vengeance. His goal is not to rule with absolute power. He has no motives what so ever but to only spread evil and destruction just for the sake of it.