Animated Feature Films Before Snow White

Though I cannot deny that the Disney animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a milestone in film history and a great movie, it is not the first animated feature film ever made. Why it is sad that this is often believed is because some of the animated features that came before are really good and definitely deserve more attention. That is why today we are going to look at these films.






El Apostol
1917. Director: Quirino Cristani. Writer: Quirino Cristani. Animator: Quirino Cristiani. Character Designs: Diógenes Taborda. Models: Andrés Ducaud.

El Apostol is believed to be the first animated feature film made. This was a silent film from Argentina. Unfortunately this film is lost today due to a fire in 1926. The film was a political satire about Argentinian president Hipolito Yrigoyen, and the film ran around 70 minutes.

Sin dejar rastros1918. Director: Quirino Cristani. Writer: Quirino Cristiani. Animator: Quirino Cristiani. Producer: Federico Valle.

Sin dejar rastros (or in English Without a Trace) was a silent movie from the same country and director of El Apostol. It is based on a true story of Baron von Luxburg and how he affected Argentinian history. It is unknown if any copies of this film exist today and the film is considered lost.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed1926. Director: Lotte Reiniger. Technical Director: Carl Koch. Animators: Walter Ruttman, Berthold Bartosch, Walter Turck, Alexander Kardan. Titles: Edmund Delco.

This German silent film is the earliest animated feature available for viewing and it is a delight. Through expert film making and subtle but extremely expressive character animation, this film tells a simple story in the best way possible. Director Lotte Reiniger started directing animated films in 1919 and specialized in a style of animation called silhouette animation. This was achieved by cut out figures made from cardboard. Each limb of these cardboard figures had wires attached, creating the onscreen illusion of these characters moving of their own will. The rest of the crew working on the film had amazing film careers themselves. Carl Koch would for instance be a co-writer for Jean Renoir's 1939 classic The Rules of the Game. Walter Ruttman and Berthold Bartosch would direct some films themselves. Ruttman would direct the 1927 classic Berlin: Symphony of a Great City and Bartosch directed one of the most brilliant animated art-house films ever made with the 1932 short The Idea. In The Adventures of Prince Achmed, Ruttman and Bartosch animated mainly on the special effects. Because of this Animation Historian Jerry Beck has referred to them as "the world's first effects animators". When originally made it was hard for the film to find a distributor in Germany. However a composer named Wolfgang Zeller got permission to book a showing at a concert hall with his own  music. Reviews from this showing were extremely positive and the film was picked up for a year at a theater in Paris. This was followed by the film playing all over the world.

  Peludópolis1931. Director: Quirino Cristiani. Music: José Vázquez Vigo.

Peludópolis is believed to be the earliest sound animated feature. This is another film from Argentina and directed by Quirino Cristiani. Unfortunately like his earlier features this one is assumed lost. It is another political movie, this time about Argentine president Hipólito Yrigoyen and how a group called The Radicals were trying to overthrow him.

The New Gulliver1935. Director: Aleksandr Ptushko. Writers: Aleksandr Ptushko, Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, Grigori Roshal. Cast: Vladimir Konstantinovich Konstantinov, Ivan Yudin, Shaolin Santiago. Cinematographer: Nikolai Renkoi Renkov.

This stop motion/live action hybrid was the first Russian feature to make extensive use of animation and the first mostly stop motion feature film released. This movie takes Jonathan Swift's famous book Gulliver's Travels and turns it into soviet propaganda. While this film's combination of stop motion and live action is well ahead of its time, it is really only of interest to film buffs with a special interest in the history of animation, or those who want to see soviet propaganda. All others will surely find this movie just boring.

The Adventures of Pinocchio Directors: Raoul Verdini, Umberto Spano.


This is a debatable film to put on this list because it was never actually finished. The film had production trouble from the start and simply seemed to be fated not to be. If released when it was planned to (1936) it would have been the first cell animated feature and the first animated feature from Italy. It would have also beat Walt Disney's animated adaption of Collodi's book by four years.

The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda1936. Director: Mikhail Tsekhanovsky.

Based on a poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin, this was the first hand-drawn Russian feature film. Sadly due to a fire only six minutes of this movie still exist today as the rest was destroyed in a fire.

The Tale of the Fox 1937. Directors: Irene Starevich, Ladislas Starevich. Writers: Irene Starevich, Ladislas Starevich, Roger Richebé, Jean Nohain, Antoinette Nordmann, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Voices: Romain Bouquet, Claude Dauphin, Sylvain Itkine, Léon Larive, Robert Seller, Eddy Debray, Nicolas Amato, Pons, Sylivia Bataille, Suzy Dornac, Jamie Palma, Marcel Raine. Music: Vincent Scotto. Cinematography: Ladislas Starevich. Animators: Irene Starevich, Ladislas Starevich. Editor: Laura Sejourné.

This was the first French animated feature, and the first feature to be completely stop motion. It is only appropriate that one of the directors was Ladislas Starevich, one of the pioneers of stop motion animation and one of the first filmmakers to prove animation was art and not just a novelty. Not surprisingly this film is a pure work of art and one of the all time great animated features. Sadly this is the only animated feature film he worked on. The film was originally finished in 1930, but it there were problems with its original French soundtrack. This film ended up being released in Germany and in the German language in 1937, and wouldn't play in France or French until 1941.

Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons1937. Cartoons directed by Wilfred Jackson, Burt Gillett, Dave Hand..

With no new animation and simply being some short films put together and released as a feature, it is very debatable to include this here. This film is made up of five of the Disney studio's Silly Symphonies cartoons (Flowers and Trees (1932), Three Little Pigs (1933), The Tortoise and the Hare (1934), Three Orphan Kittens (1935), The Country Cousin (1936)). It would be released in 1966 with four cartoons added (The Old Mill (1937), Ferdinand the Bull (1938), The Ugly Duckling (1939), Lend a Paw (1941)). Naturally as these short films are all great the feature film is a lot of fun to watch, but there is nothing new offered here, which leaves it out of most lists of Disney feature films.

The Seven Ravens
1937. Directors: Ferdinand Diehl, Hermann Diehl. Writer: Paul Diehl. Cinematographer: Alfonse Lufteck. Music: Walter Pepper. Animators: Ferdinand Diehl, Hermann Diehl.

This stop motion animated feature from Germany just barely makes this list as it was released earlier the same month as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This movie is based off of a story by the Brothers Grimm.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources UsedThe Animated Movie Guide edited by Jerry Beck
Animation Art edited by Jerry Beck