Sleeping Beauty is a beautiful and unique animated film. Allegedly, Walt wanted this film to be like a moving medieval tapestry and that is exactly what he got. The backgrounds are all gorgeous pieces of artwork in themselves and each character is so lovingly drawn. This film is also memorable for featuring one of Disney’s most iconic villains, Maleficent, who turns herself into a fire-breathing dragon for a grand finale battle with Prince Philip.
Premiered on: January 29, 1959 in Los Angeles, California.
Directed by: Clyde Geronimi (supervising); Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman, & Les Clark (sequences)
Produced by: Walt Disney
Based on: La Belle au Bois Dormant by Charles Perrault and The Sleeping Beauty by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Sequels: none
Cast:
Mary Costa – Aurora
Bill Shirley – Prince Phillip
Eleanor Audley – Maleficent
Verna Felton – Flora
Barbara Jo Allen – Fauna
Barbara Luddy – Merryweather
Taylor Holmes – King Stefan
Bill Thompson – King Hubert
Rosa Crosby – Aurora’s Mother
Bob Amsbery, Candy Candido, Pinto Colvig – Goons
Directing Animators:
Milt Kahl
Frank Thomas
Marc Davis
Ollie Johnston
John Lounsbery
Music by:
George Bruns
Tom Adair
Winston Hibler
Ted Sears
Erdman Penner
Sammy Fain
Jack Lawrence
Songs:
“Hail to the Princess Aurora”
“The Gifts of Beauty and Song”
“I Wonder”
“Once Upon a Dream”
“Skumps”
“Sleeping Beauty”
Academy Awards: Best Scoring of a Musical Picture (nomination)
The Story:
The opening credits have a very medieval look to them and there is a chorus singing “Once Upon a Dream.” After the credits, there is a beautiful jeweled live-action book. The book opens and a narrator starts the story with “In a faraway land, long ago lived a King and his fair Queen.” The narrator goes on to explain how they have always wanted a child and finally their wish was granted. Their Princess was born and they named her Aurora after the dawn because she filled their lives with sunshine.
The chorus begins singing “Hail to the Princess Aurora” and the scene zooms in on a page of the book showing a castle. The King and Queen are throwing a celebration in honour of the new Princess. The whole kingdom is heading towards the castle.
Inside the grand hall, the King and Queen are sitting on their thrones with the baby in her cradle beside them. Their lifelong friend, King Hubert, is announced and he enters with his son Prince Phillip. The two Kings have always wanted their kingdoms to unite and so now Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora are betrothed. Prince Phillip looks down into the cradle at the baby and he makes a face like he is not impressed with the new Princess.
The trumpets sound and the three good fairies are announced: Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. They appear as tiny fairies and float down to the baby’s cradle and grow bigger as they descended. They gather around the baby and admire how adorable she is. Then the fairies approach the King and Queen and Flora says that each fairy may bless the child with a single gift. Flora gives the gift of beauty. There is a dream sequence of an older Aurora as a chorus sings “The Gifts of Beauty and Song.” Aurora has indeed grown to be beautiful. Then Fauna gives the gift of song. Another dream sequence shows graceful birds singing to represent Aurora’s gift of song and the chorus sings again.
Merryweather then approaches the baby to give her gift but a strong wind blows open the doors and lightning strikes. Maleficent appears out of the lightning bolt with her raven and the other fairies are not pleased to see her. Maleficent comments that everyone from royalty, nobility, gentry, and the rabble were invited. She looks right at the three good fairies as she mentions the last word and then pretends to be very distraught that she did not receive an invitation. Merryweather bluntly says that it was because Maleficent was not wanted and the dark fairy says that she best be on her way then. The Queen asks Maleficent if she is offended and Maleficent says that to prove that she has no hard feelings, she too will give the young Princess a gift. Her gift is that Aurora will indeed grow in grace and beauty but by her sixteenth birthday, Aurora will prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die! The Queen grabs her baby and the King tells the guards to seize Maleficent but as the guards approach with spears, Maleficent laughs and disappears.
Flora points out that Merryweather has not given her gift yet and the fairies explain that they cannot undo the curse but they can help. Merryweather gives the gift of only sleep and not death. A sleep that can be awaken by true love’s kiss. There is a dream sequence of Aurora sleeping as Merryweather gives the gift. The narrator explains that King Stefan still orders all of the spinning wheels around the kingdom to be burned.
The bonfires of the spinning wheels are shown and the three good fairies are watching them from up in the castle. They are drinking tea and eating cookies and trying to figure out a solution. Merryweather wants to turn Maleficent into a toad but the other two do not think that is a very nice thing to do and they remind Merryweather that their magic only works for good. During this whole conversation, they are using their magic over and over again to make tea and cookies appear. Flora then gets an idea but will not say it in fear that someone is listening. So the fairies all shrink down in size and fly into a jewellery box to quietly talk.
Flora’s idea is to turn Aurora into a flower because a flower cannot prick its finger. Merryweather points out that Maleficent will just send a frost because the dark fairy knows everything. Fauna says that Maleficent does not know anything about love or helping others. This gives Flora a new idea. They will become three peasant women and will raise the baby in the woodcutter’s cottage in the woods. Flora changes their fairy dresses to peasant dresses but Merryweather’s is pink, who does not like it so she changes it to blue.
Flora tells them that in order to succeed, they will not be able to use magic and she takes their wands away. Merryweather is not happy about being mortal for sixteen years but Fauna is very excited to take care of a baby.
In the next scene, the narrator explains that with a heavy heart, the King and Queen watch their child be taken into the night by the three fairies. The scene changes back into the opening book and the narrator continues to say that the sad years passed for the kingdom but as Aurora’s sixteenth birthday approaches, the kingdom starts to celebrate. They know that as long as Maleficent’s domain, the Forbidden Mountain, thunders with her wrath, Aurora is safe and has not been found.
The page zooms in on the Forbidden Mountain where Maleficent is yelling at her goons. She asks if they are sure they have searched everyone and they inform her yes, they have searched in every cradle for Princess Aurora. Maleficent is furious that they have been searching for a baby for the last sixteen years and calls them “fools, idiots, imbeciles” and strikes her lightning at them. She then tells her raven that he is her last hope and she sends him off to look for a maiden of sixteen with golden hair and lips red as the rose.
The narrator explains that deep in the forest in the woodcutter’s cottage, the three good fairies have raised Aurora as their own and have called her Briar Rose. The scene zooms in on the cottage.
The three are planning a surprise for Briar Rose’s birthday. Briar Rose is singing to herself upstairs while cleaning the windows and the fairies are trying to decide on dress patterns in the kitchen. They are also wondering how to get Briar Rose out of the house. Briar Rose overhears and knows that they are up to something but she plays along like she does not suspect a thing.
Merryweather tells the princess that they want her to go out and pick berries. They hand her a basket and a shawl and send her out the door. Merryweather goes to get the wands and argues that they do not know how to make fancy cakes and dresses and so they will need magic’s help. Besides, the sixteen years are almost up. But Flora and Fauna disagree and get to work without magic. Fauna starts to make the cake and Flora gets to work on the dress. Merryweather is stuck being the dressmaker’s dummy.
Flora and Fauna really have no idea what they are doing but do not listen to Merryweather’s advice. Merryweather tells Flora that the dress looks awful and Flora just responds “that’s because it is on you, dear.” The three then start to reminisce about how it was just like yesterday that they brought the baby there. They are a little sad because soon she will be a Princess and will no longer be theirs.
In the forest, Briar Rose is singing with the songbirds and the birds are waking up other animals to join in such as an owl, a squirrel, and some rabbits. In the background, Prince Phillip is riding his horse Samson. Phillip hears Briar Rose singing and thinks that she has the most beautiful voice. He wants to go check it out but Samson needs to be convinced by the promise of a bucket of oats and some carrots. Off they go racing through the forest towards the singing. Samson takes a jump too hard and Phillip goes flying off and into a pond. He tells Samson “no carrots!”
Briar Rose is still singing “I Wonder” while picking berries with her animal friends. She gazes at the castle longingly and complains that her aunts treat her like a child and that they do not want her to meet anyone. But she tells her friends that she has already met someone, a prince! They walk together and talk together and then he takes her in his arms and then….she wakes up. It is only in her dreams but if she dreams something more than once, it is sure to come true.
While listening to Briar Rose, a squirrel spies Phillip’s cloak and hat that he hung on a branch to dry. The squirrel throws an acorn at the other animals to get their attention about his plan. The animals steal the clothes, with the owl under the hat, the song birds under the cloak, and a rabbit in each boot. Meanwhile, Phillip is telling Samson that there was something strange about the singing voice; it was too beautiful to be real. Samson spies the little creatures stealing the clothes and warns Phillip who yells at them to stop but the critters flitter off to Briar Rose.
The squirrel is organizing the whole ensemble and then he hides under the hat with the owl. The animals dress like a prince and waltz up to Briar Rose. She calls them her dream prince and they dance as she sings “Once Upon a Dream.”
Phillip spies the dance from the bushes and then cuts in and starts to sing along. Briar Rose considers Phillip to be a stranger but he reminds her that they have met before, once upon a dream. Phillip starts singing again and then a chorus sings as the couple dance together. They stop at the castle lookout and Phillip asks her what her name is. Briar Rose starts to answer but then remembers that she is not supposed to talk to anyone. Phillip asks her when he will see her again and Briar Rose invites him to come to the cottage that evening.
Back at the cottage, everything is in an absolute disaster. The cake is very droopy and will not stay upright. Fauna had ever decorated it before she baked it. The dress is a hideous mess covered in bows and ruffles. Flora and Fauna try to stay positive about the situation but Merryweather is realistic and tells the others that they really need their wands to give Aurora the very best. She goes upstairs to get the wands and this time, Flora and Fauna do not stop her. When Merryweather returns, Flora closes all of the doors and windows to be safe. She tells Fauna to fix the cake and Merryweather to clean up, while she fixes the dress. Merryweather is not happy about being on cleanup duty but enchants the mop, bucket, and broom to clean up the room anyway.
Flora and Fauna use magic to fix the dress and cake. They enchant every little object to do their work such as the needles, tread, measuring cups, and bowls. Merryweather is upset that the dress is pink and changes it to blue. Flora and Merryweather battle it out to make the dress pink or blue. They end up turning each other’s dresses pink and blue as well. Their magic floats up the chimney and Maleficent’s raven flies over and notices. He flies right up to the cottage to take a look inside.
The dress gets caught in the middle and ends up all covered in pink and blue splotches. Fauna hears Briar Rose approaching and they hurry to clean up the mess. Merryweather gets in the last say and the dress is blue. Briar Rose walks into the cottage and is very excited about the cake and dress. She starts to tell her aunts all about the young man she met and that he is not a stranger since they met once upon a dream. She starts to sing a reprise of “Once Upon a Dream” and dances with Fauna. The fairies think that this is a terrible thing that Briar Rose has met someone and has fallen in love. They tell Aurora that she is actually a princess and is betrothed to a prince. They must leave for the castle very soon. The raven has been eavesdropping and confirms that the princess he is looking for does live there and flies off to tell Maleficent. The fairies continue to tell Aurora that they must take her back to her father, King Stefan and that she can never see the young man again. Aurora starts to cry and runs up to her room and continues to cry on her bed.
Back at King Stefan’s castle, the King is looking out over the balcony and wondering to King Hubert why there is no sign of Aurora yet. Hubert says that she will not come until after sunset. He is enjoying a delicious amount of food. Hubert tells Stefan to buck up, that the battle is over, and that Aurora will be there soon. Hubert is glad that everything is in the past and he claps for the minstrel to bring them some wine to toast.
The minstrel appears with a bottle of wine and Hubert quickly grabs it from him and makes a toast to the future. The Kings sip their wine and sing “Skrumps.” The minstrel sneakily drinks as well. Then they toast to a new home while the tipsy minstrel plays his lute. Hubert asks the minstrel to show Stefan the plans for the new castle he has already built for their children to live in. Hubert says that they can move in tomorrow. Stefan argues that their children are not even married yet and Hubert says that they will take care of the wedding that evening. He starts to toast the wedding but Stefan is not happy with how quickly Hubert is moving this along. He says that he has not even gotten to spend any time with his daughter yet but Hubert only argues back that they want to have grandchildren. Meanwhile, the minstrel has had too much wine and is passed out under the table.
Hubert is now insulted because he thinks that Stefan is saying that there is something wrong with his son. Stefan is only trying to point out that Aurora knows nothing of this and she might be in a bit of a shock but now he says that Phillip might not like his Aurora. The two Kings get into a fight and Hubert attacks Stefan with a fish. Then they realize how funny the situation is and they laugh and make up. Their children are bound to fall in love with each other.
They hear an announcement that Prince Phillip has returned. The entire kingdom cheers. Hubert goes down to meet his son and then tells the Prince to change into something more suitable to meet his future bride. Phillip tells his father that he has already met his bride and he starts dancing with his father and sings “Once Upon a Dream.” King Hubert has misunderstood and thinks that Phillip has already met Aurora but Phillip says that he met a peasant girl and does not know her name. Hubert is not happy about Phillip meeting a peasant girl and asks Samson if Phillip is joking. The horse only shakes his head and Hubert gets very angry. He tells Phillip that he is a prince and that he must marry a princess. Phillip argues that this is the 14th century and that Hubert’s thinking is in the past. He tricks Hubert into saying that Phillip can marry the girl he fell in love with and Phillip races off. A sad King Hubert sits on the castle steps and wonders how he is going to tell Stefan what has happened.
Back in the forest, the three good fairies are leading a glum Aurora quietly to the castle. They reach the outer walls and sneak inside and up some stairs. The lead her to her bedroom chambers, lock the doors and pull the drapes. They sit Aurora down and give her one last gift, a crown. The fairies tell her that it is a symbol of her royalty but Aurora just buries her head in her arms and cries. The three fairies decide to give her a few moments alone and they leave the room.
Through the fire, something catches Aurora’s attention. The fire goes out and in its place are eyes and a green light. The green light puts Aurora in a trance and she follows it, through the fireplace.
The three good fairies are outside and Merryweather is expressing that she does not think that Aurora needs to marry a prince. They suddenly sense Maleficent and rush into the bedroom. They are too late as the fireplace closes behind the Princess. Aurora follows the green light up the stairs and the fairies are able to use their magic to open up the fireplace. They cannot find the Princess though and they race around calling her name.
Aurora follows the green light all the way to the top of the stairs, where in the attic the light turns into a spinning wheel. The fairies yell for her to not touch anything as the fly up the stairs. Aurora hesitates at touching the spinning wheel and Maleficent’s voice appears and tells her to “touch the spinning wheel, touch it I say.”
The fairies reach the attic to find Maleficent there. She tells them that they were fools to try and defeat her. She steps aside to reveal the fallen Aurora and then disappears. The three fairies gather around Aurora on the ground as the sun sets.
In the throne room, King Stefan and his Queen are sitting on their thrones with everyone gathered around. King Hubert approaches and tries to tell Stefan his concerns. Stefan asks where Phillip is and Hubert says that is part of the problem. It is then announced that the sun has set to make way to welcome the Princess. There are many cheers and fireworks.
Back up in the tower, the fairies have laid Aurora down in a bed. They go out on the balcony and think about poor King Stefan and his Queen. Flora decides that they will put everyone to sleep until they can wake Aurora up so that no one will find out. They shrink down and fly off to sprinkle their magic over the entire kingdom to put everyone asleep. The song “Sleeping Beauty” is sung in the background.
The Kings are falling asleep as Hubert tells Stefan that Phillip has fallen in love with some peasant girl. Flora overhears and demands more information from sleepy Hubert. He tells her that all he knows is that they met “once upon a dream” and Flora figures out the Phillip and Aurora have actually met and have fallen in love. She tells the other two that they must get back to the cottage!
At the cottage, Phillip approaches and knocks on the door. A voice tells him to come in but the voice actually belonged to Maleficent and he gets kidnapped by her goons. She tells him that she set a trap for a peasant but caught a prince instead! Maleficent tells the goons to take him away but to be gentle because she has plans for their royal guest.
The fairies hurry to the cottage but get there too late. They see Phillip’s hat on the ground and know that Phillip has been taken to the Forbidden Mountain. They are nervous to go there but Flora insists that they must!
At the Forbidden Mountain, the fairies approach the front bridge. They sneak up and hide from a guarding goon who does not see them. Then they shrink down and fly up and through a crack in the stone. They run into sleeping goons and gargoyles everywhere!
In the centre of the Forbidden Mountain, the rest of the goons are celebrating and dancing around the fire. Maleficent is sitting above with her raven and is talking about how Phillip is locked away in the dungeon. She heads down to visit him and the fairies quietly follow.
In the dungeon, Phillip is chained up and Maleficent is teasing him about his wondrous future and how he was supposed to be the hero in a fairy tale come true. She shows Phillip in her magical sceptre that Aurora is sleeping and dreaming of her prince. In a twist of fate, the Princess and the peasant girl are the same person and now she is in an ageless sleep. Maleficent continues to say that the years will roll by and in 100 years, Phillip can be on his way to kiss the Princess and prove that true love conquers all. She laughs and shows him an old Prince Phillip leaving the Forbidden Mountain on an old Samson. Maleficent then leaves the dungeon and tells her raven that in the first time in sixteen years, she will sleep well, and she heads off to her tower.
The fairies fly in and tell Phillip that there is no time to explain as they free the Prince. They tell him that there will still be challenges and Flora gives him a Shield of Virtue and a mighty Sword of Truth. These are the weapons of righteousness that will triumph over evil. They all try to leave but the raven gives away their escape. They are chased by goons as the head out to find Samson. The goons push boulders onto Phillip but Flora changes the rocks into bubbles, and then she changes the goon’s arrows into flowers. Phillip reaches Samson and they ride off. The goons make one last attempt at stopping the Prince by pouring hot liquid down onto him but the fairies change that into a rainbow.
Merryweather changes the raven into a gargoyle and at this point Maleficent appears and notices Prince Phillip escaping. She tries to stop him by using her lightning to break the stone arches and stone paths around him. She then casts a spell to surround King Stefan’s castle with thrones. Phillip and Samson are forced to slow down and the Prince tries to break through but there are too many thorns. They finally are able to make some ground and they approach the castle. Maleficent then changes herself into a dragon right in front of Phillip and Samson. Phillip must use his shield to block her green fire. They duel and the fairies aid Phillip as best as they can. He ends up losing his shield but Flora enchants his sword so that when Phillip throws it, it lands directly in Maleficent’s heart. She dies and falls off a cliff and disappears into black goo. The rest of the thorns disappear as well.
Prince Phillip races into the castle and up to the tower where Aurora sleeps, just as the dawn breaks. He kisses Aurora and she wake up.
The rest of the kingdom awakes as well and the Kings go right back to finishing their conversation about Phillip falling in love with some peasant girl. But they get interrupted by trumpets sounding the arrival of Princess Aurora who comes in with Price Phillip. King Hubert is very surprised to see them together. King Stefan and his Queen are very happy to finally see their daughter.
Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora dance together as everyone looks on. The three good fairies cry and Fauna says that she loves happy endings. Flora suddenly notices that the dress is blue and changes it back to pink. Merryweather then changes it back to blue and so on. The scene slowly changes so that they couple are dancing on the clouds.
Their dance turns into a page of the book and it is written that they lived happily ever after. The book closes.
Trivia:
- The Peter Tchaikovsky Story was a television show released around the time of Sleeping Beauty. It focused on all the information that Disney had gathered on the composer during their research in making Sleeping Beauty.
- This is the first Disney film to be released in Technirama 70, a form of widescreen production. It called for much larger and more detailed individual drawings.
- The film was often advertised as “6 years and 6 million dollars in the making”, but the story development actually goes back to 1951.
- Grand Canyon is a half-hour featurette which was released as a double feature with Sleeping Beauty. It won an Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short. It featured the “Grand Canyon Suite” composed by Ferde Grofé.
- It is hard to imagine that when Disneyland was built with Sleeping Beauty Castle in the centre, the film had not even been released yet. Walt took a chance and named the castle after his newest princess, with hopes that she would be popular. Sleeping Beauty would not premiere for another four years.
- Aurora has the fewest lines of any Disney Princess with only 18 lines of dialogue. She also does not even appear on screen until 18 minutes into the movie.
- When Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather are having tea and cookies, the cookies are shaped like Mickey Mouse.
- The artistry of Sleeping Beauty is based on a pre-renaissance, gothic, and medieval look.
- The animators who drew Maleficent’s raven studied footage of ravens filmed by the True-Life Adventures crew.
- Mary Costa was told by Walt to use her singing voice as an extension of her speech and to “paint with her voice.”
- Alice Davis’s first job for Disney was to design the costumes for the live-action models for Sleeping Beauty. She later became famous for designing the costumes on the It’s a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean attractions.
- Eleanor Audley did her own live-action acting for her character of Maleficent and the villain was heavily modeled after her.
- Eyvind Earle was responsible for the overall look and design of Sleeping Beauty and it was the first time the backgrounds played such a key role in the direction of an animated film.
- Some of the deleted songs from the film were: “It Happens I have a Picture,” “Riddle Diddle,” and “Go to Sleep.”
- The dance in the forest sequence was called Sequence 8 in production and was one of the first scenes to begin animation. It also took the longest to make.
- The animators actually argued over if Aurora’s dress should be pink or blue so they decided to include their arguments into the final film.
Representation in the Disney Parks:
Sleeping Beauty Castle is the iconic centerpiece of three Magic Kingdom style Parks: Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris (where it is known as Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant)
In Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, there are walkthrough attractions featuring the story of Sleeping Beauty through the castles. In Disneyland Paris, underneath the castle is La Tanière du Dragon, a lair housing a large Maleficent in dragon form Audio-Animatronic.
There is a large and impressive dragon Maleficent float, as well as Flora, Fauna, Merryweather, and Prince Phillip, in the Festival of Fantasy parade in the Magic Kingdom. Maleficent also plays a large role in Fantasmic!
Aurora and the three fairies have boats named after them on Storybook Land Canal Boats and there is a large statue of Aurora and Phillip dancing in the Royal Banquet Hall in Hong Kong Disneyland. There is also a smaller version of this statue at Disneyland.
There is a signature restaurant called Aurora at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel.
Many of the different characters are meet and greet characters around the Parks.
Check out the other films of Disney’s Silver Age:
Sleeping Beauty is the first Disney movie I remember watching as a kid. I loved the end!!!
These classic Disney movies have my heart. Lots of great information here.
This movie and The Little Mermaid are two stories that remind me of how the animated, Disney movies have such different outcomes than their original story inspirations. Who does not enjoy a happy ending, though?