Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution. Based on Charles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale, the film follows Princess Aurora, who was cursed by the evil fairy Maleficent to die from pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel on her 16th birthday. She is saved by three good fairies, who alter Aurora's curse so that she falls into a deep sleep and will be awakened by true love's kiss. The production was supervised by Clyde Geronimi, and was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Eric Larson, and Les Clark. It features the voices of Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy, Barbara Jo Allen, Taylor Holmes, and Bill Thompson.
Sleeping Beauty began development in 1950. The film took nearly a decade and $6 million () to produce, and was Disney's most expensive animated feature at the time. Its tapestry-like art style was devised by Eyvind Earle, who was inspired by pre-Renaissance European art; its score and songs, composed by George Bruns, were based on Pyotr Tchaikovsky's 1889 ballet. Sleeping Beauty was the first animated film to use the Super Technirama 70 widescreen process and was the second full-length animated feature filmed in anamorphic widescreen, following Lady and the Tramp (1955).
It was released in theaters on January 29, 1959, to mixed reviews from critics who praised its art direction and musical score, but criticized its plot and characters. The film was a box-office bomb in its initial release, grossing $5.3 million (), and losing $900,000 () for the distributor. Many employees from the animation studio were laid off. Sleeping Beauty re-releases have been successful, and it has become one of Disney's most artistically acclaimed features. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture at the 32nd Academy Awards.
Maleficent, a live-action reimagining of the film from Maleficent's perspective, was released in 2014, followed by a sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, in 2019. The latter year, Sleeping Beauty was selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
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In 14th century Europe, King Stefan and Queen Leah welcome their newborn daughter, Aurora, and proclaim a holiday for their subjects to pay homage to the princess. At her christening, she is betrothed to Prince Phillip, the son of Stefan's friend King Hubert, in order to unite their kingdoms. The three good fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, each bless Aurora with one gift. After Flora and Fauna give her beauty and song, the evil fairy Maleficent appears, angry at not being invited. She places a curse on Aurora: before the sun sets on Aurora's sixteenth birthday, Aurora will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Merryweather's magic isn't strong enough to undo the curse, so she uses her gift to soften it so that Aurora will instead fall into a deep sleep until true love's kiss breaks the spell.
Still fearful, Stefan orders all the kingdom's spinning wheels to be burned. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather devise a plan to hide Aurora in a secluded location and raise her themselves until her sixteenth birthday, to which Stefan and Leah reluctantly agree. The fairies move into a forest cottage, giving up magic and living like human peasants; they also rename Aurora to Briar Rose.
On Aurora's sixteenth birthday, the fairies send her to gather berries so they can prepare a surprise party. In the forest, Aurora sings to her animal friends, drawing the attention of Phillip, now a handsome young man. They fall in love without revealing their names, and Aurora invites Phillip to the cottage that evening. Meanwhile, Flora and Merryweather's argument about the color of Aurora's birthday gown attracts the attention of Maleficent's pet raven, Diablo. Aurora returns and tells her guardians that she has fallen in love. They reveal her true identity, which Diablo overhears, and tell her that she must never see the boy again. Meanwhile, Phillip tells his father about the girl he met and wants to marry, unaware she is the princess to whom he is betrothed. King Hubert unsuccessfully tries to dissuade him.
Shortly before sunset, the fairies bring Aurora to the castle for her birthday celebration. Maleficent appears as a glowing ball of light and hypnotically beckons Aurora to a tower room, where Aurora pricks her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel that Maleficent conjures and falls into a deep sleep. The fairies place the sleeping Aurora in the highest tower, and put the entire kingdom to sleep until Aurora is awakened. While doing so, Flora overhears a conversation between Hubert and Stefan, and realizes that Phillip is the boy that Aurora met. The fairies rush to the cottage, only to discover that Phillip has been abducted by Maleficent.
At her domain, the Forbidden Mountain, Maleficent reveals Aurora's identity to Phillip. She plans to lock him away until he is an old man on the verge of death before releasing him to meet Aurora, who will not have aged a single day. The fairies rescue Phillip and arm him with the magical Sword of Truth and the Shield of Virtue. Maleficent surrounds Stefan's castle with a forest of thorns, but Phillip breaks through it. Outraged, she transforms into a giant, fire-breathing dragon, overpowering Phillip. The fairies enchant Phillip's sword, which he throws straight into Maleficent's heart, killing her.
Phillip finds Aurora and awakens her with a kiss, bringing the rest of the kingdom out of their slumber. The two descend to the ballroom, where Aurora reunites with her parents and happily dances with Phillip as the good fairies look on with joy.
Voice cast
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- Mary Costa as Princess Aurora, also known as Briar Rose and Sleeping Beauty, an innocent and romantic daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leah who is cursed by Maleficent.
- Bill Shirley as Prince Phillip, Aurora's bold and spirited "true love" to whom she was betrothed and King Hubert's son. He is occasionally accompanied by his horse, Samson.
- Eleanor Audley as Maleficent, a powerful evil fairy and self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who casts a curse on Aurora and is responsible for all misfortune in King Stefan's kingdom.
- Verna Felton as Flora, the domineering and responsible self-appointed leader of the Three Good Fairies. Her signature color is red.
- Barbara Luddy as Merryweather, a feisty and impulsive good fairy who challenges Flora's leadership.
- Barbara Jo Allen as Fauna, a sweet and affectionate good fairy who is a peacemaker between Flora and Merryweather.
- Taylor Holmes as King Stefan, Aurora's placid and dignified father.
- Bill Thompson as King Hubert, Phillip's jovial and bombastic father.
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Candy Candido, Pinto Colvig, and Bob Amsberry voiced the Goons, Maleficent's bumbling but loyal henchmen. Candido also voiced Diablo, Maleficent's pet raven. Dallas McKennon voiced the Owl, one of Aurora's animal friends, with Purv Pullen providing the sounds of other forest animals. Marvin Miller was the film's narrator.
Production
Story development
Walt Disney first considered making an animated version of Charles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" in 1938. Preliminary artwork was submitted by Joe Grant, but the project did not move forward. Disney registered Sleeping Beauty as a planned production title with the Motion Picture Association of America on January 19, 1950, after a preview audience's positive response to Cinderella. By November of that year, the Los Angeles Times officially confirmed the film's development. Disney envisioned Sleeping Beauty as the pinnacle of his studio's achievements in animation, and was willing to pool all resources needed to achieve that.
Key story work was done by Ted Sears, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, and Ralph Wright, who were joined by other story artists as production continued. The story artists expanded the fairies' roles, turning the good fairies into comical guardians of the princess, and the evil fairy into a more powerful villain. In this version of the story, Maleficent would conjure an indestructible spinning wheel, which the king and queen would unsuccessfully try to get rid of; they would be forced to hide their daughter in the castle walls and never let her out. He would travel to a faraway land and return a few years later to fight Maleficent with the help of the good fairies, find the sleeping princess and wake her up with the kiss.
By June 1952, the full storyboard of Sleeping Beauty was completed, but Disney rejected it, stating that its approach was too similar to his studio's earlier films. The story artists discarded the original version and started from scratch, deciding to retain several ideas from earlier suggestions, such as the prince's acquaintance with the princess before the curse is fulfilled, and a shorter sleep. The improvement of his animators' skill in drafting a realistic male figure prompted Disney to expand the role of the prince, who had been named Phillip. Several story elements originated from discarded ideas for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Cinderella (1950), including the prince and princess dancing on a cloud (Disney's favorite concept) and Phillip's escape from Maleficent's domain.
Casting
thumb|alt=Mary Costa, the voice actress of Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty.|[[Mary Costa, who provided the voice of Princess Aurora]]
Walt Disney spent three years searching for a voice for Princess Aurora, and considered shelving the project entirely before Mary Costa was cast by June 1952. She was invited to audition by composer Walter Schumann, who heard her singing at a dinner party for the entertainment industry. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Costa had a strong Southern accent, which nearly prevented her from being cast until she proved that she could sustain a British accent. Disney personally contacted Costa within hours of her audition to confirm that she had the role. Before Costa was cast, LP records by forty female singers were heard by the story artists, and fifteen of them auditioned. Costa recorded her lines for three years, from 1952 to 1955. Several of the studio's voice regulars were cast in the film, including Verna Felton as Flora and Bill Thompson as King Hubert. Felton is also believed to have been the voice of Queen Leah, but the studio has no saved records of who voiced the character.