The discovery of a print of the 1916 Famous Players Film Company-Paramount
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, directed by J. Searle Dawley
and starring Marguerite Clark, makes two significant contributions to
film history. It brings to light a virtually unknown actress whose popularity
during the teens rivaled Mary Pickford's. It also places before us,
after a hiatus of 80 years, Walt Disney's acknowledged inspiration for
his studio's first animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
For both these reasons, film scholars should applaud the Nederlands
Filmmuseum, whose discovery of a print of the 1916 film among its holdings
adds an important chapter to film history; to the George Eastman House
for restoring the film; and to the 17th Le Giornate del Cinema Muto
for exhibiting it to an international audience. (Karen Merritt, "Marguerite
Clark as America's Snow White: The Resourceful Orphan Who Inspired
Walt Disney", Griffithiana 64, October 1998)
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