10 Fascinating Facts You Never Knew About Fantasia
3. Night On Bald Mountain Was Cut From Home Video
The final segment of Fantasia, Night on Bald Mountain, was the most visually dark of the entire feature. The demon, Chernabog, arises from his mountain and summons evil spirits to rise from their graves and dance around him. He would cast them back down into a fiery pit at will only to raise them again for the simple pleasure of being able to do so. The piece ended with monks singing Ave Maria, which sent Chernabog back to his slumber as the sun rose.
Nowadays, people enjoy the dark imagery and hopeful ending, as is the same with most of the early Disney films. Back in the 1940s however, parents weren’t so keen to see their children exposed to it. Disney received many letters from concerned and angry parents saying that their children were terrified by the sequence and demanded that it be removed from the film. Even nowadays the studio still receives angry emails about Chernabog.
As a result of the complaints the original 1990 home video omitted the Night on Bald Mountain sequence so as so satiate the parents of frightened children. However, all future releases after the original home video included the segment, most likely to appease the angry fans who were upset that the film wasn’t released in it’s entirety.
Disney just can’t catch a break.