As Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs begins, a book with that title opens, and the audience sees the beginning of the story. We learn that Snow White's wicked stepmother, the Queen, is afraid of Snow White's beauty, and she forces Snow White to dress and work as a servant. The page turns, and we learn that the queen talks to her Magic Mirror on the wall each day to find out who was the "fairest of them all." As long as it answered in the Queen's favor, Snow White will be safe.

After this visual preface concludes, the Queen summons the spirit in the Magic Mirror, whose face appears amid flames. On this day, the mirror tells her that she is beautiful but that there is one in rags who is more fair than the Queen. The mirror reveals that the woman is...