A seminal film in the development of animated features, and a cultural cornerstone in leading children to classical music, Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940) has entranced six generations of viewers in America and Europe. Named as one of the American Film Institute's Top 100 Movies of All Time in 1998, it has served as the inspiration for, among others, Bruno Bozetto's Allegro Non Troppo and Osamu Tezuka's Legend of the Forest. Although influential, it remains unique, one of the most masterful combinations of sound and images ever committed to celluloid.

The "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence from the film Fantasia.

Only the third full-length feature to be made by Walt Disney, at its inception it was one of the Hollywood film industry's most significant experiments since Warner Bros. introduced sound with The Jazz Singer 13 years earlier. The finished film, introduced by Deems Taylor, with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski providing the...