'Sleeping Beauty' Opens S.L. Run

Walt Disney's latest package of movie magic - "Sleeping Beauty" and Oscar-winning "Grand Canyon" - opens today at the Villa Theater.

The two attractions drew the plaudits of a preview audience Wednesday evening as they flashed upon the giant screen of the same showhouse.

"Sleeping Beauty," the six-million dollar animated version of the familiar fairy tale, which was six years in the making, tells the story of the beautiful Princes Aurora; the wicked witch who vows that upon her 16th birthday Aurora will prick her finger on the needle of a spinning wheel and die.

Then there are the three fairies with their three wishes, one of which undoes the evil spell by decreeing that the princess shall not die, but shall sleep until awakened by love's first kiss.  And finally there is the Prince who cuts his way through the brambles to save the Princess.

As created by the master of film storytelling, the characters come to life on the screen.  They are all enchanting and wonderfully real, but the three good fairies - Flora, Fauna, and Maryweather - are the most charming of all.  They are to "Sleeping Beauty" what the mice were to "Cinderella" or the dwarfs were to "Snow White."

The effective blending of the Tshalkowsky music with the imaginative coloring make "Sleeping Beauty" a Disney wonder, an attractive intriguing to adult audiences as well as the small fry.  The latter group, however, might find Melificent, the witch, a little scary.

Oscar-winning "Grand Canyon" is a magnificent piece of movie art.  The picture was produced with scenes suggested by Ferde Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite," and the moods of the canyon and surrounding country are caught in a panoramic delight.

Opening with weird scenes of the painted desert, this short subject sweeps into the canyon.  Here, via foot, helicopter, plan and boat the cameramen captured scenes of verdant splendor, beauty, humor, tragedy, soaring magnificence and searing waste.

Without a single word, with the full score of the Grofe music in the background, the documentary shows cataracts of the Colorado that threaten to engulf the audience they seem so real;  a sidewinder snake attempting to move up a hill of sand;  clouds gathering for a storm;  a bobcat grabbing a tiny rodent' a tarantula and a gila monster "On the Trail";  an owl whose wise old face fills the whole giant-sized screen' a splendid sunset and a giant eagle whose majestic beauty and power are caught in some closeups while it rests and telephoto shots as it soars over the canyon.

It isn't the best Disney and it isn't the worst, but even the latter could be better than some Hollywood productions.