Disney's Fantasia (1940) - Night on Bald Mountain

Musical Score by Modest Mussorgsky.

The Night on Bald Mountain segment is a showcase for animator Bill Tytla, who gave the demon Chernabog a power and intensity rarely seen in Disney films. The nocturnal Chernabog summons from their graves empowered restless souls, until driven away by the sound of a church bell. Noted actor Béla Lugosi served as a live action model for Chernabog, and spent several days at the Disney studio, where he was filmed doing evil, demon-like poses for Tytla and his unit to use as a reference. Tytla later deemed this reference material unsuitable and had studio colleague Wilfred Jackson perform in front of the cameras for the reference footage.

Chernabog is first seen when he awakes on top of Bald Mountain. It is Walpurgis Night and, using the powers of darkness, he raises ghosts, skeletons, demons, witches, harpies, goblins, and zombies from a nearby town and cemetery. He then summons fire and lava and makes the damned and the other creatures in his control dance and fly around, much to his delight, before he destroys them.

The horror of the demons, ghosts, skeletons, witches, harpies, and other evil creatures in Night on Bald Mountain comes to an abrupt end with the sound of the Angelus bell, which send Chernabog and his followers back into hiding.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Disney
• Fantasia
• 1940
• Chernabog
• Modest
• Mussorgsky
• Night
• on
• Bald
• Mountain
• Film
• Movie
• Scene

[yankee999]

The thing that baffles me about this segment is the fact that people are apparently TOTALLY FINE with living right at the mountain's foot. Let me tell you, if I noticed one night that the top of the FUCKING MOUNTAIN had turned into god only knows what and was reaching down here to raise the dead, I think I'd get the holy hell out of dodge in one hell of a hurry.

[Beowulf25]

@0Iluvater0 Chernabog is the name used by the original composer, Mussorgsky, in his writings.

[KerianH]

@05vendetta I remember those days...

Of course, I was busy watching it in the family basement, with a makeshift drum set in an attempt to copy the music and feel of the show. I guess that's why I'm so messed up in the head now...XD

[anasisaninja]

i just shat a tree

D:

[bubba485]

@Beowulf25 Chernabog is also the Slavic lord of Darkness, basically one of the Devil's many aliases.

[05vendetta]

To this day, this creeps me out. When I was little, I tried to be brave and make it through this.. I wimped out stumbling to our ancient VHS while covering my eyes and struggled to find the STOP button. Haha. Oh the days of VHS.

[Ankh117]

@0Iluvater0 Chernobog, and the Devil are kind of the same thing.

[VenatorMortem]

I want this Disney Back !!!

[SethBlizzard]

Scary and beautiful to the extremes of the definitions of both words. The music is spellbindingly powerful, along with the jaw-dropping visuals blending together into a dazzling piece of beauty. What a piece of art!

[DrAgOnNeKo567]

@whatevers31 No no, he was saying "god only knows what."

He wasn't actually calling the creature god.

[whatevers31]

@yankee999 its actually satan not god

[vaporizethis]

intro sounded really creepy considering how non-chalant the conductor sounded