 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was to be the first full @-@ length cel animated feature in motion picture history , and as such Walt Disney had to fight to get the film produced . Both his brother and business partner Roy Disney and his wife Lillian attempted to talk him out of it , and the Hollywood movie industry referred to the film derisively as " Disney 's Folly " while it was in production . He had to mortgage his house to help finance the film 's production , which eventually ran up a total cost of $ 1 @,@ 488 @,@ 422 @.@ 74 , a massive sum for a feature film in 1937 . 
