The word “visionary” could have been coined to describe Walt Disney. Look no further than his 1940 film Fantasia, which critic Clive Hirschhorn has called “one of the cinema’s undisputed works of art.”

If, like me, you haven’t seen it in years, this is your chance—with the added attraction of trading notes with others from around the country during our online discussion. Disney achieved an unprecedented marriage of “highbrow culture” (classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski) with so-called “lowbrow culture” (Mickey Mouse and a Technicolor cast of hundreds). The result is what today we call “pop culture,” but nearly 100 years later, can you think of any example that rivals the scale and ambition of Fantasia?

We could hold a day’s seminar on the technical aspects alone, because Walt was determined to give audiences “a new listening experience”; his audio specialists virtually invented stereophonic sound. And when you add animation in the context of 1940’s pre-digital world—days when individual “cells” had to be drawn for each nanosecond—it took 1,200 people to bring his 120-minute vision to life.

This is a jaw-dropping film—one that Walt knew would last. “Fantasia is timeless,” he said. “It may run 10, 20, 30 years. I can never build another Fantasia. I can improve. I can elaborate. That’s all.”

For the discussion, I will be delighted to welcome as co-host BRIDGETT EMERSON, a longtime Let’s Go to the Movies… fan and a classical musician in her own right.