The Snow Queen (1957 film)


The Snow Queen is a 1957 Soviet animated film directed by Lev Atamanov. It was produced at the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow and is based on the 1844 story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. The film was re-released with English soundtracks in 1959, 1993, and 1995.

Plot

Hans Christian Andersen's story is simplified in this animated version of his fairy tale. A little man, who introduces himself as "Old Dreamy", tells the viewer that on days when the master storyteller Andersen is not overtired, he puts him to sleep with his colorful, magic umbrella causing him to dream wonderful stories—from which he then writes his fairy tales. Old Dreamy narrates the story of the Snow Queen.
Two young children, Kay and Gerda are in their window box garden where they exchange roses they have grown for one another and plant them together. On the next winter night, Gerda's grandmother tells the two children the legend of the Snow Queen. The Snow Queen's palace of ice in the far north where she sits on her throne and looks into her mirror. The Snow Queen's proud and frowning face is seen by Gerda through a frosted window who exclaims, "It's the Snow Queen!". Kay jokes, "Let her come in here, and I'll put her on a hot stove!". The Snow Queen, who is watching the children in her mirror, becomes angry and smashes the mirror with her scepter. She enchants the ice splinters to pierce the eyes and hearts of those who have offended her. Back at Gerda's home, the window bursts open and ice splinters enter Kay's eyes and heart. He becomes hostile toward Gerda, and when Gerda becomes upset that the cold wind and snow have blackened their roses, Kay stomps on them and kicks them about in glee. He then leaves Gerda in tears to be comforted by her grandmother.
The next day, Kay goes for a sled ride in the marketplace of the city. Gerda wants to come along as she has before, but Kay says she will fall and cry. He lets her on the sled, but pulls it harshly, knocking Gerda off and then taunts her for crying before running off. Kay ties his sled to the sleigh of the Snow Queen, which has suddenly appeared in the village square, to Gerda's horror. The Snow Queen pulls Kay on his sled out of the city, where she stops and confronts him, taking him into her arms as her willing captive, since his heart is as cold as ice. The Snow Queen's presence freezes a mother bird to death as she protects her young under her.
Old Dreamy's story continues with Gerda looking for Kay when spring comes. She asks young birds and animals if they had seen Kay, to no avail. At the river bank, Gerda begs the river to take her in a row boat to Kay. She gives her new red shoes to the river, and her boat is guided down the stream to the home of an old sorceress. She comes out of her garden to the trumpeting and drumming of four toy soldiers, who stand at her gate as sentinels. The old woman uses her crook to pull Gerda's boat to shore. She takes Gerda into her garden of eternal summer with sparkling flowers. In her house, the old woman puts Gerda to sleep by combing her hair. She wants Gerda to stay with her and forget Kay, but Gerda awakes when the old woman falls asleep. The sorceress charmed Gerda to forget her previous life, but Gerda remembers Kay when she sees two roses growing together. When she gets to the gate she finds that outside the garden it is already fall.
Gerda is next found by the seashore where she is met by a raven, "Mr. Corax". Gerda tells him that she is looking for a "good, kind, brave boy". Mr. Corax tells her that such a boy is now living at the palace of a princess. Mr. Corax takes Gerda to the palace to find his fiancée Henrietta, who knows the palace and can guide Gerda through it. They arrive at the palace in the midst of a ball with fireworks. When all are asleep, the ravens take Gerda into the palace and to the royal bedroom. Gerda takes a lantern and tries to wake the boy, but he is not Kay and, startled, she drops the lantern. The shock awakens him and princess, who calls her guards. When the princess hears Gerda's tale of seeking her friend, she and the prince decide to help.
An interlude follows with the Snow Queen and Kay talking in her ice palace throne room. Kay is playing with ice crystals, but he misses the smell of flowers. The Snow Queen tells him that the smell of flowers, beauty, joy, poetry, and love do not exist and to forget them. Kay does not remember joy or beauty, but when asked if he remembers love, he recalls Gerda, irritating the Snow Queen. The princess and her prince send Gerda on her way with a golden coach and attendants. While the coach travels through a dark woods, they are stopped by a gang of robbers, who take Gerda and strip the coach of its gold plate, sparing the attendants. An old woman takes Gerda, but when she is bitten on the ear by her daughter Angel, who is riding on her back. She listens to her request to keep Gerda with her other captive pets. These pets include a fox, little rabbits, the birds that were spared the Snow Queen's frost when she first took Kay, and a large reindeer named Bae. The birds tell Gerda that they saw the Snow Queen take Kay with her to Lapland. The reindeer offers to take Gerda there. It remains for the robber girl to let Gerda and Bae go, which she does. She also releases the birds, the fox, and the rabbits, but starts crying, since she only wanted to have friends, so the animals decide to stay with her.
Gerda and Bae get to the Lapp woman, who warms them by their fire. She tells them that the Snow Queen had stopped there with Kay but went on farther north to Finland. She directs them to her cousin in Finland who can direct them further, and she writes a letter to her on a fish that she sends with Gerda and Bae. When Gerda and Bae get to the Finn woman's home, she tells them that they are just 10 miles away from the Snow Queen's palace. Gerda and Bae leave so quickly that Gerda leaves behind her mittens and cap.
Bae, who collapses along the way, is unable to take Gerda up to the ice palace, so Gerda goes on alone. When Gerda finally gets to the palace through the blustery wind and snow, she encounters Kay, who is released from the splinters of ice in his eye and his heart by Gerda's warm embrace. Even though the Snow Queen suddenly returns, she and her palace melt away with the coming of spring.
Gerda and Kay are taken first by Bae to the Finn woman, who takes them further on their journey home in her dog sled. The Lapp woman takes them further in her boat, and the robber girl takes them the rest of the way in the coach. They go past the princess, her consort, and the ravens who wave them on. They are now home again in their window box garden in springtime. Old Dreamy tells the viewer that Gerda and Kay will continue on to have more adventures, and so will the viewer.

English-language releases

In 1959, the film was dubbed into English and released by Universal Pictures with the voices of Sandra Dee and Tommy Kirk as Gerda and Kay. This version is introduced by a six-minute live-action Christmas prologue featuring TV personality Art Linkletter, as well as a two-minute montage. In this prologue, Linkletter recited the following rhyme just before the film began: "One snowflake two/three snowflakes four/And now you'll see 'The Snow Queen'/if you add a million more." The American version also contained an entirely rewritten musical score and had three new songs in English, two of which replaced the Russian songs.
In 1985, Jim Terry produced an English dub that was released by Celebrity Home Entertainment in 1993. The theme song for the dub was provided by Bullets. The main characters Gerda and Kay's names were changed to Yvette and John.
In the 1990s, Jove Films restored the film and created a new English soundtrack for it, featuring the voices of Kathleen Turner, Mickey Rooney, Kirsten Dunst, and Laura San Giacomo. It was shown on television in 1995 as part of the "Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories from My Childhood" series, and was later released on video and DVD in 1999. French and Spanish soundtracks were added for the DVD version, with the French soundtrack featuring Catherine Deneuve, and the Spanish track featuring Beatriz Aguirre. Following criticism of the non-inclusion of the Russian soundtrack on the DVD, Jove Films also released a DVD of the film containing the original Russian soundtrack with English subtitles sometime in 2006.

Home media release

Voices

Awards

has stated that this film is one of his inspirations to work in animation. When he started his career, Miyazaki had a rough start and was thinking of leaving animation. When he saw The Snow Queen, he admired it and continued working in anime. In September 2007, it was announced that Studio Ghibli will be distributing this film through their Ghibli Museum Library label and it was released in December 2007.