The Snow Queen (1957 film)
Encyclopedia
The Snow Queen is a 1957 Soviet animated film directed by Lev Atamanov. It was produced at the Soyuzmultfilm
Soyuzmultfilm
Soyuzmultfilm is a Russian animation studio based in Moscow. Over the years it has gained international attention and respect, garnering numerous awards both at home and abroad. Noted for a great variety of style, it is regarded as the most influential animation studio of the former Soviet Union...

 studio in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 and is based on the story of the same name
The Snow Queen
The Snow Queen is a fairy tale by author Hans Christian Andersen . The tale was first published in 1845, and centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by a little boy and girl, Kai and Gerda....

 by Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...

. The film was re-released with English soundtracks in 1959, 1993, and 1998.

Plot

Hans Christian Andersen's story is simplified in this animated feature, which begins with an animated copy of his fairy tales, introduced by a little man, who says he is "old Dreamy" ("Ole Lukøje"). 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 ("slumbrella") that also causes him to dream wonderful stories, which he then writes as his fairy tales. Old Dreamy then narrates the story of the Snow Queen, which he begins with Kay and Gerda up in their window box garden, planting two roses together, which Kay calls "our roses."

On a winter night following, Gerda's grandmother tells the two children the legend of the Snow Queen, and while she tells it the viewer is taken to the Snow Queen's palace of ice in the far north (on Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...

) where she sits on her throne and looks into her mirror. The Snow Queen's proud and frowning face is seen in Gerda's frosted window to Gerda's exclamation, "It's the Snow Queen!" Kay jokes, "Let her come in here, and I'll put her on a hot stove!" This angers the Snow Queen, who is watching the children from her mirror, which she smashes with her scepter, telling the ice splinters of the shattered mirror to go into the eyes and hearts of those who have offended her. Back at Gerda's home the window bursts open, letting in ice splinters that get into Kay's eyes and heart. His personality changes: he is hostile toward Gerda, and when Gerda notices that the letting in of the cold wind and snow has killed their roses, which have turned black, Kay stomps on them and kicks them about in glee. He then leaves Gerda in tears to be comforted by her grandmother.

When Kay goes out on the next day to ride around on his sled in the marketplace of the city, Gerda wants to come along, riding on Kay's sled as she has always done. Kay pulls the sled fast, knocking Gerda off, but she tries not to cry. Kay ties his sled to the sleigh of the Snow Queen, which has suddenly appeared, 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. These young birds will appear later in the story.

Old Dreamy then tells about Gerda's going out to look for Kay. She asks young birds and animals to no avail if they had seen Kay. A little lamb tells her, "I don't know from nothing, I was born yesterday." At the river side 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 where the home of the kind, old sorceress is. She comes out of her garden to the trumpeting and drumming of four toy soldiers, who stand at her gate as sentinels. As Gerda's boat approaches, the old woman uses her crook to pull it to shore. She takes Gerda into her garden, which is eternally in summer with flowers that sparkle. In her house the old woman puts Gerda to sleep by combing her hair. It is her intention for Gerda to stay with her and forget looking for Kay, but Gerda awakes while the old woman is still sleeping. Gerda remembers that she is looking for Kay, but when she gets to the gate she finds that outside the garden it is already fall. She begs the toy soldier sentinels not to sound their bugles and drums to awaken their mistress, and they comply.

Gerda is next found by the seashore where she is met by a raven, "Mr. Corax" (Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 for "raven"). 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 the princess with whom he is "palsy walsy." Mr. Corax takes Gerda to the palace to find his "lady friend," a female raven, named Henrietta, who knows the palace and can guide Gerda through it. They arrive when there is a ball going on in the palace concluded with fireworks. When all are asleep the ravens take Gerda into the palace to the royal bedroom. Gerda takes a candle that she uses to see if the boy is Kay. It is a different boy, who is heavier than Kay. The shock of awaking him, awakens the princess, who calls her guards. The three intruders are apprehended, but when the princess is caught up in the romance of a girl seeking her boyfriend, she and her consort decide to help her.

An interlude follows with the Snow Queen and Kay talking in her ice palace throne room. Kay is playing with ice crystals when the Snow Queen asks him if he knows what love is. He remembers Gerda, but he stays there because his heart is a lump of ice like the Snow Queen.

The princess and her consort 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 hag 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 earlier, and a large reindeer, named Bucky Boy. 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 Bucky Boy go, which she does. She also releases the birds, the fox, and the rabbits, but they decide to stay with her.

Gerda and Bucky get to the Lapland 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 Bucky. When Gerda and Bucky get to the cousin in Finland, she tells them that they are just 10 miles away from the Snow Queen's palace. Gerda and Bucky leave so quickly that Gerda leaves behind her mittens and cap.

Bucky, 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 Bucky Boy to the Finnish woman, who takes them further on their journey home in her dog sled. The Lapland woman takes them further in her boat, and the robber girl takes them the rest of the way in the coach that had been stripped of its gold plate. 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 later Gerda and Kay were married, but "that," he says, "is another story."

English-language releases

In 1959, the film was dubbed into English and released by Universal Pictures
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

 with the voices of Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee was an American actress. Dee began her career as a model and progressed to film. Best known for her portrayal of ingenues, Dee won a Golden Globe Award in 1959 as one of the year's most promising newcomers, and over several years her films were popular...

 and Tommy Kirk
Tommy Kirk
Thomas Lee "Tommy" Kirk is a former American actor, and later a businessman.-Disney years:Kirk was discovered by talent agents at the age of thirteen in a production of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California...

 as Gerda and Kay. This version is introduced by a six-minute live-action Christmas prologue featuring TV personality Art Linkletter
Art Linkletter
Arthur Gordon "Art" Linkletter was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, on NBC radio-TV for 19 years...

, 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 (the other one was in the montage).

In the 1990s Films by Jove restored the film and created a new English soundtrack for it, featuring the voices of Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...

, Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...

, Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...

 and Laura San Giacomo
Laura San Giacomo
Laura San Giacomo is an American actress known for playing the role of Maya Gallo on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! and Kit De Luca in the film Pretty Woman, and Cynthia in sex, lies, and videotape as well as other work on television and in films...

. It was shown on television in 1998 as part of the "Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov is a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974...

's Stories from My Childhood" series, and was later released on video and DVD in 1999. French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 soundtracks were added for the DVD version, the French soundtrack featuring Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...

, and the Spanish track Beatriz Aguirre. Following criticism of the non-inclusion of the Russian soundtrack on the DVD, Films by Jove also released a DVD of the film containing the original Russian soundtrack with English subtitles sometime in 2006.

Home media release

  • Films by Jove, April 27, 1999 (R0
    DVD region code
    DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...

    , NTSC
    NTSC
    NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...

    ) – version restored by Films by Jove in the 1990s. Contains English, French and Spanish soundtracks (not Russian), no subtitles. Included films: The Snow Queen, The Wild Swans, Alice and the Mystery of the Third Planet
    The Mystery of the Third Planet
    The Mystery of the Third Planet , aka The Secret of the Third Planet is a 1981 Soviet traditionally-animated feature film directed by Roman Kachanov and produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow...

    .
  • Krupnyy Plan, September 13, 2004 (R5
    DVD region code
    DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...

    , PAL
    PAL
    PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...

    ) – version restored by Krupnyy Plan ("full restoration of image and sound"). Contains original Russian soundtrack, no subtitles. Included films: The Snow Queen, New Years' Eve (1948). Other features: Before and after restoration, photo album, previews. Glitch: rewinding/fast-forwarding only by chapters.
  • Westlake Entertainment Group, October 1, 2004 (R1
    DVD region code
    DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...

    , NTSC
    NTSC
    NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...

    ). Contains complete 1959 version of the film, but unrestored (the public domain print is used).
  • Films by Jove, 2006 (R0
    DVD region code
    DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...

    , NTSC) – version restored by Films by Jove in the 1990s. Contains original Russian soundtrack with English subtitles. Included films: The Snow Queen, The Golden Antelope, Bench, Cyclist, Fence.

Creators

English Russian
Director-producer Lev Atamanov Лев Атаманов
Director Nikolai Fyodorov (uncredited in 1959)
Phil Patton (1959 only)
Николай Фёдоров
Story Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...

Ганс Христиан Андерсен
Scenario Nikolai Erdman
Nikolai Erdman
Nikolay Robertovich Erdman was a Soviet dramatist and screenwriter primarily remembered for his work with Vsevolod Meyerhold in the 1920s. His plays, notably The Suicide , form a link in Russian literary history between the satirical drama of Nikolai Gogol and the post-World War II Theatre of the...


Lev Atamanov
Georgiy Grebner (uncredited in 1959)
Николай Эрдман
Лев Атаманов
Георгий Гребнер
Writers (1959 only) Bob Fisher
Bob Fisher
Bob Fisher is an American screenwriter whose credits include Wedding Crashers, the 2011 Fox comedy series Traffic Light, and the upcoming We're the Millers and Contractors.-References:...


Alan Lipscott
Art Directors Leonid Shvartzman
Aleksandr Vinokurov
Леонид Шварцман
Александр Винокуров
Artists Dmitriy Anpilov
O. Gemmerling
Irina Svetlitsa
Pyotr Korobayev
Дмитрий Анпилов
О. Геммерлинг
Ирина Светлица
Пётр Коробаев
Animators Lidiya Reztsova
Renata Mirenkova
Yelena Khludova
Gennadiy Novozhilov
Konstantin Chikin
Yelizaveta Komova
Vadim Dolgikh
Tatyana Fyodorova
Vladimir Krumin
Fyodor Khitruk
Fyodor Khitruk
Fyodor Savelyevich Khitruk is one of the most influential animators and animation directors in Russian animation.-Biography:Khitruk was born in Tver, Russian Empire and came to Moscow to study graphic design at the OGIS College for Applied Arts. He graduated in 1936 and started to work with...


Viktor Lihachev
Igor Podgorskiy
Лидия Резцова
Рената Миренкова
Елена Хлудова
Геннадий Новожилов
Константин Чикин
Елизавета Комова
Вадим Долгих
Татьяна Фёдорова
Владимир Крумин
Фёдор Хитрук
Виктор Лихачев
Игорь Подгорский
Camera Operator Mikhail Druyan Михаил Друян
Executive Producer Fyodor Ivanov Фёдор Иванов
Composer Artemiy Ayvazyan (original version only)
Joseph Gershenson (1959 only)
Frank Skinner
Frank Skinner
Frank Skinner is a British writer, comedian and actor. He is best known for his television presenting, often alongside David Baddiel, with whom he also collaborated for the football song "Three Lions."He is a radio presenter on the Saturday morning slot on Absolute Radio.-Youth and early career...

 (1959 only)
Артемий Айвазян
Sound Operator Nikolai Prilutskiy Николай Прилуцкий
Editor Lidiya Kyaksht (1957 only)
Hugo Grimaldi (1959 only)
Лидия Кякшт
Lyrics Nikolay Zabolotskiy (1957 only) Николай Заболоцкий

Voices

Character Original version (Russian) 1959 Universal version (English) 1998 Films by Jove version (English)
Ol Dreamy
(Оле-Лукойе)
Vladimir Gribkov
(Владимир Грибков)
Paul Frees
Paul Frees
Paul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...

 
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...

The Princess
(Принцесса)
T. Linnik
(Т. Линник)
Joyce Terry  ?
Kay (John)
(Кай)
Anna Komolova
(Анна Комолова)
Tommy Kirk
Tommy Kirk
Thomas Lee "Tommy" Kirk is a former American actor, and later a businessman.-Disney years:Kirk was discovered by talent agents at the age of thirteen in a production of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California...

 
?
The Robber Girl (Shee)
(Маленькая разбойница)
Galina Kozhakina
(Галина Кожакина)
Patricia McCormack  ?
The Snow Queen
(Снежная королева)
Mariya Babanova
Mariya Babanova
-Filmography:*Goluboy meteorit .... Narrator*The Snow Queen as The Snow Queen*V nekotorom tsarstve *Sestritsa Alyonushka i bratets Ivanushka *Gusi-lebedi...


(Мария Бабанова)
Louise Arthur  Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...

Finnish Woman
(Финка)
M. Sinelnikova
(М. Синельникова)
? ?
The Raven
(Ворон)
Sergei Martinson
(Сергей Мартинсон)
Paul Frees
Paul Frees
Paul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...

 
Court Raven (female)
(Ворона)
Yelena Ponsova
(Елена Понсова)
June Foray
June Foray
June Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...

 
?
The Prince
(Принц)
Vera Bendina
(Вера Бендина)
Dick Beals
Dick Beals
Richard "Dick" Beals is an American voice actor. He has performed many voices in his career, which spans from the early 1950s into the 21st century...

 
?
Gerda (Ivett)
(Герда)
Yanina Zheymo
(Янина Жеймо)
Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee was an American actress. Dee began her career as a model and progressed to film. Best known for her portrayal of ingenues, Dee won a Golden Globe Award in 1959 as one of the year's most promising newcomers, and over several years her films were popular...

 
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...

Old Robber (female)
(Старая разбойница)
Yudif Glizer
(Юдифь Глизер)
June Foray
June Foray
June Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...

 
?
Laplander Woman
(Лапландка)
Yudif Glizer
(Юдифь Глизер)
? ?
Granny
(Бабушка)
V. Popova
(В. Попова)
Lillian Buyeff  ?
Deer
(Олень)
Alexey Konsovskiy
(Алексей Консовский)
? ?
Old Fary
(Старая фея)
Irina Murzayeva
(Ирина Мурзаева)
June Foray
June Foray
June Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...

 
?
Narrator M. Svetlova
(М. Светлова)
? ?
Christmas prologue n/a Art Linkletter
Art Linkletter
Arthur Gordon "Art" Linkletter was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, on NBC radio-TV for 19 years...


Billy Booth
Billy Booth (actor)
William Allen "Billy" Booth was an American child actor, perhaps best known for his role as Jay North's best friend Tommy Anderson on the sitcom Dennis the Menace...


Rickey Busch
Jennie Lynn
Tammy Marihugh 
n/a

Awards

  • 1957
    1957 in film
    The year 1957 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 21 - The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue-Awards:...

    Venice Film Festival
    Venice Film Festival
    The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

    : Golden Lion
    Golden Lion
    Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...

     in the animated film category
  • 1958
    1958 in film
    The year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....

    Cannes Film Festival
    Cannes Film Festival
    The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

    : First prize in the animated film category
  • 1958—Rome: First prize
  • 1958—Moscow Film Festival: Special prize
  • 1959
    1959 in film
    The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....

    —London (Festival of festivals): Prize for best film of year

Influence

Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...

 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 already. When he saw The Snow Queen, he admired it and continued working in anime. In September 2007, it was announced that Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...

 will be distributing this film through their Ghibli Museum Library
Ghibli Museum Library
The is the collection of classic and non-Japanese animated films which have been dubbed or subtitled and released in Japan by Studio Ghibli, in collaboration with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Cinema ANGELICA...

 label and it was released in December 2007 (in the original Russian audio with Japanese subtitles).http://www.ghibliworld.com/news.html

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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