The Snow Queen: An Introduction

There are about a million fairy tales in the world, but interestingly, there are only about forty the main populace has heard of. Of course everyone knows Cinderella, Snow White, and The Little Mermaid (with much thanks to Disney). Little Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, and The Princess and the Pea, are the next notch down, but you still know the stories. And finally, perhaps you might draw a blank on Bluebeard, The Brave Little Tailor, or The Red Shoes, but you've probably heard the titles.

The Snow Queen might garner similar head scratching. It is a tale by Hans Christian Andersen, first published in 1845. As one of his longest and most imaginative stories, The Snow Queen is often considered his magnum opus. It has been adapted to film/TV 15(ish) times. Just like my Wuthering Heights series, I will be watching these adaptations, comparing and contrasting them, and ultimately deciding on how entertaining and/or accurate they are.

This is mostly for my own enjoyment. I am currently writing a novel adaptation of The Snow Queen and I wanted to see the different ways some of the more difficult plot points were dealt with.

Plot Summary
Once upon a time, The Devil (sometimes a troll) creates an evil mirror that distorts the appearance of whoever looks into it, making them look ugly and magnifying their more unflattering traits. One day the Devil decides to take his mirror to Heaven so he can mock God and the angels, but the mirror instead breaks into a million pieces which are carried on the winds and fly into the eyes of the innocents, making everything they see ugly and bad.

Meanwhile, a little boy named Kay and a little girl named Gerda grow up next door to one another in a city. They spend their idyllic youth growing roses together on the adjoining roof between their buildings. Come winter, Gerda's grandmother (sometimes Kay's grandmother) tells the children of The Snow Queen, the mythical being in charge of all that is winter. She appears at the window and frightens both the children.

Not long after, Kay is struck by a piece of mirror. His personality turns sour and he is especially cruel to Gerda. One night, the Snow Queen appears again and Kay is taken to her palace in the north. She kisses him twice so he can not feel the cold and so he can forget about Gerda.

By spring, Gerda sets out on a journey to find Kay. After floating down a river, a benevolent witch finds her and decides to adopt Gerda against her will. To prevent her from thinking of Kay, the witch magically hides her roses and combs the girl's hair to help her forget. Eventually Gerda flees and meets a crow who informs her that Kay may have recently wed a princess. Gerda soon discovers that it is not Kay, and the princess and prince wish her luck by giving her warm clothes and a gold coach. But as she travels through the forest, Gerda is captured by robbers where she is imprisoned by the robber girl. Gerda tells her story and the robber girl releases her, sending her off with one of her reindeer. Lastly, Gerda meets both the Lapp woman and the Finn woman who offer some sustenance on the last leg of her journey.

Gerda finally arrives at the Snow Queen's palace, which is empty except for a frozen Kay. The boy is working on a puzzle to form the word "eternity". If he succeeds, the Snow Queen promises him all her power and a pair of skates. Gerda embraces Kay and her warm tears melt his heart. Kay begins to cry and the evil mirror piece it dislodged from his eye. The children dance and the puzzle pieces magically form the word "eternity". Without a final confrontation with the Snow Queen, Kay and Gerda leave the palace and return home.

Fairy Tales for Every Child: The Snow Queen (2000)

Year Released: 2000
Country of Origin: United States
Run Time: 23 minutes.

How I Watched It: HBO.

Adaptation Accuracy: First a word about Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child: Are you tired of European based fairy tales featuring nothing but honkies? Well, do I have an animated series for you! From 1995 to 2000, HBO aired a series of fairy tales with an ethnic twist or sometimes a feminist twist. Their Cinderella was Latina, their Little Mermaid was Asian, their Goldilocks was Jamaican...you get the picture. Much like Faerie Tale Theatre, famous personalities voiced the characters.

Third from their last episode, HEA transplanted "The Snow Queen" from Scandinavia to Arctic Canada making Kai and Gerda Inuit children. Robert Guillaume (who narrates all the HEA episode) tells us the beautiful and mysterious Snow Queen (Eartha Kitt, basically doing Yzma) made an evil mirror for her own amusement then she lost it, it broke, yadda, yadda, yadda...

Kai (Brandon Hammond) and Gerda (Taska Cleveland) are best friends and live in neighboring igloos. Gerda's Grandmother (T'Keyah Crystal Keymah) warns them about the Snow Queen who kidnaps naughty children. Partly from the mirror and partly from his adolescent need to prove himself, Kai goes sledding to impress the older boys and gets caught by the Snow Queen. She seduces him with her sweet siren song "Cool to Be Cold"...ugh.

Gerda doesn't meet a Witch or a Princess, but by God she does get an irritating Raven friend (Doug E. Doug). Then she's kidnapped by robbers, which plays out pretty average. Kai is working on the Eternity puzzle (Why? Because the original story calls for it, I suppose). After the tears and the forming of the puzzle Gerda and Kai attempt to leave. The Snow Queen throws an icicle at Gerda who then throws it back STABBING THE SNOW QUEEN IN THE CHEST! SHE DIES! Hands down, coolest moment.

Overall Likes: Inuit setting; Canoe; Stabbing.

Overall Dislikes: Lack of Snow Queen; No witch; No princess; Why is the crow always irritating?; "Cool To Be Cold"; Sassy Robber Girl.

Final Thoughts: Fairy Tales for Every Child continue to air on HBO every morning at 4:00 and 4:30. One Christmas break I watched them all for the hell of it. This one stacks up pretty good. I like the Inuit setting since 75% of the adaptations are African-American or Latino tinged. It's good for what it is, but quite incomplete. Seriously, they could have cut the song and added in either the Witch or the Princess.

The Snow Queen (1995)

Year Released: 1995

Country of Origin: England

Run Time: 78 minutes.

How I Watched It: Netflix. Then I later found out the whole thing was on Youtube. Damn it.

Adaptation Accuracy - I'll be honest with you, dear readers. I had seen this version before and fast forwarded through most of it because it was that fucking awful. It would be cheating to fast forward this time around, so I came prepared. Throughout the film, I drank a mixture of Bacardi Torched Cherry and Lemon-Lime Gatorade, a decidedly unfit pair. And luckily, it made the film far more tolerable. In fact, it wasn't as bad as I remember it to be. Still not good, mind you. But it's not like that awful '86 Russian version.


Way up North lives the Snow Queen (Helen Mirren. Yes, Oscar winner Helen Mirren) who has an evil magic mirror. She plans to put it on the highest mountain peak so when the sun hits it, it will reflect away and the world will freeze from lack of sun. But since royalty never does its own dirty work, she sends her three inept troll toadies to do the job (Oh yeah. The Snow Queen controls the trolls). But faster you can say unfunny antics, the mirror is broken and a piece flies into the world. The Snow Queen sends her bats to collect all the pieces. (Oh yeah. The Snow Queen has bats in her Arctic home. But I guess if she can have trolls, she can have bats. I digress.)


However, the bats do not collect all the pieces because two are stuck in a little boy named Tom (Damian Hunt). His sister, Ellie (Ellie Beaven), grows worried when he turns mean and goes on a rampage of putting puzzles together. TOM and ELLIE. Because Gerda is the name of a fat old hag and Kay is a girl's name. Moving on...The Snow Queen takes Tom and he generously offers to put the broken mirror together. But after he finishes, she will murder him to remove the last two pieces.


I must pause to give this movie some due respect. We actually see the Snow Queen being evil (or at least having some evil intent). And the evil involves the mirror, making it more than just a reason to fuck up Kai, excuse me, Tom. Of course her plan is ridiculously stupid and reminiscent of Mr. Burn's plan to block the sun from Springfield.

Secondly, we finally have a decent reason for the Snow Queen to take Kai...arg, Tom and an even better reason to keep him alive. Let me tell you, the mirror is fucking huge and she needs someone to put it back together. Someone who isn't bumbling trolls.


All right, back to business.


Ellie's journey is also pretty accurate with little flairs here and there. The whole way she is accompanied by an irritating crow named Peeps (Hugh Laurie. Yes, Dr. House Hugh Laurie). The Witch needs the heart of a little girl to complete her Elixir of Life. Ellie disguises herself as a maid to sneak into the Princess's palace. The robbers are actually giant rats for some reason. And they have a song. (Why the fuck must the robbers always have a song?) Ellie escapes on a Cowardly Lion type reindeer who takes her to Freda (Julia McKenzie) the Lapland Woman who teaches the reindeer to fly. (Okay.)


So Ellie, Peeps, and Freda storm the palace. Ellie tries to get Tom to drink this heart-warming potion. But the bottle breaks, shit happens, a tornado (?) freezes the Snow Queen. Then Ellie and Peeps cry on Tom and he is restored to normal.


All seems well, but there's a sequel, The Snow Queen's Revenge. And no, I'm not reviewing it.

Overall Likes - Snow Queen's plan; Tom's puzzle skills; Snow Queen's plan for Tom; Adapted Witch, Princess, Robbers, and Lapland Woman; Good pacing.

Overall Dislikes - Name changes; Grandmother and other sibling; Fucking Jar Jar trolls; Why doesn't she kill them?; Peeps; That cat; All the songs; Especially the Robber song; Scaredy reindeer; Freda goes with them; Peeps' tears.

Final Thoughts - Please don't be fooled by my review, it really is terrible. Only those who are reviewing versions of The Snow Queen should watch it. Otherwise, it's just crap. It had a very Don Bluth type feel to it and I can't help but wonder what he would do to HCA's story...perish the thought, Jordyn! He's still alive. It could happen.


Through and through this is a kids movie made to entertain the most simple minded rugrat. The songs make you want to puncture your eardrums with a screwdriver. The voice acting and characterization are stereotypical and cardboard. And the animation is what I imagine Glen Keane wipes his ass with. Still, my biggest is beef is making Tom and Ellie siblings. This decision robs The Snow Queen of some of its magic and heart. Not being related to Kai, Gerda is under no obligation to go on a perilous journey to find him. But having the children tied through blood makes the quest necessary instead of just optional.


That and it sucks out romantic possibilities. :-(

Come on! They don't even look related!

Stories to Remember: The Snow Queen (1992)

Year Released: 1982/1992

Country of Origin: Russia/United States

Run Time: 26 minutes.

How I Watched It: Netflix.

Adaptation Accuracy - Stories to Remember was a very short lived direct-to-video series where animated fairy tales were narrated by a famous actor/actress of the time. The animation is Russian in origin and my limited internet research tells me it was made in 1982. But it took ten years for the States get a hold of it.


Interestingly, this version of The Snow Queen is the first to be adapted from another adaptation. All of Sigourney Weaver's narration is from Amy Erhlich's 1982 picture book. Still, things are cut out and changed a bit.


The troll/devil is gone. The mirror belongs to the Snow Queen and it is her only friend. She grows very angry and lonely and smashes her mirror. She wants a friend and since Kai is all fucked up, she takes him.


The princess is cut from Gerda's journey and the crow turns out to be the Witch in disguise who helps her along the way. The Robber Girl has a mullet and is SUPER TOUCHY with Gerda. The Snow Queen lets Kai and Gerda go once she sees how much they love each other. It even melts her heart...and the rest of her. Yeesh.


By the time Gerda and Kai return to The City, they are actually grown up teenagers. And THEY MIGHT EVEN LIKE EACH OTHER!!! OMG! OMG! LOL! OMG!


The DVD I received from Netflix also has a Sigourney Weaver narrated version of The Wild Swans, which was similar in tone and animation to The Snow Queen. And, as a DVD bonus, there were two 23 minute features called What Makes a Good Story? where a middle aged man and two kids discuss basic story elements (like what foreshadowing is) and how they apply to The Snow Queen and The Wild Swans.

Overall Likes - Accuracy; Brevity; Snow Queen's motive; The Witch; Romantic implications.

Overall Dislikes - No Grandmother; No princess; Touchy Robber Girl; I'm melting! MELTING!

Final Thoughts - So...it was okay. Pretty much what I thought. Sigourney Weaver has a pleasant enough voice. However it loses major points for cutting out the Princess and Prince. Seriously, why?

Please forgive my shitty screencaps. :-(

The Secret of the Snow Queen (1986)

Original Title: Tayna snezhnoy korolevy
Year Released: 1986
Country of Origin: Soviet Union
Run Time: 2 hours, 16 minutes.

How I Watched It: Youtube. In Russian and I mean Тайна Снежной Королевы Russian. No English subs.

Adaptation Accuracy: I don't speak Russian but I can if you'd like. OW! No, not really. Boy, oh boy. This one was Russian. So Russian. Have I mentioned it's Russian? Okay, this version entitled The Secret of the Snow Queen is a musical (yikes!) TV adaptation, aired in two parts. So far in this little retrospective, it is the longest version and holy shit, does it feel that way. FOURTEEN MUSICAL NUMBERS!!! ALL SUB-PAR!

Once again...much like the Finnish SQ ('86), the plot summary will be my interpretation. However, this version is much more talky and so most is lost to me. Also, lots of musical numbers are sprinkled here and there. I'll do my best to avoid them.

Sigh...let's go from the beginning, shall we? Well, there's this Author (Oleg Efremov) who introduces us to the Snow Queen (Alisa Frejndlikh) who lives in a ZANY palace filled with ice skaters who dance around to disco music. Through a TV (?) she spies on Kay (Yan Puzyrevsky, who is too young for me to think is cute, BTW) and Gerda (Nina Gomiashvili). The children appear to live alone. While Kay is never mean to Gerda, he seems disconnected, almost as if he is too old to be hanging out with her. Then the Snow Queen sucks him through her TV.

Before Gerda sets out on her journey the Author gives her a match to melt the Snow Queen, if need be, I guess. Finally, after 38 minutes, Gerda leaves. She meets one of the Snow Queen's toadies who melts and then becomes a stone wall (?) where flowers flourish and tell her nonsensical stories.

Gerda eventually escapes and meets who I think is "Mrs. Autumn" (Vija Artmane) according to the IMDb credits. They talk for a long time. Gerda is given a shawl and she continues into a castle where she talks to the King (Vladislav Strzhelchik) for a LONG TIME.


Meanwhile, the Snow Queen is corrupting Kay and dancing around. Gerda heads to a cottage of Robbers (?) whom she dances with. After Gerda spots the antlers of a dead reindeer she yells at the Snow Queen who appears. They fight as they're flying through the air and Gerda loses the match. (Oh shit!)

When Gerda arrives at the snow palace she sees a Snow Stepford version of herself. Kay seems much more interested in Stepford Gerda. But the real life girl wins by literally yanking Kay out of his stupor. The Author shows up with the match and Gerda melts the palace and the Snow Queen.

Overall Likes: Kay is cute (...and I'm a pedophile); Older Kay and Gerda; Gerda's reactions while others are singing; Flowers; Stepford Gerda; The Snow Queen sure is in it a lot.

Overall Dislikes: Musical; Author there too much; Snow Toadie; SLOW!!!; The King; Bette Davis Snow Queen.

Final Thoughts: Well, at least it's not as bad as Heathcliff. I can't judge this one too harshly. After all, it could be really, really well written. I mean, should someone who doesn't speak English pass judgement on a Shakespeare play?

However, basically everything from the original is cut: there is no witch (unless it's Mrs. Autumn), no princess or prince, no crow, no robber girl. They did get the flowers...and...yeah...at least they got the flowers. The songs are godawful. And there is So. Much. Talking. The golden rule of fiction is Show Don't Tell but this movie has never heard of it. And it looks really crappy. Like it was made in the 1960's...but even the 1966 version looks better than this heap.

There I go judging harshly. It's only because I set myself up for disappointment. I thought this was one of those "lost versions" and when I found it to be available, my hopes went through the roof. Let that be a lesson to me. And I still have no idea what the Snow Queen's secret is.

Snow Queen (1986)

Original Title: Lumi-kuningatar
Year Released: 1986
Country of Origin: Finland
Run Time: 89 minutes.

How I Watched It: Youtube. Finnish version. No English subtitles.

Adaptation Accuracy: Forgive me, dear readers, for I do not speak Finnish. But, fuck, I wish I did so I could know exactly what was going on in this highly imaginative version of The Snow Queen. WARNING: Most of this summary is my interpretation, so I apologize if you are ever lucky enough to find this movie with English subtitles and I turn out to be completely wrong. Let's begin, shall we?

So it starts with some probably very helpful voiceover about a crystal which needs to be added to the Snow Queen's (Satu Silvo) crown when the sun and moon align at the right moment.

Then we cut to an idyllic scene of Kai (Sebastian Kaatrasalo) and Kerttu (Outi Vainionkulma) playing on a sandy beach. Kerttu discovers one of those wooden music boxes with a dancing ballerina. Inside, there are also these three glowing button things with the sun on them. Thinking nothing of it, the children take them and they are sewn onto Kai's winter coat. In the middle of the night, the Snow Queen summons Kai and takes him to her palace in the north, but when she spots the sun buttons, she throws them into the wild blue yonder.

Kerttu is depressed at the disappearance of her friend and goes looking for him. She arrives at the cottage of the Witch (Tuula Nyman) who was once a famous ballerina (I think). The Witch feeds Kerttu these heart-shaped candy things with rings inside them. Then she pushes Kerttu into becoming a ballerina, making her practice to the point of exhaustion. Having forgotten all about Kai and her mission, the roses on Kerttu's wallpaper come to life and warn her about the evil witch. Eventually Kerttu escapes and the roses (other trapped ballerinas) are freed.

Kerttu then meets a clown (Esko Hukkanen) who suggests she look for Kai at the palace, but it's only the newlywed Princess (Juulia Ukkonen) and Prince (Paava Westerberg). Kerttu has found two of the sun buttons, which for some reason, pisses off the Princess, but she still gives her a coach and horses.

Next, Kerttu is kidnapped by robbers. The Robber Girl (Marja Pykkö) takes a shine to her. Kerttu steals a reindeer. This is pretty much just like the story except there's this awful robber's song. This is like the third Snow Queen adaptation to have a robber song. WTF?

Meanwhile, Kai is training to be some kind of knight at the Snow Queen's palace. He tries on the crown, gets caught, and then has to fight this man in a thong with a polar bear head. Seriously. Here is a screencap:

As Kerttu nears the palace, the Snow Queen senses the buttons or something and bitch slaps her with a blizzard. The Lapland Woman (Elina Salo) rescues her and explains whats going on, who the Snow Queen is, why she's taken Kai, and the significance of the crown and the sun buttons.

In the end, Kerttu storms the palace just as the Snow Queen is putting on the crown. She throws two of the buttons, but the Snow Queen, again, bitch slaps her. Then Kai, having come to his senses, throws the last button. The Snow Queen is defeated. The children return home and bury the music box in the sand and live happily ever after.

Overall Likes: The Music; Production design; Outi Vainionkulma as Kerttu; The Snow Queen's wig, Fab-u-LOUS!; Probably a plot that makes sense; Equal time spent in each segment; Fleshed out characterization of the Witch, the Princess and Prince, the Robber Girl, and the Lapland Woman.

Overall Dislikes: No mirror; Homo-erotic guards; Robber song.

Final Thoughts: I love this version. Unfortunately, its greatness may be in my head. Maybe it's not tied up in a nice little package...but if I could gather a plot despite the foreign language, that's gotta mean something, right? I'm feeling optimistic so I'm going to give the movie the benefit of the doubt and assume everything happens for a reason.

No, not everything is exactly like the original story, but this interpretation keeps what's important. It takes the story seriously. Not Schindler's List seriously, but there isn't a lot of wacky antics. In fact, SQ ('86) is quite similar in tone to 1985's Return to Oz, which I am all for. It gets "dark and scary" sometimes.

All plot points aside, it definitely has the best music in any version. The cinematography is also beautiful and I was quite impressed with the acting all around. Too bad there isn't a Region 1 release. :-(

Faerie Tale Theatre: The Snow Queen (1985)

Year Released: 1985
Country of Origin: United States
Run Time: 50 minutes.
How I Watched It: Youtube.

Adaptation Accuracy: First a word about Faerie Tale Theatre: From 1982 to 1987, actress Shelley Duvall produced a television series of live action fairy tale adaptations starring the celebrities of the time. It wasn't until season four when they did their version of The Snow Queen. (However, it must be said that The Snow Queen amazingly beat Cinderella and The Little Mermaid in the battle of air dates!) FTT is awesome. All the episodes are on Hulu. Check it out.

But how does The Snow Queen stack up? Pretty fucking great. This version is different from all the others because the Snow Queen (Lee Remick) is actually a benevolent character who takes Kay (Lance Kerwin) to her palace to teach him a lesson or two. Several times she states it is her function to be cold and bring winter to the world; she is not evil, she is necessary. It is quite refreshing to have the Snow Queen be more than just eeevil for the sake of being eeevil.

Meanwhile Melissa Gilbert gives us the best Gerda so far. The actress was 21 at the time of filming and I'm not quite sure how old she is supposed to be. (Often FTT cast actors far older than their roles called for. At age 30, Mary Steenburgen played Little Red Riding Hood!) Despite the age confusion, Gilbert offers us a likable and intelligent Gerda that could be eleven or sixteen.

The Princess and Prince story line is cut in favor of more time with the Witch or, in this version, the Lady of Summer (Lauren Hutton). This is the first time the Snow Queen is revealed to have another season for a sister. The tough and "streetwise" Robber Girl (Linda Manz) offers a nice contrast to humble and sweet Gerda, even if she is a little too nice to our heroine.

We get a couple of scenes of Kay actually interacting with the Snow Queen. In this version, he likes living in the cold palace even though it's slowly killing him. Kay is given several tasks during his stay with the Snow Queen. The last is a rhyming puzzle which he and Gerda solve together. The Snow Queen lets them go without conflict, which makes sense since she's been nice all along.

And finally, we may have some kind of romance going on! Kay gives Gerda a locket in the beginning and kisses her on the cheek after the journey. With the main actors in their twenties, it's hard not to press for some lovin'!

Overall Likes: Accuracy; Melissa Gilbert as Gerda; The Snow Queen's benevolence; Lady of Summer story; Robber Girl's toughness; The ending; Cheek kiss!

Overall Dislikes: No Princess and Prince; Weird Goblin wrap up.

Final Thoughts: Out of all the versions I've reviewed so far, this one is the greatest character study and has the strongest acting. Still, it loses points for omitting the Princess and Prince. If only it could have been longer...

Greatest Tales, Inc.: The Snow Queen (1983)

Year Released: 1983
Country of Origin: Japan*
Run Time: 22 minutes.
How I Watched It: Youtube.

Adaptation Accuracy: It's 22 minutes long. How accurate can it be? Well, it tries pretty damn hard. This time the mirror is created by a demon, and a broken piece still manages to makes it into the eye aspiring flutist Kay. This time Gerda actually witnesses the Snow Queen taking her friend. The Witch is cut out entirely and three years pass before she makes it to the Robber Girl. Three years. I mean, fuck. Three years. That's some kind of record in these adaptations.

Kay is entombed in ice when she finds him. She plays his magic song and they escape. And how do they beat the Snow Queen? Prayer. Literally, they start praying and she starts vomiting pea soup and her head rotates 360 degrees. All right, not really, but that's how it ends, with the power of prayer.

Two awesome things about this adaptation: 1. Gerda's family thinks she's nuts even though she actually sees the Snow Queen take Kay. Usually, Gerda has no idea what's going on, she just leaves. 2. The Robber Girl! She tells Gerda to give up because men are nothin' but trouble. She knows. She had a boy break her heart. I don't think we've ever been given this amount of back story. Way to go, shortest version ever!

Overall Likes: Accuracy; Brevity; Nice Kay; Kay's music; Gerda's family; Doubt; THREE YEARS; Robber Girl's neuroses.

Overall Dislikes: Too much time spent before the journey; No witch; Prayers.

Final Thoughts: Honestly, I'm surprised there aren't more half-hour/Saturday morning cartoon/direct-to-video versions of The Snow Queen. I mean, Christ, how many are there of Cinderella? Public domain! Whatever. For 22 minutes, I can't really complain. This version is better than not. Since it's so short, I recommend checking it out on Youtube. Plus, there are some great old commercials advertising Return of the Jedi merch. Yub nub!

*All right, maybe it's not Japanese, but I couldn't find any information about this series. It's not even on IMDb.

The Snow Queen (1976)

Year Released: 1976

Country of Origin: England

Run Time: 55 minutes.

How I Watched It: Youtube.

Adaptation Accuracy: Eighty some years since the invention of film and we finally have the first English language version of The Snow Queen. 1976's version was an hour long special on the BBC. It boasts real life actors in 2D animated backgrounds, kind of like an uglier version of Blue's Clues. But 
you have to hand it to the BBC, this is the most accurate and complete version of the story so far.

Finally, we are introduced to the devil made evil mirror whose broken pieces have been integrated into all sorts of things including windows, spectacles and a lamp post which breaks into Kay's (Joshua Le Touzal) eye, instantly turning him bad. Once again, for no reason at all, the Snow Queen (Mercedes Burleigh) takes him and Gerda (Linda Slater) sets out to find him.

The pacing of this one is really good. It seems every ten minutes we are in a new segment. Each one is treated with equal importance. The thin moments are given some padding, and likewise, some of the fat is cut. Most impressive is the inclusion of the talking flowers in the Witch's garden. (A truly tedious moment in the story, Gerda talks to six flowers who each have a nonsensical story that has nothing to do with Kay). In this version, we are treated to two of these. It still comes off as pointless, but fans of the original narrative appreciate the gesture.

However, the characterization of Kay is a little troublesome. The first time we meet him, he has been pierced with the mirror. We never see the nice little scamp he is and therefore, we don't have much sympathy for him. We also flash over to Kay's progress six times as he works on the Eternity puzzle. But the Snow Queen isn't there. Sigh. And the finale? She catches Gerda in her palace and causes an earthquake. Both the Witch (David Battley. Yeah, a dude) and the Finn Wife use their magic to protect the children and then they find themselves back at home as if nothing happened. And Kay's still kind of a dick.

Overall Likes: Accuracy; Character development; The flowers; Flashbacks of the Princess's marriage ritual; The Finn Wife.

Overall Dislikes: Linda Slater; Lack of Snow Queen; No scenes of "Good Kay"; Anti-climax; WTF? ending.

Final Thoughts: The half animation/half live action is jarring and very crappy looking, but if you can get past that, you've got a pretty damn good version of The Snow Queen on your hands. Linda Slater as Gerda really sucks though; The worst kind of child acting with every. Damn. Sentence. Sounding. The. Same. The supporting cast is exceptional, though.

The Snow Queen (1966)

Original Title: Snezhnaya koroleva 

Year Released: 1966

Country of Origin: Soviet Union

Run Time: 85 minutes.

How I Watched It: Youtube. Russian version with English subtitles.

Adaptation Accuracy: While Russia's previous adaptation was faithful, but boring, their second attempt goes off the rails in by making it EnTeRtAiNiNg!!!! It gets a little bit convoluted, so bear with me. Once again, we start off with yet another narrator, this time the Storyteller (Valeri Nikitenko) decides he wants to be a part of the story. Kay (Slawa Zjupo) and Gerda (Elena Proklova) are his 
students, who are raised by Gerda's grandmother (Yevgeniya Melnikova) but ARE NOT RELATED.

In comes the King's Commercial Counselor (Nikolai Boyarsky), an eeevil man in cahoots with a certain cold-hearted being. He wants to buy Grandmother's roses simply because they are rare. When she refuses, the Counselor swears revenge. In pops the Snow Queen (Natalya Klimova) who wants to take Kay...for some reason that is never quite explained. Kay refuses but grants the Snow Queen a kiss (on the lips!) instead. Batta-bing, batta-boom, Kay's heart is turned to ice and he follows the Snow Queen to her wintery realm.

This time, Gerda's journey is much changed. She never does meet the witch, so her first stop is at the palace of Princess Elsa (Irina Gubanova) and Prince Klaus (Georgi Korolchuk). They agree to help her, but the King (Evgeni Leonov) tries to trick Gerda and then enslave her to his Counselor. Luckily, the Storyteller saves the day (told you he wanted to be a part of the story) and Gerda continues on.

However, the Counselor refuses to give up now and convinces a robber to kidnap Gerda. (Why does he want her anyway? Ewww...) But the Robber Girl (Era Ziganshina) takes a shining to Gerda and the robber turns out to be the Storyteller in disguise! Oh boy! Eventually Gerda is set free, rescues Kay and has one last confrontation with the Snow Queen. This time, Kay and Gerda make it out of the palace first and then just continue to walk through the Snow Queen's storm at great difficulty...yeah.

Overall Likes: Ambition; Kay and Gerda's ages; The chemistry of the Princess and Prince; The Storyteller's tricks; The Robber Chief and the Robber Girl.

Overall Dislikes: No mirror; That goblin and inkpot; No witch; Those freakin' crows; The bumbling king; Weird animated moments; Magic skis?; The Counselor...seriously, WTF? and he just disappears; Anti-climax. 

Final Thoughts: Unlike say, Harry Potter, where there's almost too information for a film adaptation, The Snow Queen is quite sparse in places. In fact, it could only benefit from some detail being added. The filmmakers behind TSQ ('66) definitely realized this, but at a price. The Counselor becomes the main villain. He has way more screen time than the Snow Queen herself, but also lacks a certain motivation. Yes, Kay and Gerda are rude to him and their grandmother won't give him roses, but Jesus, 
this is a lot of trouble for revenge.

Also, while the Storyteller is a likable character, he is in the film a bit too much. The story should be about Gerda and her quest. The Storyteller horns in on her victory, making her seem like a little damsel, a Little Red Riding Hood to his brave and noble Woodcutter, if you get my meaning.

Plus, I just can't forgive the cutting of the witch. There's so much they could have done with that story line, but instead beefed up the Princess and Prince segment to fit in their convoluted Counselor shenanigans.

Still, it's a valiant effort and the film's heart is in the right place. I imagine this version wanted to distinguish itself from the 1957 animated film, which is apparently some kind of classic in Russia. I mean, just imagine how easily a live action Beauty and the Beast would fare against 1991's masterpiece.

The Snow Queen (1957)

Original Title: Snezhnaya koroleva
Year Released: 1957
Country of Origin: Soviet Union
Run Time: 55 minutes.

How I Watched It: Youtube. Russian version with English subtitles.

Adaptation Accuracy
After the opening credits, we meet a character not in the original story named Ol' Dreamy (Vladimir Gribkov), a composite of the Sandman and Jiminy Cricket (seriously, the opening scenes from Pinocchio and this flick are eerily similar). It turns out Ol' Dreamy is pals with Hans Christian Andersen, and the Snow Queen is actually the product of our new friend and not HCA. And since we are good little children, he is going to tell it to us. (That intro lasts five minutes, BTW).

Cut from this adaptation is the Devil/Troll/Evil Being. The magic mirror actually belongs to the Snow Queen (Mariya Babanova). After hearing Kay (Anna Komalova) say he does not fear her, the Snow Queen purposefully breaks the mirror herself to send a piece into Kay's eye. From then on, the story is very faithful adaptation that follows Gerda's (Yanina Zheymo) journey, meeting every character along the way. Only once do we flash to the Snow Queen's palace to see how Kay is getting along. (In the original, we don't even get this).

Then comes the end. Kay is tinkering with ice pieces, but he is given no specific duty to put together the word "eternity". Gerda melts his heart and all is well, except the Snow Queen returns! One of my biggest beefs with the HCA version is the lack of final confrontation between Gerda and the Snow Queen. In this one, there is a confrontation, but it consists of Gerda saying "He's mine, bitch!" and the Snow Queen fading away...yeah.

Overall Likes: Accuracy; Brevity; Snow Queen's motive; That dead bird; The fat prince; The princess's romanticism; The robber girl's eye make up; Bae; The Snow Queen's character design.

Overall Dislikes: Weird rotoscope-y character animation; Not enough of the witch; That robber song; Lack of confrontation at the end; slapstick.

Final Thoughts: This film was dubbed in English and re-released in the United States in 1959. It had an extended live action opening featuring Art Linkletter and more songs. One can only imagine the disappointment of watching this after one had seen Disney's Sleeping Beauty, released the same year. Then again in 1998, TSQ ('57) was re-dubbed with Kathleen Turner and Kirsten Dunst. That version also fell into obscurity.

It's old. It's Russian. It's a bit treacly. But hey, it was the first attempt of a film adaptation. There are bound to be a few missteps. I'm actually quite impressed by how much of the original story is actually there. Han Christian Andersen's story is far from perfect. At times it is outright nonsensical and seemingly pointless. In these adaptations, I'm looking for some deeper meaning or a motivation. Why does the Snow Queen take Kay? Luckily, this version answered that question. Others, not so much.