Die Schneekönigin

The Snow Queen in my mind is one of Hans Christian Andersen's best stories. Anybody who loves the story, and as long as they don't mind the omissions and the changes, will love this film. As far as 1960s Russian film adaptations of fairy tales go, The Snow Queen is not quite as good as The Tale of Tsar Sultan and Snow Maiden but it still shares many of the qualities that made those two films as good as they were. It is a good-looking film, though some of the special effects do look as though they were made on a limited budget, with handsome photography and costumes and sets that give a real magical feel. The film genuinely feels like a fairy-tale but at the same time there is something endearingly Russian about which I loved. The music score is beautiful, haunting and dramatic, and while the story is not entirely faithful to the original fairy tale it still has its charm and magic and told swiftly and coherently. The image of the Snow Queen watching through the window is still one that haunts me, and the silhouette of the Narrator is very striking and makes you want to keep on watching it to the end. The acting fits very well within the story, Elena Proklova is a moving Gerda and one that allows her character to grow. But the best performances come from Evgeni Leonov's King and especially Natalya Kilmova's chilling Snow Queen.

All in all, very well done indeed. 9/10 Bethany Cox