Schneewittchen und die sieben Zwerge

The story is simple. You know the characters. While it sticks to Grimm's tale for the majority of its plot, the ending is a bit Disney-fied with the death of the Evil Queen. I mean, they scared the bejesus out of us for an entire hour with the little German dwarfs, why not go all the way and give us the real horror of the Queen's death, putting iron shoes on her and making her dance until she dropped dead? For 1955, it's pretty well filmed, with very nice shots of the natural surroundings.

The US dubbed-version is a thousand times scarier, with its music and menacing voice actors. Even the narrator sounds evil. The German version is very childlike with a sort of playfulness that's seen throughout many of the film's pivotal moments.

I recommend watching both versions to get a good kick out of what the US did to a relatively harmless children's film, (even though the Queen tries to kill her stepdaughter multiple times, of course.) The US-dubbed dialog is taken directly from the German film's script. It has simply been translated.

There is so much corny stuff in this movie i couldn't help but laugh through out the film. A lot of it didn't make sense like the belt made her pass out and then the dwarfs return and loosen it and she's fine, and then the comb what was that about she sticks it in her hair and she falls over and the dwarfs take it out put her to bed and then she's fine and then the poisoned apple didn't kill her? the apple was stuck in her throat?and then when the coffin fell she spit it out and was fine that didn't make sense to me. the prince was in love with her and she was in love with him when did that happen? they didn't even know each other they only saw each other from a distance. and the dwarfs only sang one song that annoyed me so bad. snow white didn't speak very much, a lot of the scenes she barely spoke. another thing isn't there more to the story than just the queen killing her? that was the whole movie it needed more than that. but spite all of that i enjoyed laughing at it and seeing west Germany its beautiful there.

another thing isn't there more to the story than just the queen killing her? that was the whole moving it needed more than that.

It is fair to see it in the context of the period and not ignoring the purpose. It is just a simple, silly in many scenes, adaptation of the classic fairy tall. Nothing awfull , only not always inspired. But the spirit of the storytelling is far to be wrong, the performances are reasonable, the Bavarian air is a virtue and the children in the roles of dwarfs- few drops of imagination solve many details. A decent film. And nothing less. Or more.

...for its time and place. Germany and Czechoslovakia produced dozens of these low budget fairytales in the post-war years. They are still ubiquitous on Sundays in Central Europe when most businesses are closed. These films are kitschy and amateurish, but charming in their own way, especially in the original language.

I initially found them ridiculous and refused to watch with my Austrian wife, but they've grown on me over the years and now I much enjoy them. This version of Snow White is among the best of these films. It's unusual in that the German script is entirely in rhyme which works surprisingly well in the original German but lends itself poorly to translation for foreign audiences. Overdubbing only complicates viewing.

Elke Arendt is a fabulous actress and her talent and skill shine through in this performance. She is a pleasure to watch.

Taken on its own terms, without modern expectations about what movies should be, this version of Snow White can provide nice entertainment on a lazy afternoon.

I noticed this was part of a cheaply made film, "The 50 Worst Films of All Time." I was amazed they would include this one. It is artistically above average and the story, though quite frightening, was interesting. Obviously, what passed for special effects was lacking and the dwarves were quite weird. Still, I made it to the end and felt a personal connection to it. This is a foreign production and had a redo by some American musicians. It works as an alternative tale of the famous fairy tale.