Live-Action Fairy Tales: The Snow Queen

- December 20, 2017

¤•❆•¤•❆•¤•❆•¤•❆•¤•❆•¤

Albert Einstein: "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."

Fairy tales, literary nonsense, tall tales...whatever you want to call them. I'm a sucker for a wonderfully told, beautifully presented one. Especially when they come in live-action form. There's something...magical when it's done right. Some of these are taken right from the pages of a book, some are new takes on old tales. If you get surprised by a title, stop and think about it for a second. It'll make sense. :)

Did I miss your favorite adaptation? Tell me below in the comment section!

¤•❆•¤•❆•¤•❆•¤•❆•¤•❆•¤

The Snow Queen

You may know this story best from hearing it mentioned alongside Disney's Frozen. Even though I quite enjoy that movie, it has little to do with the fairy tale it's so very loosely based on. The original fairy tale was written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. People have been making live-action versions of the somewhat-terrifying narrative since the sixties. It's essentially about a lonely, evil Queen; Kai, the boy she steals away and Gerda, the girl who loves him. Oh! And a shattered magical mirror that spreads lots of misery. It also has this vague Alice-in-Wonderland feel to it during Gerda's journey to save Kai.

The Snow Queen (1967)

A Soviet take on the tale. I love the Snow Queen in this one-so fierce and intimidating. As she should be.

The Snow Queen (1976)

This is a made-for-TV BBC film that is super true to the fairy tale while still being super-for-real-though weird. It's mostly animation with live-action people just walking through it. I think you can find it on Youtube.

The Secret of the Snow Queen (1986)

This second Soviet adaptation takes a couple liberties and makes the children in the story a bit older. I believe there's a romance angle?

The Snow Queen (1986)

This fantasy film was originally selected as the Finnish entry for Best Foreign Language Film in the 60th Academy Awards. Look at that Snow Queen! She's perfect.

Snow Queen (2002)

This Hallmark TV film is notable for several reasons. It stars Bridget Fonda as the Snow Queen-okay, that's cool. It also changes the relationship of Gerda and Kai from childhood friendship to adult romantic love. While originally a miniseries, its is now sold as a 3-hour long movie. There's also a polar bear involved.

The Snow Queen (2005)

This BBC production was entirely conceived on musical compositions written about the fairy tale. It is different from other retellings in that it focuses mostly on Gerda's story and the actual Snow Queen has no lines.

The Snow Queen (2014)

This one seems to be a close adaptation that is described as very visually stunning. It's also one of the Fairytale Pearls movies.

The Mystery of the Snow Queen (2015)

This Russian live-action film goes more the Frozen route and makes the Snow Queen a sympathetic character that can be saved if only she can figure out how to love. Also notable: in this version, Gerda and Kai are brother and sister.