The Snow Queen () is a 1957 Soviet animated musical fantasy film directed by Lev Atamanov. It is the ninth full-length animated production by Soyuzmultfilm and is based on the 1844 fable "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen. The film is one of the earliest cinematic adaptations of the Scandinavian Danish fable since its publication in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection.

The film was originally released in the Soviet Union on November 1, 1957. The film was re-released with an English soundtrack in 1959, 1993, and 1995. The film was translated into several major languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Finnish and Swedish. In 1959, at the height of the Cold War, Universal Pictures acquired the film for U.S. theatrical distribution (as the first animated film from Universal).

In foreign dubbings of The Snow Queen, popular actors were cast to play most characters. The Snow Queen was voiced by Russian actress Maria Babanova. Vladimir Gribkov (ru), Yanina Zhejmo, Sergey Martinson and Anna Komolova (ru) also were part of the voice cast.

The screenplay was written by Nikolai Erdman, Georgy Grebner (ru) and animation by Alexander Vinokurov (ru), Leonid Shvartsman, Elizabeth Komova, Vladimir Krumin and Fyodor Khitruk. After a 2007 Ghibli Museum Library release in Japan, an interview revealed that the dialogue, compositions, animation and themes of the film influenced Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. An HD film restoration re-release of The Snow Queen was published in Russia on 19 December 2020 by Soyuzmultfilm.

Plot Two young children, Kai and Gerda, listen to Gerda's grandmother as she tells them the legend of the Snow Queen. Kai jokes that if he met the Queen, he would put her on a hot stove, and melt her. The Snow Queen, who is watching the children in her magic mirror, becomes angry and smashes the mirror with her scepter. She enchants the ice splinters and sends a big snowstorm over the city. A rush of wind changes Kai's heart turning him cruel towards Gerda.

The next day, Kai ties his sled to the sleigh of the Snow Queen, who takes him into her arms as her willing captive. Gerda sets out for the Snow Queen's palace, determined not to give up until she has brought her friend back. Along the way, she meets a raven, "Mr. Corax" (Ancient Greek 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 a princess. Mr. Corax takes Gerda to the palace to find his fiancée Henrietta, who knows the palace and can guide Gerda through it. The prince turns out not to be Kai, but he and the princess decide to help Gerda. They send Gerda on her way with a golden coach and attendants.

While the coach travels through a dark forest, a gang of robbers takes Gerda and strip the coach of its gold plate. The daughter of the robber chieftain shows Gerda her menagerie, which contains a reindeer from Lapland. The little robber, touched by Gerda's kindness, releases the girl along with the reindeer to search for Kai, and then frees all her captive animals.

Gerda and the reindeer arrive in Lapland, where a Lapp woman tells them that the Snow Queen had stopped there with Kai but went on farther north to Finland. She directs them to her cousin in Finland who can direct them further and writes a letter to her on a fish that she sends with Gerda and the reindeer.

The reindeer 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 Kai. Kai rudely asks Gerda to leave, which brings her to tears. She hugs him, and her tears melt the shard of mirror in his heart. Kai cries, which causes a second shard to fall out of his eye, breaking the spell. When the Snow Queen returns to the palace, Gerda rebuffs her, and the Queen simply disappears, along with her Palace. The children return home happily, meeting all those who helped them reunite along the way.

Release

Soviet theatrical release

The Snow Queen was released in the Soviet Union on 1 November 1957. The film is one of the first adaptations of the Danish fairy tale into cinematic media ever since the story was written by Andersen in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection (1844). Previously playwright Evgeny Schwartz inspired by the Andersen's writing wrote an acclaimed children's play The Snow Queen that was staged in 1938. The film was released just a few days after the Soviet Union witnessed the world's first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 that launched in October 1957.

Cold War release

In 1959, the film was dubbed into English and released by Universal Pictures with the voices of Sandra Dee and Tommy Kirk as Gerda and Kai.AllMovie The film was introduced by a six-minute live-action Christmas prologue featuring TV personality Art Linkletter, as well as a two-minute montage.The Snow Queen (1960) - Notes - TCM.com In the 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). Hollywood Russian composer Joseph Gershenson composed the score for the 1959 film.

A U.S. theatrical release of a film from the Soviet Union was a revolutionary moment in the history of the Cold War due to the geopolitical tension between the countries. At this time, the United States was committed to sustaining the Cold War. Under president Eisenhower, the New Look policy advised by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles called for resistance to cultural influences from the Soviet Union. The visit by Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to the American National Exhibition on 24 July 1959 was supposed to lower Cold War tensions by opening cultural exchanges across the two nations, though their discussion at the exhibition became known as the Kitchen Debate. During this cultural rapprochement, leaders were aware of secret U-2 incursions into USSR airspace. Despite the Domino Theory The Snow Queen raised the iron curtain, by becoming the first purchase of a Soviet film by any major American company. M.J.P. Enterprises sold the rights of the movie to Universal for a reported fee of $30,000. It became Universal Pictures' first theatrical animated feature film. Universal had been distributing the output of Walter Lantz since 1929, with Lantz having proposed a feature film based on the story of Aladdin which, should it have been finished, would’ve been Universal's first animated film. On 7 June 1959, The New York Times reported Universal's plan for a major release across Canada and the U.S. for an English dub of the film with an added prologue. In June 1959, The Hollywood Reporter noted that, in order to allow Universal to release the picture in America, Walt Disney and Samuel Goldwyn both waived the rights they held with the MPAA to the title "The Snow Queen." The film entered the Vancouver International Film Festival on 3 August 1959 and Universal ran the picture at the San Francisco International Film Festival in November 1959.

The film's general release was initially planned for the 1959 holidays. However, Columbia's animated feature 1001 Arabian Nights was scheduled for a December release. Therefore, its wide release started in the United States on 20 November 1959.

In Washington, D.C., in April 1960, Idaho Democratic Senator Frank Church hosted an invitational screening of the film at the Motion Picture Association headquarters in Washington D.C, attended by the Ambassador of Denmark. There the film was applauded for its literary appeal to the city's many Danish residents and because its animation techniques resembled those used by Disney. With many adaptations following the release, the 1959 version is the definitive version for the 1960s audience. Many boomers from America remember the festive TV season featuring The Snow Queen.

Variety estimated The Snow Queen and another Soviet import, The Sword and the Dragon earned an estimated $1.3 million in the US.

VHS Release In 1985, Jim Terry produced an English dub that was released by Celebrity Home Entertainment in 1993. The theme song for the dub was provided by Bullets. The main characters Gerda and Kai's names were changed to Yvette and John.

In 1995, there was a second international release that was restored and re-voiced by the Films by Jove company which was run by Oleg Vidov. They restored the film and created a new English soundtrack for it, featuring the voices of Kathleen Turner, Mickey Rooney, Kirsten Dunst and Laura San Giacomo. It was shown on television as part of the "Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories from My Childhood series, and was later released on video and DVD in 1999. French and Spanish soundtracks were added for the DVD version, with the French soundtrack featuring Catherine Deneuve and the Spanish track featuring Beatriz Aguirre. Following criticism of the non-inclusion of the Russian-language soundtrack on the DVD, Films by Jove also released a DVD of the film containing the original Russian-language soundtrack with English subtitles sometime in 2006.

Home media release

Wendros (Sweden) - VHS - Pal - Snödrottningen (with Swedish audio) Films by Jove, April 27, 1999 (R0, NTSC) – 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 Krupnyy Plan, September 13, 2004 (R5, PAL) – 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, NTSC). Contains complete 1959 version of the film, but unrestored. Films by Jove, 2006 (R0, 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 Ghibli Museum Library - December 2007 Japan - (original Russian audio, Japanese subtitles) Soyuzmultfilm Golden Collection HD, 19 December 2020 (Russian) Deaf Crocodile Films, September 30, 2025 (Blu-ray). Also includes The Scarlet Flower and The Key.

Creators English Russian Director Lev Atamanov Nikolay Fyodorov (uncredited in 1959)Phil Patton (1959 only) Лев Атаманов Николай Фёдоров Story Hans Christian Andersen Ганс Христиан Андерсен Scenario Nikolai ErdmanLev Atamanov (uncredited in 1959) Николай ЭрдманЛев АтамановГеоргий Гребнер Writers (1959 only) Bob FisherAlan Lipscott Art Directors Leonid ShvartsmanAlexander Vinokurov Леонид ШварцманАлександр Винокуров Artists Dmitriy AnpilovO. GemmerlingPyotr Korobayev Дмитрий АнпиловО. ГеммерлингИрина СветлицаПётр Коробаев Animators Yelena KhludovaYelizaveta KomovaVadim DolgikhTatyana FyodorovaVladimir KruminFyodor KhitrukViktor LihachevIgor PodgorskiyЛидия РезцоваРената МиренковаЕлена ХлудоваГеннадий НовожиловКонстантин ЧикинЕлизавета КомоваВадим ДолгихТатьяна ФёдороваВладимир КруминФёдор ХитрукВиктор ЛихачевИгорь Подгорский Camera Operator Михаил Друян Executive Producer Fyodor Ivanov Фёдор Иванов Composer Artemi Ayvazyan (original version only)Joseph Gershenson (1959 only)Frank Skinner (1959 only) Артемий Айвазян Sound OperatorNikolai PrilutskiyНиколай ПрилуцкийEditorLidiya Kyaksht (1957 only)Hugo Grimaldi (1959 only)Лидия КякштLyricsNikolay Zabolotsky (1957 only)Mikhail Svetlov (1957 only)Николай Заболоцкий М. Светлов

Voices