The Snow Maiden (1952)

The tale about a girl with a cold heart who is dying in agony because of joy and love.

Directors:

Aleksandra Snezhko-Blotskaya, Ivan Ivanov-Vano

Writers:

Ivan Ivanov-Vano (screenplay), Oleg Leonidov (screenplay)

Stars:

Veronika Borisenko, Leonid Ktitorov, Irina Maslennikova

Cast

Credited cast:
Veronika Borisenko	...	Lel (singing voice) (as V. Borisenko)
Leonid Ktitorov	...	Moroz (singing voice) (as L. Ktitorov)
Irina Maslennikova	...	Snegurochka (singing voice) (as I. Maslennikova)
Veniamin Shevtsov	...	Bobyl (singing voice) (as V. Shevtsov)

Storyline

Winter is ending, and Father Frost is going to the north. What to do with daughter Snow Maiden? Her icy heart never knew neither simple human joys, nor love, but once she heard Lel's songs and wanted to stay in the Berendey Kingdom. And ask her mother - the beautiful Spring - to melt her heart.

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Plot Keywords:

based on play | 

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Genres:

Animation | Fantasy | Musical

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Did You Know?

Trivia

In the film "The Snow Maiden", the innovative artistic technique proposed by V. Nikitin was used - the use of luminescent paints.

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Connections

Version of Vesennyaya skazka (1971)

User Reviews

The Snow-maiden, daughter of king winter and the spring fairy, is aloud to live in a human village. Her heart can't inflame in love. She would melt if it did.

A animated version of the Rimski Korsakov opera. For the opera lover is especially the palace in the animation interesting it based on the original stage design. The voices & music is one of the most delicate versions I know. In the early fifties in which it was recorded the understanding of the opera was much more suiting the romantic/esoteric character of the opera, then todays practice.

As an opera it isn't much played.

For the ones not familiar to opera it's a nice introduction. Following the fairytale of the snow-maiden, the story it's more interesting and richer of content then the average opera. Rimsky Korsav's and his libretto writer made a few changes to the fairytale that brought the esoteric content of the opera much more to the surface.

The animation, in a beautiful early 50's Russian fairytale style, in the one hand keeps the static style of the opera intact, while on the other hand much more focusing on the story the opera is bases on, and telling it as a fairytale should be told, while it's dynamic is still the dynamic of the opera. It's not degraded into a Disney comedy animation, killing the deeper layers of the story.

That at the time it was made the ideology of social realism was (often)leading in animation, so a lot of "rotoscoping" is used, helped to keep it a very dignified adaptation of the opera. While at the same time keeping the dialog spoken, and cutting some elements of the first act make it much more accessible. Although I think the role of Kupava and the role of Lel and perhaps the parents get a bit cut too much. I understand it's a director's choice where to cut to keep the animation around 1 hour long, but I would have left more of the 1st act intact.

The version of the animation in circulation, by the way, has a very abrupt cut in Lel's first aria in the first act. a part of the aria is missing, in a way that makes you think there is a piece of film missing there too.

All in all there is a good balance between respect for the basic material and adapting it to an animation idiom.

Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

1952 (Soviet Union)

Also Known As:

Снегурочка

Company Credits

Production Co:

Soyuzmultfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

67 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1