Snow White
and the Seven Dwarves

(aka PAMUK PRENSES VE 7 CUCELER)
(1970, Turkey) color 92 minutes
Hisar Film
Screenplay: Hamdi Degirmencioglu
Photography: Yildirim Gürses
Producer: Ozdemir Birsel
Director: Ertem Görec

With: Zeynep Degirmencioglu (Snow White), Salih Güney (the Prince), Suna Selen (the evil Queen), Mehmet Asik (dwarf Grumpy), Harun Atalay (Bashful), Aydin Babaoglu ("Keloglan," bald dwarf), Ayhan Babaoglu (dwarf), Hüseyin Baradan (executioner), Ali Abbas Bayer (Sleepy), Belgin Doruk (Snow White's mother), Gülistan Güzey (nursemaid), Osman Han, Tayar Yildiz (Happy), Ahmet Kostarika, Ömercik (the Prince's young friend), Bahri Özkan, Aydin Tezel (the King), Nuri Turgut (dwarf)

***

Guest Review by David Wilt:
The Grimm fairy tale "Snow White" has been adapted to the stage, screen, and television countless times. While Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)--Walt Disney's first feature-length animated film--is the most famous, other notable versions exist. Famous in its own land but virtually unknown elsewhere, 1970's Pamuk Prenses ve 7 cüceler is the Turkish take on the classic story.

Relatively few Turkish films have been available until recently, when aficionados of bizarre cinema unearthed pictures like 3 Dev Adam (Three Mighty Men, 1973, informally known as Captain America and El Santo vs. Spiderman), and Dunyayi Kurtaran (The Man Who Saves the World, 1982, aka Turkish Star Wars). These titles were disseminated via informal channels, but Pamuk Prenses ve 7 cüceler is an even more unusual case--it was released on DVD dubbed into Spanish, as La maravillosa fábula de Blanca Nieves (The Marvelous Fable of Snow White). The distributor was Videosueños, a Canadian-based label responsible for releasing bargain DVDs of Mexican and Spanish films, as well as a handful of pictures dubbed into Spanish. The latter titles include the Shirley Temple vehicle The Little Princess, Pancho Villa starring Telly Savalas, and at least one Russian animated feature. The Spanish-language dubbing on Pamuk Prenses is adequate and the voices seem appropriate for the characters. Of course, the dubbers could do nothing with printed Turkish words on the screen, so astute viewers may notice the name "Pamuk Prenses" carved into the bed made for "Snow White" by the dwarfs (perhaps this could have been explained by indicating the dwarfs were illiterate or dyslexic, but they just let it go). A couple of (dubbed) songs are included but sadly none are of the caliber of "Whistle While You Work," "Heigh-ho, Ho, It's Off to Work We Go," or "Some Day My Prince Will Come."

Pamuk Prenses (which literally translates to "Cotton Princess") is an interesting live-action combination of the Grimm story and Disney cartoon, with a few indigenous Turkish twists. For example, although the Evil Queen and Snow White both wear costumes modeled after Disney, the Queen's soldiers and her main henchman (Hüseyin Baradan, who slightly resembles Christopher Lee) are dressed in Middle Eastern warrior garb. Also, the handsome Prince is provided with a juvenile sidekick--why? Because his young friend is played by "Ömercik" (Little Omer), a child actor who had previously co-starred in several films with Zeynep Degirmencioglu, "Snow White." He contributes little to the plot, but was probably included for his box-office appeal.

Zeynep Degirmencioglu, the "Turkish Shirley Temple," was born in 1954 and made her first movie in 1956. Shooting to fame in 1960 after starring in a popular film--written by her father Hamdi Degirmencioglu (who scripted many of her later pictures as well, including Pamuk Prenses)--Zeynep made a large number of movies in the 1960s and early 1970s, many with her character name "Ayse" or "Aysecik" in the title. She retired from the screen in 1974. The IMDB says she was selling real estate as of 2003, and apparently also wrote a book on astrology called "Kozmik Saka" (2005). As Snow White, Zeynep is quite attractive and sincere, and doesn't appear too mature for the role. The rest of the cast--although judging dubbed performances is difficult--is also adequate, although only three of the dwarfs (Doc, Happy, Grumpy) are really differentiated. [Several of the "dwarfs" look like they may possibly have been portrayed by children rather than little people, but I could be wrong.]

The success of Pamuk Prenses led to several fairy tale-related sequels for Zeynep, including n Aysecik ve sihirli cüceler rüyalar ülkesinde (Aysecik and the Magic Dwarfs in the Land of Dreams, 1971, aka Turkish Wizard of Oz) and Sinderella Külkedisi (1971). In the first picture, the seven dwarfs reappear (played by some of the same actors who were in Pamuk Prenses) along with the Evil Queen (Suna Selen), this time cast as the Wicked Witch (probably not much of a stretch).

Pamuk Prenses begins with echoes of the Grimm fairy tale: a rather matronly queen bemoans her childless state and wishes for a child. Her wish is granted, and Snow White is born, but the queen dies in childbirth. The King marries again, but his new wife is evil, evil I tell you! She poisons the King and demotes Snow White from princess to scullery maid. However, when her magic mirror says the girl is still more beautiful than the Evil Queen, the latter decides to have her killed. In a bizarre bit of (dubbed) dialogue, the Evil Queen also says the secret of "eternal youth and beauty" is to eat the heart of a young woman who has found her first love. Since a neighboring Prince has spotted Snow White and is secretly wooing her, guess who's heart is now appropriate for the eternal youth-diet? The Queen orders her executioner to take Snow White into the forest, stab her with a silver dagger, and bring back her heart and bloody clothes as proof.

Of course, the executioner repents and frees Snow White, returning to the Evil Queen with the heart of a deer and a bit of Snow's garment. Snow White finds a cottage in the woods and makes herself at home. In a clever bit, she thinks the cottage--which is stocked with miniature furniture--is a child's playhouse! She cleans up the squalor and is discovered by the inhabitants--no, not the Three Bears, the Seven Dwarfs!--when they return from their day's work in a mine. The dwarfs are pleased to have a new roommate, particularly one who is willing to cook and clean for no salary and is a cute young babe to boot. Only Grumpy dissents, but he's a notorious malcontent and is ignored. In fact, I'm surprised the other dwarfs don't vote him out of the cottage, but perhaps the number seven has some mystic significance for them, or maybe he's real good at mining or something.

The magic mirror tips off the Evil Queen and she disguises herself as an old woman--with a giant nose that looks like a tree root--and takes Snow White a poisoned apple (first ordering the death of the traitorous executioner and--in a surprise move-- of Snow White's nursemaid, who's been locked in the dungeon for a while now). Snow White keels over, but the Evil Queen is caught in the act by the dwarfs, who pursue her through the woods until she falls off a very tall cliff to her death. The dwarfs, including the repentant Grumpy, decide to preserve Snow White's corpse so they can admire it forever (ewww!) but she's brought back to life by a kiss from the Prince, who's been aimlessly riding around the forest looking for her. And they all lived happily ever after. Except the Evil Queen, the executioner, the nursemaid, the King, and Snow White's mother.

Compared to the other Turkish movies I've seen (all two of them, plus clips from a few others), Pamuk Prenses is restrained and tasteful. The production values are fine--much of the movie was shot on location in Anatolia, and the scenery is quite impressive. The movie has none of the outrageous brutality and campy action of 3 Dev Adam, and is practically a slick, Hollywood super-production compared to the ridiculous effects and costumes (and pirated Star Wars footage) of The Man Who Saves the World. Those hoping for a repeat of this type of cinematic mockery will be disappointed by Pamuk Prenses, which is a respectable version of the Grimm fairy tale, filtered through Walt Disney and Turkish culture.

- David Wilt