Snow White
(aka SCHNEEWEISSCHEN UND DIE SIEBEN ZWERGE)
With: Elke Arendt (Snow White), Addi Adametz (Wicked Queen), Niels Clausnitzer (Prince Charming), Dietrich Thoms
English-Language Versions:
(circa 1972) Holiday Storybook Films 75 minutes
Plot Outline (Imdb): Snow White is the fairest woman in the land. But the Wicked Queen orders the hunter to kill her so she can be the fairest woman. When the hunter lets Snow White escape, she flees to the home of the 7 dwarves. But the Queen knows she's alive, so she sets out to kill her herself. After tying a belt too tight around her waist the first time, and putting a poisoned hair-clip in her hair the second time, she finally gets her wish. The taste of the poisoned apple sends Snow White to her death. A storm breaks out soon after, and the Queen is killed by a lightning strike. The dwarves keep guard over Snow White's body, awaiting any hope of her waking up. Soon, Prince Charming arrives, and brings her back to life with a kiss. The two are married, and live happily ever after.
***
SYNOPSIS (from pressbook): When Snow White was born, her mother, the Queen, died. After a year, the King took a new wife who was very beautiful but very cruel and vain. The new Queen had a magic mirror which, each day when she asked the question, truthfully replied that she was the fairest one of all. As Snow White grew more and more beautiful with the passing of time, the Queen forbade her to leave the castle or for her to have any visitors.
Upon hearing of her beauty, the richest and most handsome Prince in the land came to see Snow White but was forbidden to enter the castle. However, he caught a glimpse of her and overcome by her beauty sent her a lovely necklace as a present, telling the Hunter who would give her the gift that if she was ever in danger, he was to be notified. When the Queen beard of the gift she was furious and rushed to her mirror. This time the mirror's reply was that Snow White was a thousand times more beautiful than she.
Now the Queen decided to have Snow White killed and ordered the Hunter to take her into the forest and kill her there. Once in the forest, however, the Hunter simply could not kill the beautiful girl and abandoned her after she promised never to return to the castle. However, the magic mirror never lied and so the Queen found out Snow White was still alive and living in the forest with the Seven Dwarfs, whose house she found.
The Queen decided to take matters into her own hand and, in disguise, found Snow White while the Dwarfs were away. Pretending to sell her a belt, the Queen tightened it so severely that Snow White fell to the ground in a dead faint, and the Queen hurried away to her mirror. Luckily, the Dwarfs returned just in time to loosen the belt and save her life. This only made the Queen angrier and, donning a new disguise, returned to the house of the Seven Dwarfs. Although warned by the Dwarfs to be careful of the Queen's trickery, Snow White was so attracted by some lovely combs which she permitted the Queen to place in her hair, that she was once again left on the ground for dead. - And, once again, she was saved by the Dwarfs' return in the very nick of time.
This time, the Queen made elaborate plans in her magic laboratory and injected a deadly poison into half of a luscious apple. In still another disguise, she returned to the Dwarfs' house and tempted Snow White into tasting the poisoned half of the apple while she tasted the good half. As soon as Snow White took the first bite, she fell to the ground as though dead. The Queen now felt that she had finally killed Snow White. On her way back to the castle the Queen was killed by a bolt of lightning.
Unfortunately, when the Seven Dwarfs came home, they found Snow White but could not revive her and sadly, laid her to rest in a beautiful glass coffin. In the meantime, the faithful Hunter bad gone to tell the Prince of the terrible danger to Snow White and they both arrived on the scene only to see her in the coffin. The Prince in his sorrow, persuaded the Dwarfs to transport her back to his great castle. The Dwarfs picked up the coffin to begin the journey but one of them stumbled, and, as the coffin fell to the ground, the piece of apple popped out of Snow Whites mouth and she awoke from her sleep.
Great joy was felt throughout the land and a magnificent celebration was held at the wedding of Snow White and the Prince, who lived happily ever after.
***
SNOW WHITE is a magical fairy tale, one of the most attractive released by Childhood Productions. The source film, produced in West Germany by Schonger Films, features beautiful color design and settings, and at times is quite atmospheric, as are all of the Schonger fairy tales. SNOW WHITE features relatively lavish sets, and an impressive mixture of interior sets and exterior locations, including an actual castle.
In comparison with the Fritz Genschow fairy tales produced in East Germany at about the same time, the Schonger fairy tales tend to have more intimacy (two-shots and close-ups). The average Genschow fairy tale is often told largely in highly theatrical key shots. The Schonger films, with their reliance on interiors and camera movement, are quite cinematic, whereas the Genschow tales remind us often of live theatre.
Snow White (Elke Arendt) is stunning, a real beauty. The Wicked Queen (Addi Adametz) is beauty corrupted, and as such, is more terrifying than any mere monster could ever be. The fable (and the film) illustrate well the sometimes-deadly sexual jealousy between mother and daughter.
After a scary night in a stormy woods, and a close encounter with a giant bear (or rather, a man in a nifty bear costume, used to such good effect in Schongers' SNOW WHITE & ROSE RED), the film really comes alive when Snow White reaches the dwarfs' house.
The dwarfs' house is a wonderfully designed set, with a fanciful color scheme and adorable little child-beds. The dwarfs' little gold mine set, complete with rattling coal cars, is super-cool as well. Also impressive is the Wicked Queen's ultra-modern witchcraft lab. Surely, fabulous production design is Schongers' forte.
It is interesting that this film uses children to play the dwarfs, which makes sense in that the dwarfs are small, and intended to be allegorical children. However, it is somewhat perverse to see these little tykes sprouting enough facial hair to be Methuselah!
Also, the English-Language version uses children to dub the voices of the dwarfs, giving them a youthful aura they didn't necessarily have originally.
As the dwarfs are not named in the original fairy tale, they are named differently in every film version of the tale. Disney, of course, monopolized the fairy tale for so long, most people actually think the dwarfs are named Sleepy, Wheezy, Grumpy, etc. In this film, they are named differently. And in THE SEVEN DWARFS TO THE RESCUE, for example, the leader of the dwarfs is dubbed "Toto" (!).
Attentive viewers may become frustrated at the hare-brained logic of the fable as it progresses. Certainly, Snow White and her guardians would be caught off-guard by the Wicked Queen's first ambush. Yet it does seem curious that Snow White does not recognnize her terrifying and hated Stepmother in her meager disguises. And the dwarfs, knowing well the hazards which Snow White faces alone, should not have left her side for a minute until the matter was resolved. Thus, the little guys trundling off each morn to their gold mine seems a bit ill-advised. As well, Snow White accepting favors from strange women, when she knows that a very strange woman is out to kill her, paints her as either terribly naive, or worse, imbecilic.
Regardless, Snow White is an entirely sympathetic character, and even though you want to shout at the poor martyr, "Don't eat the apple, you idiot!", you still root for her eventual triumph.
The "death" of Snow White, replete with her repose in a gruesome gold-and-glass coffin, is a fairy tale moment of sublime angst, and it comes across well here. Prince Charming of course shows up to take the edge off the morbid scene, and all ends well.
SNOW WHITE is further enlivened by a terrific Anne & Milton Delugg score, with some memorable tunes. Colorful, lively and engaging, SNOW WHITE is truly a classic fairy tale.
Depending on your worldview, Walt Disney either defined children's cinema, or ruined it. Regardless, the Disney fairy tales such as SNOW HWITE, SLEEPING BEAUTY, CINDERELLA and ALICE IN WONDERLAND, have dominated the scene for so long, other cinema versions of the classic fairy tales have not received the audience or critical attention they deserved, having been for the most part dismissed as inferior product (i.e., "not Disney"). This is a shame at least, and a cultural conspiracy at worst.
There exists an alternate version of SNOW WHITE, under the "Holiday Storybook" banner, which adds a U.S.-filmed prolog and epilog featuring popular TV celebrity Chuck McCann, who sits in front of a modern fireplace and tells some Long Island brats about the film they are about to see. (McCann was then host of his own, popular children's' TV show on WNEW-TV in New York) In the slightly nihilistic epilog, Chuck tells his kids, "Forget about watching this stuff! Go to the library and read!" This version is likely a syndication TV release.
Just this year (2003), Catcom released a boffo double-bill DVD with SNOW WHITE and SLEEPING BEAUTY, two Childhood Productions classics!
Video/DVD availability: VHS (various), DVD (Catcom)
Links of related interest:
Snow White ponders the old woman who offers her a free apple...
(1955, West Germany) color 79 minutes
Schongerfilm
Story: Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm, Wilhelm Carl Grimm
Screenplay: Konrad Lustig, Walter Oehmichen
Music: Franz Miller, Carl Stueber
Cinematography: Wolf Schwann
Produced by Hubert Schonger
Directed by Erich Kobler
(1965) Childhood Productions 72 minutes (November release)
National Screen Service #270
Music: Milton and Anne Delugg
Orchestrations: George Brackman
Musical Director: Lehmann Engel
Narrator: Paul Tripp
On-screen host: Chuck McCann
"The Poisoned Apple" (Yahoo Groups)
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SNOW WHITE
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