The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen (Klimova) withers the red roses given to Kay and his sister Gerda by their teacher. She then freezes the boy's heart and abducts him to her palace in the north. Gerda to the rescue. In the original, peculiarly eerie Hans Andersen story, childish innocence and Christian love overcome evil; in this less fanciful Lenfilm adaptation (part live action, part animation), human love and an adult capacity to overcome fear do the job. Nothing is made of Andersen's significant anthropomorphism, and some tiresome knockabout dilutes the powerful storyline.