The Snow Queen is a star studded version of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale about a young boy who is kidnapped by the evil Snow Queen, his foster mother (Juliet Stevenson) and her daughter Gerda (the rising soprano Sydney White) mount a rescue mission. What really sets this movie apartment is the fact that it is pretty much all rendered in green screen cgi effects with stunning Victorian flavoured visuals to match the timeless story.
Highly stylised (there are talking flowers, ravens and reindeer), wonderfully cast and shot through with the that special BBC story telling charm that they are masters of.
It’s actually quite a dark tale but the mix of song, animation and the haunting soundtrack all combine to create something truly magical. The music, by Paul K Joyce, is performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
production details
UK | BBC | 56 minutes | Broadcast 24 December 2005
Writer: James Andrew Hall
Story: Hans Christian Anderson
Music: Paul K. Joyce
Director: Julian Gibbs
cast
Pax Baldwin as Kay
Sydney White as Gerda
Juliet Stevenson as Gerda’s Mother
Tiffany Amber Knight as The Snow Queen
Patrick Stewart as The Raven
Leah Renee as Princess
Kenneth Welsh as King
