Schneewittchen und die sieben Zwerge

The story is simple. You know the characters. While it sticks to Grimm's tale for the majority of its plot, the ending is a bit Disney-fied with the death of the Evil Queen. I mean, they scared the bejesus out of us for an entire hour with the little German dwarfs, why not go all the way and give us the real horror of the Queen's death, putting iron shoes on her and making her dance until she dropped dead? For 1955, it's pretty well filmed, with very nice shots of the natural surroundings.

The US dubbed-version is a thousand times scarier, with its music and menacing voice actors. Even the narrator sounds evil. The German version is very childlike with a sort of playfulness that's seen throughout many of the film's pivotal moments.

I recommend watching both versions to get a good kick out of what the US did to a relatively harmless children's film, (even though the Queen tries to kill her stepdaughter multiple times, of course.) The US-dubbed dialog is taken directly from the German film's script. It has simply been translated.

Nice German version of the classic tale Snow White and the seven dwarfs. Released in German and later in English, with dubbed score and songs. The movie is pretty much like the original Disney fairytale although both characters and music lack of Disney's energy and grace. Prince charming is too bland and Snow white too simple but the film enriches with beautiful sets and scenery. And the queen is bad, but not repulsive. They could have taken more profit of the mirror and the first meeting between Snow white and the prince is rather decaffeinated. Songs are not enhancing as Disney's version are, but dwarfs's house and setting are nicely done. Although I missed some things like precious stones shown at dwarfs' mine and the final kiss (snowwhite awakes in a more prosaic way), the fact that no heart is given to the queen by hunter and there is no witch avoids the ugliest parts of the story. Part of a series of German filmed Fairytales made in the fifties and early sixties that also include The Sleeping Beauty and Snow white and Rose red.

It is fair to see it in the context of the period and not ignoring the purpose. It is just a simple, silly in many scenes, adaptation of the classic fairy tall. Nothing awfull , only not always inspired. But the spirit of the storytelling is far to be wrong, the performances are reasonable, the Bavarian air is a virtue and the children in the roles of dwarfs- few drops of imagination solve many details. A decent film. And nothing less. Or more.

I noticed this was part of a cheaply made film, "The 50 Worst Films of All Time." I was amazed they would include this one. It is artistically above average and the story, though quite frightening, was interesting. Obviously, what passed for special effects was lacking and the dwarves were quite weird. Still, I made it to the end and felt a personal connection to it. This is a foreign production and had a redo by some American musicians. It works as an alternative tale of the famous fairy tale.

This movie scared me so horribly when I was younger, that I refused to ever watch it again. Well, my friend talked me into doing so last night (she has been bugging me for years). And I can see why it scared me; the dubbing is pathetic, the little children dwarfs are horrifying, that prince wears a great big yellow blob on his head that's supposed to look like blonde hair, all of the characters are painfully stupid...okay, to be fair, the sets ARE quite lovely. But my friend and I just burst out laughing so many times over how ridiculous everything was! Yes, it was made in 1955, and so I can forgive the guy dressed in the bear suit who wanders out behind a tree to scare Snow White, as well as the giant fake spider web behind the queen while she is mixing potions, and the snow that looks like shredded toilet paper. But some of the dialogue in the script! I have never read the original Brothers Grimm story, but please don't tell me that Snow White cried, "Oh, can I cook and clean for you?!" after the dwarves begged her to stay. And how stupid IS Snow White? Three times the dwarves come marching home, singing their annoying, creepy songs, to find her keeled over. And the third time, they think she is dead, so they stick her in a glass coffin, in which she remains in perfect condition, until what seems to be a WHOLE YEAR LATER (what took them so long? HMM!) the prince and the hunter come alone, the prince wants to take Snow Whites body home so he can oggle it, the coffin falls down, and she WAKES UP! WOW! Aside from all this, the material is painfully stretched, with scenes with that obnoxious music blaring on in the background as various characters pace, do chores, stare off in space, eat, sleep, and march, scenes comtaning no meaningful context whatsoever. I loved the part when the dwarves "carried" Snow White inside, shouting, "Watch her head!" "This way!" "Okay, easy now" while the camera focused on another dwarf gathering water, so we couldn't SEE them doing all that hard work (since, um, they weren't). Another scene that should have been cut entirely! Oh well, I'm being reaaaal snotty. I want to see the German version but also am afraid to, for...well, you know.

AND WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT HOST?! AHHHHH! Scary!