Branca de Neve e os Sete Anões

A classic film in it's own right. Produced silently by Cannon Films in 1987, it is one of the best family musicals that has ever been made. Most saw this on the Disney Channel in the late 80's or mid- 90's. It has gained the reputation of cult classic and is possibly awaiting a new DVD release.

Starring Diana Rigg as the evil queen, this adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale is not only faithful to it's source( Right down the the eating of Snow White's liver), but tells it as a delightful family musical. Having this be a musical made the tone lighter, instead of dark and scary like the original fairy tale. Nicola Stapelton and Sarah Patterson are the embodiment of the character. Ms. Stapelton is exactly what I think of when I see Snow White as a young girl. Ms. Patterson is the total spitting image of the older Snow White. She is one of the most gorgeous actresses I have ever seen and it's a shame that she has drifted into oblivion.

This production is lavish to say the least. The settings and sets are unbelievable. The queen's room is especially beautiful and weird.It reminded me of a mix of Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast and Dario Argento's Suspiria. It is stunning. The costumes are no less inspired.

If you can find this great film, get it! You won't regret it!

Not since Disney's heroine glided across the screen, has Snow White been so beautifully portrayed. Sarah Patterson (A Company of Wolves) is not only beautiful, but gives Snow White the spunky yet child-like quality needed to bring the young princess to life. Miss Patterson also has a pleasant singing voice. I highly recommend seeing this enchanting version of the classic story!!!

My mum got me this film when I was about 2 and I still watch it to this day! It is fantastic so magical and so innocent,Diana Rigg makes a grand entrance as the evil queen and she does not have to put much effort into it! I love all the songs in it especially Diana Rigg's "beautiful hair! shes funny in this film as well as very scary, when I met Rigg earlier this year, I was very scared of her remembering her in this role!

I also love Patterson and Stapleton's performance and their lovely singing. I wish more cannon movie films were made as the same standard as this I really recommend it!!!

Recall the fabulous 80s: Knight Rider, Wham!, Peewee's Playhouse. It was a time of artistic innocence, and as such it was the perfect era for fairytale adaptations. Cannon Movie Tales' "Snow White" falls squarely into that vibe, and if you watch it with the mind of a child (or literally with a child), you'll indeed be transported to a fantasy land much removed from our 21st century gritty reality & cynicism.

Scenes are bright, songs are bouncy, acting is delightfully melodramatic, and the story is simple yet engaging. I hated it. But that's because I was expecting something a little edgier like maybe "Willy Wonka" (made a decade prior). When I accepted that this was a true children's film, not an adult's film under the guise of a children's film like "Wonka", I had a great time.

This film adaptation, one of Cannon Movie Tales' 9 installments, is remarkably close to the Grimm's vision. For that reason, the story may seem a little drawn out & redundant, showing all 3 attempts by the Evil Queen to nix Snow White, unlike the famous Disney version which showed only the apple. But I think this worked because it showed the Evil Queen's growing frustration, obsession & Faustian descent into black magic, all leading to the frenzied climax. It might be fun for you to read the Grimm's version before seeing this movie so you can see the pages come to life visually, almost exactly as the story was meant (it's only 5 pages, on gutenberg.org). There is one small variation, the ending (which I won't ruin). I found it to be very symbolic, poetic & satisfying, much more than the original Grimm's ending which, in Grimm tradition, is rather sudden and extreme.

Special effects are minimal but effective. Obviously there's no digital cgi; instead the film relies on good old creative stunts, like you'd see in Jean Cocteau's timeless "Beauty and the Beast" (1950) or the obscure Russian fantasy horror "Viy" (1967). I was really impressed, and slightly creeped out, by the talking mirror which was played by the head of Julian Chagrin painted white with no eyeballs, partially thrust through the wall creating the simple yet convincing illusion that he's part of the frame.

The acting, as I said above, is delightfully melodramatic as a fairytale should be. I agree with everyone else that Diana Rigg (an ex-Bond girl from the 70s "Her Majesty's Secret Service") is well cast as the Evil Queen, cruel, intimidating and oddly funny when she sings my favorite song from the film, "More Beautiful Than Me", sort of a wicked tango in a minor key (check it out on Youtube).

Other songs range from fun to forgettable, but none are bad. Something I found interesting was the way the song styles were deliberately anachronistic and inappropriate for the setting (as with the aforementioned tango ...in 15th century Germany??).

As far as fairytale adaptations go, this one is worth the price of admission. The DVD is quite rare, but occasionally you'll see one pop up on ebay for surprisingly cheap. The 2005 DVD is non-anamorphic letterboxed, meaning it's made for standard 4:3 TV sets even though the film is widescreen, and on widescreen tvs it doesn't fill the entire set. It would be nice to see this with the HD Blu-ray treatment some day. But considering for 20 years there were only a few VHS copies floating around, it's great that this cute film is finally available on disc.

Although it isn't as endearing or charming as Disney's animated version I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I think both Nicola Stapleton and Sarah Patterson (better known for her role as Rosaleen in Company of Wolves) did a good job playing Snow White. Best part was played by the evil queen (Mia Rig) who really was evil. At least she was pretty in comparison to the evil queen from Disney who looked like a ghost (and could never be the fairest of them all). The evil queen had so many costumes in which she could disguise and transform into a totally different person. She used her disguises 3 times to kill Snow White. That's right she needed 3 attempts for that. I'm glad they showed us in this version all of these attempts so people do know it was not only the poisonous apple. I knew about a poisonous comb in one the version I have read but never knew about the corset until I saw this one. The mirror was mostly the scary thing in the movie, having that foul laugh and face. The songs are nice not great but not over the top and fitting. I was a bit disappointed by the dwarfs however, they do lack some kind of personality and too bad they have all the same sounding names ending on "iddy". I think even after multiple viewings it will be impossible to say who is who. Nevertheless this is certainly one of the best adaptations of the fairy tale.