The Snow Queen (1942)
Walt Disney had considered Hans Christen Andersen's
The Snow Queen for his first feature, but the studio struggled to develop the titular character in a way audiences at the time could relate to. As a result, it got pushed back to be the third Disney film following
Cinderella and
Alice in Wonderland. This was solidified when Disney rejected MGM’s offer in April 1937 of the film rights to
Bambi: A Life in the Woods, as he had too much on his plate, and animating realistic animals was notoriously challenging. In the meantime, pre-production on
The Snow Queen began in the summer of 1936, but it mostly took a backseat to
Cinderella. Just before
Cinderella premiered, Walt Disney Productions began exploring a possible film centering around the life of author and poet Hans Christian Andersen alongside featuring animated featurettes with his stories. One idea for a segment was making
The Snow Queen into a short.
The Little Mermaid (which would be made nearly 50 years later), was also discussed as a possible short, but Disney opted to produce
The Ugly Duckling instead.
Disney released
The Ugly Duckling in April 1939 as part of its
Silly Symphony Series to nearly universal critical acclaim. In the meantime, in August 1938, Disney was holding character workshop sessions for the Snow Queen herself, and there was simultaneous work on storyboards assigned to Perce Pearce and Carl Fallberg. Their attention soon became drawn to other projects like Alice and The Jungle Book, so things were initially slow. Finally, on August 17, 1939, production of
The Snow Queen officially began in earnest, with workshops mostly wrapped up by that point. Progress remained slow due to personnel changes, moving to Burbank, and improvements in handling animation. There were still talks about making
The Snow Queen part of a Hans Christian Andersen biographical film, but Disney dispelled this once and for all in March 1940 when he publically announced that the studio would not pursue the proposed biographical film about Andersen (MGM would later pursue this concept separately without animation) and that
The Snow Queen would be a full-length feature.
There were many interpretations of the story, and thus much room for experimentation, as writer and animator Mel Shaw recalled once. Writing was completed by July 1940, with much of the religious references from the original fairy tale removed. Animation was also a tricky process. Even though the story was generally human-centric, animals were still featured so Disney brought some in from the Los Angeles Zoo to animate them more realistically compared to
Cinderella. Marc Davis created the titular Snow Queen’s final design. The studio used actress Jane Randolph and star skater Donna Atwood as live-action references for the scenes where Greta and Kai skate as kids and where Greata needs to run across an ice pond to rescue Kai after being kidnapped. The backgrounds for the film were inspired by real-life Scandinavian locations in which the terrain varied from mountains to woodlands. A rough cut of the film was complete by April 1942, and Disney showed it to his friends who thought it was too long. With that, Disney cut 1,000 feet of animation, adding to the 1,800 feet previously cut following the box office failure of
The Jungle Book. [1]
The Snow Queen starts with the titular character having just created a mirror that seeks out the places with the most hate and ugliness in the world so that she can create calm and happiness via a gentle snowfall. However, a group of trolls sneaks into the snow palace one night and shatters the mirror into a million pieces that disperse in the cold wind. Unluckily, a couple of those shards end up in the eyes and heart of the Snow Queen herself, who acquires a bitter cold disposition. Her powers are corrupted by the shards, turning her gentle snowfalls into intense blizzards and avalanches wherever she goes. Several years later, two siblings named Greta and Kai listen to a story about the Snow Queen from their grandma. On a summer day, a few scattered mirror shards end up in Kai’s heart and eyes, causing him to be needlessly cruel and aggressive towards everyone, including Greta and his grandmother. The Snow Queen soon arrives in the village, signified by the dropping temperatures and howling snow squalls. She seeks out a Snow Prince, and when she sees Kai, she kidnaps him and brings him back to her kingdom with her. Only Greta can venture to the Snow Kingdom and save her brother from an uncertain fate.
Originally,
The Snow Queen was intended for release in the fall of 1941, but the animator’s strike delayed the conclusion of production by several months, not to mention it fell behind
The Lion King, which took its fall 1941 slot. [2] The bombing of Pearl Harbor ruined any chances of a Christmas release. RKO Radio Pictures scheduled the world premiere for July 30, 1942, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, but the long run of Mrs. Miniver delayed this further. [3] Finally, it premiered in London on August 9, 1942, then in New York City on August 13 before being released in the United States on August 21. Critics at the time gave it mixed-to-positive reviews, with most of the detractors taking issue with the movie’s pacing and being more dramatic than Disney’s previous efforts. On the other hand, critics widely praised the animation and the titular character for their complexity. On a $1.5 million budget,
The Snow Queen earned $1.3 million in domestic rentals and could not access most foreign markets due to World War 2. Fortunately, it earned back its losses upon re-releases following the War. It would go on to become one of Disney’s most famous classics.
Voice Cast:
- Paula Winslowe as The Snow Queen
- Ann Gillis as Greta
- Cammie King as Young Greta
- John Sutherland as Kai
- Donnie Dunnigan as Young Kai
- Verna Felton as Greta and Kai’s Grandmother
- Sam Edwards as Troll #1
- Sterling Holloway as Troll #2
- Will Wright as Troll #3
- Fred Shields as Troll #4
- Mel Blanc as various animal voices
[1] Happened with Bambi IOTL according to a Los Angeles Daily News article from April 30, 1942, and a 1990 Los Angeles magazine article.
[2] Analogous to IOTL with Bambi expected to be released in fall 1941 and Dumbo taking its slot per The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation's Golden Age by Jake S. Friedman
[3] Based on a
Hollywood Reporter news item from OTL.
All of the songs from Bambi are included here plus Baby Mine from Dumbo (which is sung to Greta and Kai by the grandmother as little kids)
