Snow White (1961 film)

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Schneewittchen
Schneewittchen-defa.jpg
DVD cover
Directed by Gottfried Kolditz
Written byGünter Kaltofen
Based on Snow White by the Brothers Grimm
Starring
CinematographyErwin Anders
Edited byUrsula Zweig
Music by Siegfried Tiefensee
Production
company
Distributed by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb
Release date
October 6, 1961
Running time
63 min.
Country East Germany
Language German

Schneewittchen is a 1961 East German film, directed by Gottfried Kolditz and based on the fairy tale Snow White by the Brothers Grimm.

Contents

The film's plot is quite faithful to the Grimm's version, and the changes made to the film can be compared to the Walt Disney film from 1937.

Plot

Jealous of her beautiful stepdaughter Snow White, an evil queen asks a hunter to kill the young princess, but the man lets the girl escape into the woods, which finds refuge by the seven dwarfs. Having learned of the hunter's deception from her magic mirror, the queen decides to kill the girl with her own hands, disguised as an old lady. After two failed attempts, the queen succeeds in her purpose with a poisoned apple. But a prince's love brings the girl back to life. Invited to their wedding and humiliated, the evil stepmother flees.

Cast

Production

The film was shot in the DEFA studios in Babelsberg. Doris Weikow, the actress playing Snow White, was a presenter and announcer for Deutscher Fernsehfunk from 1965. [1]

Reception

The picture sold 7,597,495 tickets and it was seen by around 4.5 million spectators, making it one of the 20 most successful fairy-tale and children's films in East Germany. [2] [3]

Home media

The film was released on DVD by Icestorm Entertainment on March 21, 2001 and on September 13, 2010 in a digitally restored version. [4] It was released for the first time on Blu-ray by Fernsehenjuwelen GmbH on November 2, 2023.

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References

  1. "Die Ansagerinnen in den 50er- und 60er-Jahren | MDR.DE". 2012-11-29. Archived from the original on 2012-11-29. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  2. List of the 50 highest-grossing DEFA films.
  3. "DEFA-Märchenverfilmung "Schneewittchen" (DDR 1961)" (PDF).
  4. "Schneewittchen (1961) (Digital überarbeitete Fassung) (DVD) – jpc". www.jpc.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-12-24.