Disney’s Frozen is one of the company’s most profitable franchises in recent history. For the past decade, the series has had multiple films, animated shorts, sold tons of merchandise, and is featured at multiple theme parks around the world. However, not many people know that Disney was not the first animated feature based on the classic tale The Snow Queen. In fact, Disney may have actually been inspired by this first adaptation. Let’s take a trip back in time, nearly 70 years, to see this forgotten classic.



The story begins in the USSR in the 1950s. The animation company Soyuzmultfilm was the country’s top animation studio, developing multiple shorts, and had just recently gotten into making feature-length films beginning with 1945’s The Lost Letter.

They would become more notable during the Khrushchev Thaw when they began developing films inspired by classic fairy tales similar to Disney with Snow White and Cinderella. In 1952 they released both The Scarlet Flower and The Snow Maiden, followed by The Frog Princess in 1954, and The Twelve Months in 1956.



When development for The Snow Queen began, the animators wanted to visit Copenhagen in Denmark, the home of the story’s original author. However, due to the then-in-place “Iron Curtain” of the Cold War, they instead went to the Baltic States as a substitute. 

The film would be directed by Lev Atamonov, who had previously directed The Scarlet Flower. In addition to Atamonov, Soviet playwright Nolplia Erdman would pen the script. Legendary Russian animators Leonid Shvartsman and Fyodor Khitruk would serve as the character designers, with Khitruk designing the Snow Queen herself.



The film itself started very close to the source material. The story follows a young girl named Gerda, a young girl whose playmate and childhood sweetheart, Kai, is taken by the Snow Queen when both his eye and heart are pierced by glass from a magic mirror, turning him evil. She sets out on her own, coming across many strange characters along her way, and finds herself in many dangers. The story shows the dedication of someone who would risk everything for the ones that they love.

The film was released in the USSR on November 1st, 1957, and would go on to win multiple awards. Due to the Cold War, Soyuzmultfilm could not release the film in the United States themselves. However, Universal Studios acquired the rights to dub and release the film in the U.S. in August of 1959 in a bid to compete with Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. This was the first Soviet film to be released theatrically in the U.S. and was Universal’s first distributed theatrical animated feature.



The American version included a live-action segment featuring television personality Art Linkletter, entertaining children at a Christmas party with a story. In addition to Linkletter, the film featured the voices of Sandra Dee as Gerda and Tommy Kirk as Kai. Voice actors Paul Frees and June Foray would provide the voices of multiple side characters, with the Snow Queen herself played by Louise Arthur. 

Aside from the United States, in 1960, the film was released in Japan, to where it became a major influence on the Japanese animation industry. Legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki cites the film as one of his biggest inspirations and kept him from quitting animation in the early 1960s. The film became part of the Studio Ghibli Museum collection in 2007.



The film, despite not being as remembered in the States, is celebrated in its home country with multiple re-releases and restorations. While Walt Disney himself did try to bring the fairy tale to life, this is perhaps the closest to what we could have gotten with a Walt Disney adaptation. The story itself is far closer to the original than Frozen.

If you are looking for an animated film to watch during the holiday season with that classic feel to it, then look no further than this forgotten masterpiece. You can find different versions online in different quality and audio, especially on YouTube.