{"id":7165,"date":"2013-11-19T00:01:41","date_gmt":"2013-11-19T08:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=7165"},"modified":"2020-09-27T23:08:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T06:08:58","slug":"the-soundtrack-albums-the-snow-queen-frozen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/the-soundtrack-albums-the-snow-queen-frozen\/","title":{"rendered":"A Soundtrack Showdown: “The Snow Queen” Vs. “Frozen”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1959, Decca Records released a vinyl LP of the English-dubbed sound track to The Snow Queen<\/em>, a 1957 animated film that reportedly inspired Hayao Miyazaki to continue in his craft. Next Monday (two days before the film opens), Walt Disney Records will release sound track CDs and downloads of Frozen<\/em> a new musical epic incorporating elements of Hans Christian Andersen\u2019s tale. Let’s compare the two:<\/p>\n\"snow_queen_front_cover\"\n

<\/p>\n

THE SNOW QUEEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sound Track Album
\nDecca DL-78977 (Stereo) \/ DL-8977 (Mono)
\nReleased in 1959<\/strong>. Adapted from the 1957 Russian version written by Nikolai Erdman, Lev Atamanov, Georgly Grebner and Nikolay Zabalotsky; produced by Lev Atamanov and Nickolay Petrovich Fydorov and Directed by Lev Atamanov for Soyuzmultfilm Studio. English screenplay: Alan Lipscott, Bob Fisher, Dialogue Supervisor\/Editor: Hugo Grimaldi. Songs: Diane Lampert. Richard Loring. Music: Frank Skinner. Music Supervisor: Joseph Gershenson. English Dialogue Version Producer: Robert Faber. Technical Supervisor: Dave Fleischer. Sound Track Album Running Time: 40 minutes.<\/p>\n

Voices:<\/strong> Paul Frees (Old Dreamy, Bucky); Sandra Dee (Gerda); Tommy Kirk (Kay); Lillian Buyeff (Granny); Patty McCormick (Angel); Louise Arthur (Snow Queen). (The voices by Dick Beals and June Foray do not appear on the record and I don\u2019t know who plays the lady who writes on the fish.)
\nSongs: \u201cThe Snow Queen,\u201d \u201cDo It While You\u2019re Young.\u201d
\nInstrumental: \u201cThe Jolly Robbers.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many of us grew up watching The Snow Queen<\/em> on local TV around Christmastime… and loving it. This was before the full animation of Disney and other studios was right there on our home shelves and we took what we could get.<\/p>\n

In the case of The Snow Queen<\/em>, what we got was pretty good indeed. According to nausicaa.net, \u201cMiyazaki saw this film when he was unhappy about his job and wondering if he should continue working as an animator. Miyazaki waswas so moved by it, he \u2018decided to continue working on animation with renewed determination.\u2019 He says that he learned that characters in animation can act if they are animated well enough, and animation can move people as other media can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

One can only speculate as to whether Miyazaki would have cared for Universal-International\u2019s 1959 English-language version. It\u2019s also interesting to ponder that a film made in the Soviet Union was released without any in the \u201850s U.S. (at least, none that I can derive.) Parents\u2019 Magazine recommended The Snow Queen<\/em> with great enthusiasm, praising its old-world style. Perhaps adding the live action prologue not only made the film run longer but also assuaged American viewers. Linkletter, a familiar and ubiquitous TV personality, was filmed in the Wonder Breadiest of living room settings, handing gifts to child actors portraying mid-20th century images of adorable youngsters\u2014a few even quoting directly from Linkletter\u2019s bestselling book, Kids Say the Darndest Things<\/em> (illustrated by Charles M. Schulz).<\/p>\n\"snowqueen-lobby-card\"\n

<\/p>\n

Linkletter does not appear on Decca\u2019s elaborate sound track album of The Snow Queen<\/em>, nor do June Foray or Dick Beals, who voiced the lady crow and the Prince, respectively. The vinyl version was an early, if not the very first, recording combining dialogue, narration and music. MGM\u2019s 1956 The Wizard of O<\/em>z sound track album was an edited version of the finished sound track with no narration. Disneyland\u2019s 1957 Storyteller LP of Peter Pan was also from a finished track with narration by the Mickey Mouse Club\u2019s Jimmie Dodd.<\/p>\n\"snow_queen_gatefold\"\n

<\/p>\n

\nAlbum centerfold, above. Album back cover, below.<\/em><\/p>\n\"snow_queen_back_cover500\"\n

<\/p>\n

The Snow Queen<\/em> sound track is narrated by the Olivier of voice acting, Paul Frees, as his on-screen character, Old Dreamy. It\u2019s interesting to notice the difference between the more natural syntax of the narration he recorded for the album with his got-to-make-the-voice-match-the-mouth dubbed performance, both of which are heard on the record. Frees also pronounces the crow\u2019s name (Mr. Korracks?) one way on the record and another way in the movie.<\/p>\n

\"sandradee250\"One can speculate that when Universal decided to dub and release The Snow Queen in November of 1959, they thought they had something that could compete with Sleeping Beauty<\/em> (and the Disney family film market in general). Beauty<\/em> had not met box office expectations but it still was undoubtedly still in the public\u2019s mind since it February release, if only for all its merchandising\u2014including at least a dozen records. Decca may have seen sales potential for Snow Queen<\/em> records, even releasing a pop single version of Sandra Dee\u2019s \u201cDo It While You\u2019re Young,\u201d a song never sung to completion in the film. (The design of the Snow Queen herself was a sort of visual cousin to Maleficent. Casting Louise Arthur surely was no accident, as she sounds a lot like Eleanor Audley.)<\/p>\n