…He was called Kay and she was called Gerda. In summer they could come to each other at one jump; in winter they first had to go down the many flights of stairs and then up the many flights of stairs; outside the snow was drifting. “The white bees are swarming,” said the old grandmother. “Do they have a queen bee too?” asked the little boy, for he knew that there was one among the real bees. “So they have!” said the grandmother. “She flies there where the swarm is thickest! She's the biggest of them all, and she never remains still on the earth. She flies up again into the black cloud. Many a winter night she flies through the city streets and looks in at the windows, and then they freeze over so curiously, as if with flowers…” ”Can the Snow Queen come in here?” asked the little girl. “Just let her come,” said the boy. “I'll put her on the hot stove and then she'll melt.”
An elf tells the story, setting it in the muffled, legendary Nordic atmosphere typical of the Russian soul. Tastefully and poetically drawn, it is an example of the richness and originality of Russian animation. The film won an award in Venice in 1957.
