Snow White

Plot synopsis:
At the beginning of the story, a queen sits sewing at an open window during a winter snowfall when she pricks her finger with her needle, causing three drops of red blood to drip onto the freshly fallen white snow on the black windowsill. Then, she says to herself, "How I wish that I had a daughter that had skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony." Some time later, the queen gives birth to a baby daughter whom she names Snow White, but dies shortly thereafter.
A year later, Snow White's father, the king, takes a new wife, who is very beautiful, but a wicked and vain woman. The new queen possesses a magic mirror, which she asks every morning, "Magic mirror in my hand, who is the fairest in the land?" The mirror always replies: "My queen, you are the fairest in the land." The queen is always pleased with that, because the magic mirror never lies. But as Snow White grows up, she becomes more beautiful each day and even more beautiful than the queen, and when the queen asks her mirror, it tells her that Snow White is the fairest.
This gives the queen a great shock. She becomes envious, and from that moment on, her heart turns against Snow White, whom the queen grows to hate increasingly with time. Eventually, the angry queen orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the deepest woods to be killed. As proof that Snow White is dead, the queen demands that he returns with her lungs and liver. The huntsman takes Snow White into the forest. After raising his knife, he finds himself unable to kill her and he spares her life. Snow White is told that her stepmother wants her dead and to get far away from the kingdom as possible. He instead brings the queen the heart of a wild animal.
After wandering through the forest, Snow White discovers a tiny cottage belonging to a group of seven dwarfs. Since no one is at home, she eats some of the tiny meals, drinks some of their wine, and then tests all the beds. Finally, the last bed is comfortable enough for her and she falls asleep. When the dwarfs return home, they immediately become aware that someone snuck in secretly, because everything in their home is in disorder. During their loud discussion about who snuck in, they discover the sleeping Snow White. She wakes up and explains to them what happened, and the dwarfs take pity on her and let her stay with them in exchange for housekeeping. They warn her to be careful when alone at home and to let no one in when they are away delving in the mountains.
Meanwhile, the queen asks her mirror once again: "Magic mirror in my hand, who is the fairest in the land?" The mirror replies: "My queen, you are the fairest here so true. But Snow White beyond the mountains at the Seven Dwarfs is a thousand times more beautiful than you". The queen is horrified to learn that the huntsman has betrayed her and that Snow White is still alive. Planning to kill Snow White, the queen disguises herself as an old peddler. The queen appears at the dwarfs' cottage and offers Snow White colorful, silky laced bodices and convinces Snow White to take the most beautiful laces as a present. Then the queen laces her up so tightly that Snow White faints, causing the queen to leave her for dead. But the dwarfs return just in time, and Snow White revives when the dwarfs loosen the laces.
The queen then consults her magic mirror again, and the mirror reveals Snow White's survival. The queen dresses as a comb seller and convinces Snow White to take a beautiful comb as a present. She brushes Snow White's hair with the poisoned comb and the girl faints again. She is again revived by the dwarfs when they remove the comb from her hair. When the mirror again indicates that Snow White still lives, the queen makes a third and final attempt on Snow White by disguising herself as a farmer's wife, an offering a poisoned apple to her. The girl is at first hesitant to accept it, so the queen cuts the apple in half, eating the white (harmless) half and giving the red poisoned half to Snow White. The girl eagerly takes a bite and falls into a state of suspended animation. This time, the dwarfs are unable to revive Snow White. Assuming that she is dead, they place her in a glass casket.
After a short period of time, a prince traveling through the land sees Snow White. He strides to her coffin. Enchanted by her beauty, he instantly falls in love with her. The seven dwarfs succumb to his entreaties to let him have Snow White. The moment he lifts the coffin to carry it away, the piece of poisoned apple falls from between her lips and Snow White awakens saying "Where am I?" The Prince then declares his love for her and soon a wedding is planned. Snow White and the prince invite everyone to come to their wedding party, including Snow White's stepmother.
Meanwhile, the queen, still believing that Snow White is dead, again asks her magic mirror who is the fairest in the land. The mirror says: "Thou, lady, art loveliest here, I ween; but lovelier far is the new-made queen", which enrages the queen. Not knowing that the Prince's bride is her stepdaughter, the queen arrives at the wedding and sees that the bride is Snow White, whom she thought dead. She chokes with rage, falls down, and dies. Snow White and the prince reign happily over the land for many, many years and sometimes traveling into the mountains and visiting the dwarfs, who had been so kind to Snow White.

Tags: fantasy

Review:
I like Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang of Smallville TV series), she is so cute, she is a perfect pick for Snow White.
On the DVD extra the writer/director explains that this version is more in line with the original Snow White tales that were handed down from olden times.
Maranda Richardson, known best for her work as Ms Tweedy in CHICKEN RUN, is really good as the stepmom who wants Snow White dead.
It's not your traditional version of the Grimm's famous story, but this effort by Hallmark Entertainment (distributed by Disney) certainly has it's merits!Caroline Thompson's script tells the traditional story of the princess with "skin as white as snow" and the jealous stepmother who wishes her stepdaughter dead.
For instance, Snow White's father, John (played by Tom Irwin), releases a "jinn" or "genie" type creature (Clancy Brown) from a frozen prison in the ice.
So, Elspeth's first spell of manipulation is cast.Another added plot twist borrows from another Grimm's story, "Snow White and Rose Red".
In her usual brilliant way, Richardson's performance is deranged yet humorous all at once.Kristin Kreuk (WB's "Smallville") as "Snow White" gives a deeper performance than one would expect.
Faces to look for in the dwarf cast: veteran fantasy film star Warwick Davis ("Willow", "The 10th Kingdom"), as Saturday, Michael J.
You'll be smiling from the beginning to the end.And you'll get three fairy tales for the price of one - the main storyline of the Snow Queen (Andersen) and a theme from Snow White and Rose Red (Grimm) are included as well..
Hallmark Entertainment's seemingly remorseless quest to film every fairy tale ever made meant that they'd eventually get to the Grimm brothers' tale of Snow White and the seven dwarves - except that as told by adapters Caroline Thompson and Julie Hickson only six of them are dwarves, as part of their development of the classic tale.
Unfortunately, you know what they say about the road to hell and good intentions."Snow White" also works in a few elements of "The Snow Queen" - the shards of Queen Elspeth's mirror flying into people's eyes and causing them to not see her evil for what it is - but also adds some interesting twists to the yarn; her psychosis is for once given some basis (the Queen's insecurity over the hideousness that is her true self is the ultimate cause for her going over the edge when her mirror informs that it is her stepdaughter, not she herself, who is the fairest of them all), and the septet - the days of the week in...
Miranda Richardson has much more scope as the wicked stepmother, and is clearly enjoying herself (although you do wonder why nobody notices the woman is obviously a few sandwiches short of a picnic), but a few less wisecracks would have helped - "It looks like I finally left you breathless!" she cackles post-poisoned apple delivery.A lot more wonder would also have helped; "Snow White" is sadly short of magic, and doesn't really take as much advantage of its story as it could (except for the sadly truncated attack of the garden gnomes...
This is a pretty good re-telling of the Brothers Grimm story, indeed one I'm sure they would have been pleased with, whereas they would hardly have recognised the Disney version which was made purely to entertain young children.
There are excellent performances by Miranda Richardson as the menacing, calculating, and very beautiful step-mother, and Vera Farmiga as Snow White's birth mother, although we don't see nearly enough of the latter.
The oddball assortment of 'dwarfs' provide much of the comic action with their hilarious antics and valiant efforts to save the day.The big let down for me was the weak and distant performances by Kristin Kreuk in the title role, and Tom Irwin as her father.All in all very enjoyable, well worth looking out for.
"Snow White" is a classic story, one which is so perfect in its original form that there is really no need (or room) for improvement.
Kristin Kreuk as Snow White, looks the part, but doesn't act it.
As the wicked queen, she is as beautiful and compelling as ever, but this adaptation undercuts her fine performance with a terrible back story in which she is originally a hag who is turned into a beauty by her well-meaning spirit of a brother.The Seven "Dwarfs" are played so broadly that they are totally ineffectual.
The dark wonder of the Brothers Grimm, the quixotic imagination of writer/director Caroline Thompson (The Addams Family, Edward Scissorhands), state-of-the art special effects by Reel Elements and the breathtaking spectacle that has become a symbol of Hallmark Entertainment combine for a truly visionary retelling of the classic fairy tale .
Salvation comes unexpectedly when the father's tears melt the frozen tomb of a bewitched creature, the Green-Eyed One. In thanks, the insinuating beast grants John three wishes: nourishment for Snow White, a kingdom in which to raise his family and a queen by his side.
Lots of neat symbolism - I thought Miranda Richardson did a killer job with a tight script, some great sets (the room of mirrors is brilliant)sharp directionand great cinematography.I can't think of a better film depiction of a woman who suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder - it's clinically right on the button - - I guess itjust depends on why you watch a movie - for me it was really arrestingI do agree Kirstin Kreuk was probably out of her depth atthe time (2001)against Miranda Richardson...
The characters I like best were, of course, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
It's often an example of so-bad-it's-good entertainment, with plenty of overacting and bizarre situations to take your mind off the shortcomings of the script and set-up.Certainly compared to the recent likes of SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, SNOW WHITE: THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL is a cheap version of the tale.
The acting is hardly of a high standard either: as Snow White, Kristin Kreuk (the world's first part-Chinese Snow White?) is pretty but wooden, while Miranda Richardson can't resist but to ham it up terribly as the evil Queen.Still, there are better actors in support, and these include Clancy Brown who looks fantastic underneath some truly 'Grimm' make-up.
That is not to say that Snow White is a complete mess, I did love the costume, photography, lighting and set design, the music has a mystical quality and there are two good performances from Vera Farmiga and Warwick Davis and a great one from Miranda Richardson.
On the other hand, Kristen Kreuk is very dull and passive albeit beautiful as Snow White, likewise with Tom Irwin.
Now, after watching this film i am greatly disappionted in one; the dramaticly changed, and at times confussing plot line, and two; Vincent Schiavelli role within the film.After watching 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest' just the other night, and now seeing Schiavelli in this dud of a film, i must say how disheartened i was to see such a great actor stoop to a awful rendition, as this was.Although it was ment to be a more 'modern' insite to snow white, it really didnt do anything for me.
Change of story line, bad acting, and over-done 'special effects' are only a few of the things that ruined this film..
I disagree with some of the comments that Kristin Kreuk both looked like we would expect Snow White to look and that she would be the fairest in real life too.First of all, Kristin Kreuk's makeup in the movie was too pink.
Her cheeks and her lips were pink, when Snow White's skin is supposed to be like snow and her lips blood red.And secondly, while she is no doubt beautiful, I'm sure other actresses could have played her just as well if not better.
He's a talented actor that we don't see a lot of, and Irwin certainly didn't deserve having one of the largest parts in the movie.Even my 10 year old niece thought he was a little too precious in the father role..
This movie strays from the true tale of Snow White far too much.
I'm not saying it should be a Disney's Snow White clone (although, Disney's version is absolutely wonderful and always melts my heart!), but it should have stayed a little more true to the story.
Even though there were major differences, there were nice touches on old things, such as the way Elspeth is told she is not the fairest one of all (Snow White's figure leans out of the mirror(s) and says 'I am.
the sets were colorful, the effects were "cool" (especially the mirror effects), even it was only for TV, it said so much of the story, and a remarkable presentation by Miranda Richardson, as alwaysit's nice to see a talented newcomer like Kristin Kreuk.
She plays the Evil Queen with a delightful wickedness and the special effects of the magic mirror have to be seen to be believed!There's a lovely new twist on the 7 dwarves with each one being a day of the week and a part of a rainbow, and newcomer Kristen Kruek is wonderful as Snow White..
I have seen quite a few adaptations of Snow White in my time, but nothing as dull or as boring as this recent one, i know in the picture books and other readings of this lovely story, you will find that Snow White is not always noted for her enthusiasm, or intelligence, but when i saw how Snow White had been betrayed in this film, to the extent of having completely no personality nor facial expressions, i just assumed she was merely an extra on the side, giving away all the credit to her more famous and much more exiting evil stepmother ,who was played brilliantly by Miranda Richardson.
The film dragged ruffly along with the story of Snow White, but then all of a sudden, there they were, the dwarfs, and then you notice that they don't really look like dwarfs at all, as cute as they were, they actually look more like the munchkins from the wizard of oz, but without the laughter and cheer, one of them im sure was a woman and the other a 6foot tall man, what's that all about, and gone were the famous names that made this movie famous like dopey clumsy, and so on, they were now all named monday, sunday tuesday, the days of the week, this was only worth watching because of the fact that Miranda Richardson was in it, and showing that one person can definitely hold a film together, while its crumbling down beneath your feet..
But as the magic fizzled out of BEAUTY & THE BEAST, I longed for Kristin back in her heyday, so I did some research, Wikipedia, IMDb, and found SNOW WHITE, a Canadian TV movie, so, some trepidation there, and I couldn't find a trailer.
The whole thing is quite uneven, we have kind of a new take on the original, yet we go through a bit of a bumpy ride along the way, you kinda feel like a fool for watching at times, then it rights itself again, then the cart tips over again...Miranda generally gets rave reviews, but I think she's kinda corny, just a big gutsy performance, but totally unpolished, just, like, here I am, I give a whole lot to the part, I'm really at it, film me, there it is, you got it.
For one thing the characters are very flat: the wicked stepmother is evil, but she lacks evilness, the gnomes are annoying, Snow White lacks character totally and the king will stay in my memory as the stupid-looking clown inside a mirror.
I won't claim that I've seen particularly many adventure/fantasy flicks, or many fairy tale films, or even more than three versions of this story(the other two being Snow White in the Dark Forest and the Disney cartoon version).
Kristin Kreuk (of WB's "Smallville) was a perfect choice for the title character and looks exactly as one would expect Snow White to look.
Snow White's father was a complete wimp from beginning to end, although looked the part of a fairy tale king.
Queen Elspeth was one dimensional, making a convincing totally self-absorbed beauty, but seemed to soft pedal her evil.The story itself was okay, and serves as a stand-alone movie as long as the viewer has never once read the original fairy tale or seen any other version of it (even the famous Disney animated masterpiece), but somehow just doesn't fit together in this production.
Snow White has a few nice turns of dialogue, a plot that feels heavily padded, a few competent actors (Miranda Richardson, Clancy Brown, Warwick Davis), one or two decent effects -- and almost no life at all.Maybe the movie should have been named "Sleeping Beauty," as it features some nice sets and locations, but they are inhabited by actors who intone their lines almost expressionlessly in an almost stationary, dreamy, sleepwalking fashion.The only actor who seems to be having any fun is Vera Farmiga, and she dies in the first five minutes.
Miranda Richardson is amazing as the queen to the point where she makes up for the fact that Snow White is just reciting lines and her father is overly dramatic and completely unbelievable.
Sixteen year later, Snow White (EuroTrip's Kristin Kreuk) is grown up, Elspeth has pretty much taken over the kingdom with King John neglecting his daughter, but the Queen craves a new younger husband.
With the magic of the mirrors on the wall the queen makes sure that she is still the fairest of them all, but one day the mirror tells that Snow White is the fairest, and the evil Queen is ready to kill her beautiful niece.
After trying to suffocate Snow White with a sash, the Queen decides to use her small magic mirror to disguise herself as the princess's dead mother, create a half poison, half edible apple to give her.
So with the dwarfs out of the house, Snow White is tricked into eating the poison apple, and Elspeth goes back to the kingdom to transform back to her beautiful self, but she has gone back to being ugly.
In the end the gnomes strangle the evil Elspeth to death, and Snow White wakes with the true love kiss of the prince, the dwarfs go off to see Sleeping Beauty, and they all live happily ever after.
Richardson enjoys her role as the typical pantomime female villain obsessed with her looks, Kreuk is beautiful but very dull to watch, one or two of the dwarf actors get their moments, and Irwin is most boring as the king.
Not the cloying Disney musical (sorry, I've never liked that film) but a modern retelling of the story, a live-action version originally done for TV.
This Snow White is a little different in that it's told by a woman with a woman's point of view.The story is pretty much like the Bros.
Kreuk comes off as oddly unappealing (a real feat for her); we never warm up to her Snow at all, and I really think we're supposed to.Overall this isn't a bad rendition of the story, but it's not a great one, either, and probably for most people Disney's version will reign supreme.
When you figure that Disney's Snow White is one of the top 50 U.S. films of all time (and the best thing Disney has ever done), you can understand why Hallmark and writer/director Caroline Thompson (who did such a good job on Black Beauty and Edward Scissorhands) would not want to do that version of the fairy tale.
Kristan Kreuk's performance as the title character is feeble; the director should have been able to get a whole lot more from her, but Miranda Richardson as the Evil Queen was wonderful.
And Kruck is such a sterile non-sensuous beauty that she fits the antiseptic way in which the director apparently wanted to under-portray the character.Vincent Schiavelli who stole the show in "Ghost" also steals all the seven dwarf scenes.Vera Farmiga does a great job as Snow White's mother, especially when she plays the Queen impersonating the mother.
Interestingly, in the original story it was the mother (not a step-mother) who was trying to kill Snow White,The ending is a bit anti-climatic as it almost instantly goes from everything being totally bleak to everything being right with the kingdom.
(Watch as she pulls a face and still gets her desired answer ;)) When suddenly Snow white (Kristen Kreuk) is fairest of them all this throws the queen into a fit of jealousy.
Speaking of Snow white, Ms Kreuk plays a rather sassy version of her, as the following lines from the movie may show:Prince Alfred: Princess, you are so beautiful.
Richardson can't save the project on her own and this is Kreuk giving her most bland, raw delivery--and that's saying something.I have no clue where they got the idea to make Snow White's father an ordinary man who was made into a prince by a jinn (a rather demonic Western genie who looked like he'd have been more at home on an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) or why they made the wicked Queen a hag sister of the jinn who spent her days turning unsuspecting dwarfs into lawn figurines, but really just wanted to be beautiful and adored.
She seems to be enjoying herself immensely.Kristin Kreuk is okay but not very original as Snow White.
She seems to be just like Snow White is in every other film.
It was an interesting twist that the person sent to kill Snow White wasn't some guy that the queen brought in but one of the servants who was under a spell at the time.