I was entranced by this film when I saw it a kiddie matinee in the 60s, and upon repeat viewings it is truly wonderful. I just don't understand why this film has not been given a proper treatment in the west. I've seen three english versions; the original US release with Art Linkletter was what I saw in the theater. A few years ago I chanced upon a strange version with the original elf narration restored, but with portions of the score dropped out to make way for horrible contemporary pop songs. Thirdly there was a version shown on PBS sans Linkletter, but with an entirely new soundtrack, which fared better than the pop version I mentioned (though not much better) Still the imagery is fabulous regardless of which botched presentation it is, and I would go out of my way to see an unadulterated version even without the benefit of translation.
Review of Snezhnaya koroleva
