Fairy Tale Spotlight: Jack Frost (1964 Film)

[Some minor spoilers ahead.]

Oh my God. I have not had as much fun with an old foreign film as much as I have had with this movie. Jack Frost is the English version of a Soviet/Finnish film called Morozko, and it is one of the best representations of a fairy tale I have ever seen. And on top of that, it is wildly entertaining from beginning to end with almost no padding at all. And believe me, there are a lot of rubbish foreign films from the 60's that are boring as hell.

Instead of going into the actual plot, which this movie does have, I want to go into the fairy types presented in the film, as well as my fascination with them. Let's begin!

A Mushroom Fairy: He looks a bit like a short old man with a mushroom cap for a head. He's very mischievous and gets bored easily. Despite this, politeness and courtesy is very important to him, and he will curse those who do not show it. The hypocrisy here is that his own boredom leads him to bother others with no apology forthcoming. He expects others to bow down to him but will not do the same to them. Fairies expecting humans to show courtesy and politeness to them is an extremely common theme in fairy tales across the world. It is a "morality" that they often try and instill in humans who entertain them.

The Hag (or Humpback Fairy): Oh! What a wonderful hag this movie has. She was so entertaining. I enjoyed everything she did and every word she uttered. She was hideous with pronounced fangs and had absolutely no qualms about eating a human up. Like in Hansel and Gretel lore, she preferred to have them cooked first. Her familiars were the cat and the pig who she used more like tools in her magic. She also had a broom which she had to keep handy or else she was unable to move.

One more thing about this amazing hag was that she had a house that could move along with her. Now, in most hag lore, the house would just sort of be there wherever she needed needed it to be. But in Jack Frost, the house simply had legs. I assumed the house was just some poor fellow who she transformed into her own abode, but the movie does not well explain its origins, which is fine with me. I loved it.

Jack Frost: The one and only! A charming old man, not dissimilar to Santa Clause. He was in charge of frosting the trees for winter. He was also very much a fairy who desires to be treated well. If you were pure of heart, he would love you and help you. If you were a nasty person, he would curse you. And to be honest, he seemed far less mischievous than the Mushroom Fairy. He just seemed like a lonely old man who enjoyed spending time with human women occasionally. He also has a sleigh that moved so fast that I just about fell out of my chair watching it go. No reindeer either! Just went ZOOM on its own!

The bulk of the story is very Cinderella like, and a very satisfying version of it as well. The fair maiden of the story is so beautiful that she is actually able to convince the sun to delay its rising in order to prevent her own punishment. It takes a particular sort of beauty to pull that off.

There is also a strong man hero that was a joy to watch throughout the film. Loved him. He was pretty full of himself though, but that was also a major plot point that does well to flesh out the movie.

For a foreign film made in the 60's, this movie really kicked. I was never bored. In fact, I often got excited. Everything was flow and the surprisingly elaborate special effects kept everything fresh and interesting. Even when I knew they were just reversing the film to make the effect work, they did it with enough polish and precision that I didn't really care. This movie was made with love and, in my opinion, it stands the test of time. Highly recommended for fairy tale enthusiasts, or just lovers of fantasy in general.

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