Frau Holle (1963): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1963, Frau Holle is a family film directed by Gottfried Kolditz, running about 57 minutes.

What it’s about. The widow has an ugly and lazy daughter, Pechmarie, and a beautiful and hard-working step-daughter, Goldmarie. Because Pechmarie is her real daughter, the widow clearly favors her and makes Goldmarie do all the work. Poor Goldmarie must also sit and spin all day by the well until her fingers bleed. When she tries to rinse out the spindel, it drops into the cold water. Her unsympathetic step-mother tells her to jump in after it. Goldmarie does as she is told, and then wakes up in the middle of a beautiful field of flowers. This is the land of Frau Holle, who welcomes Goldmarie and invites her to stay, as long as she will help with the housework. Marie stays and serves Frau Holle gladly, until she suffers so terribly from homesickness that she asks to go home. Before bringing her back, Frau Holle rewards Marie with a shower of gold. Upon her return, Goldmarie and her gold are welcomed by her greedy step-sister and -mother. Hoping for the same kind of reward, the step-mother sends ...

Who’s in it. Frau Holle stars Mathilde Danegger as Frau Holle, Karin Ugowski as Goldmarie, Katharina Lind as Pechmarie and Elfriede Florin as Witwe, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 6.4/10, Frau Holle has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. In US you can stream it on Eternal Family and rent or buy it from Amazon Video, Google Play Movies and YouTube. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Frau Holle page.

If you liked it. Fans of Frau Holle tend to enjoy Spirited Away, Back to the Future, The Lion King and Coco.