A girl freezes to death on Christmas Eve, and the film makes you watch every match burn down as her only escape. The visions don't save her, they're just mercy, brief and cruel. Andersen's story demands nothing less than that hardness, and this 1967 film gives it to you cold.
On the final night of the year, a poor young girl walks the frozen streets trying to sell matches. Nobody buys from her, yet she dares not return home: she has been told to stay out until she sells enough, and she fears her father will beat her if she comes back empty-handed. Shivering, she takes shelter in a small corner and strikes a match to warm her hands. In its glow she sees lovely visions, among them a Christmas tree, a holiday feast and her late grandmother. The film is a theatrical drama adapted from the Hans Christian Andersen story. Production wrapped in July 1967, but its release was held back until the 1971 Toho Champion Matsuri film festival.
