Customer Reviews

The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

George Pal, one of the most underrated filmmakers who worked during the Golden Age of Hollywood, made his most ambitious film, this, in 1962. Running 135 minutes with overture and intermission, it's a very curious project that seems especially incongrous in Cinerama. At times it drags and seems a bit silly, but it comes off as one of those films which seem detached in time, as it does not seem dated, but never would have been made today. The three fairy tale sequences are the film's highlight, with top-notch Puppetoon animation. Watch this on TCM, and petition for a DVD release. This needs a good DVD, AND NOW!!!

Jamie Teller

I have no idea where my Mom got a copy of "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm", but my family has been watching this movie since I was a young girl. A fictionalized account of the adult life of the Grimm Brothers, the story revolves around their transformation as writers of dull, patron-sponsered biographies to chroniclers of the world's great fairy tales. In between the telling of their story, 3 fairy tales are spliced into the narrative.

The Grimm Brothers segments were directed by Henry Levin in a semi-dull but ultimately servicable manner. The fairy tales, however, were directed by the imaginative George Pal , who also directed "The Time Machine" and "Tom Thumb" in the sixties.

"The Cobbler and the Elves" comes first, and is the weakest of the three, although it does have some good claymation. Next comes "The Dancing Princess", and as a ballet dancer, I can tell you the choreography in this segment is absolutely first-rate. The Gyspy dance performed by the wonderful Russ Tamblyn (West Side Story) is among the best onscreen pieces of its kind.

Finally, there is the eerie "Singing Bone" which features Buddy Hackett and the English comedian Terry-Thomas together with a stunning jewel-encrusted Claymation dragon. These three segments are well worth the price of the video and very entertaining for childen. You may also enjoy this movie if you are a dancer or a animation fan.

All in all, "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" is a slightly odd curio, but suitable entertainment for the whole family.

IMAX can not hold a candle with sound and picture that the old Cinerama and multi magnetic sound had... Unfortunately the transfer version to VHS is terrible. What were those Hollywood people thinking when they transferred 3-projector Cinerama and crushed it to full screen video...

As far as story, music, costumes, acting, special effects it is still worth viewing especially when the likes of this type of film will never come back to the screen. The overture and intermission has also been cut from this video version and we can only hope that someone will have enough sense someday to transfer this to DVD and 5 channel stereo for both young and old kids alike to enjoy. The Brothers Grimm truly is a treasure of movie history.

Now if we can only get Hollywood to transer "This is Cinerama" and the other 3-projector process movies to DVD...with proper sound...

This is a great movie directed by Genius George Pal and Henry Levin. The original wide screen movie was poorly adapted to tv.This video does an excellent job of cropping the scenes so we can see the characters, The dragons, giants and tiny people and there stories are great for all ages. The are touching scenes with Jacob Grimm and and Greta Heinrich played by Karlheinz Bohn and Barbara Eden. Barbara Eden is early in her career and does an excellent acting job. A great story which merges the lives of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm with the fairly tale works of Wilhelm. Very enjoyable.

This has always been a personal favourite of mine, from the old CINERAMA days. When will this film get a decent quality transfer release(Tape & laser-disc were hopeless )I feel that if it's not done right the next time, it won't get another go. Also the inclusion of the missing "ABOVE THE STARS" sequence, that has never been seen at all, would be a definite bonus, the theme is there but not the segment, and there must be enough material to do some sort of documentary.I will not purchase this title again until enough of these points are rectified.

This film is cute without being syrupy. Harvey and Boehm are
excellent. The fairy tales are wonderful. I love the German
scenery--the Grimms' "hometown" scenes were filmed in Rothenburg
ob du Tauber, Bavaria. As of 1995, the town still looked exactly
as it does in the movie. My favorite scenes--Laurence Harvey as the cobbler. What a transformation from Harvey as Wilhelm Grimm!

It's a damn shame that they don't make films like this anymore. This movie is a jewel! It's sad to see that they have dishonored it with that foolish remake. This movie has all the qualities of great filmmaking. Great story, great effects that still hold up today, and wonderful spirit of fantasy and adventure. DON"T MISS THIS FILM!!!!!! The child in you will be well satisfied.

AND WILL SOMEONE PUT THIS MOVIE ON DVD ALREADY!!!!!!

I saw this film when it first came out in the 1960s. For some reason, what stuck with me from the moment the theater lights turned back on, to the present era, was the catchy theme tune. The tune is still there, as one might expect. I recently took a few moments to learn the song of the elves from the cobbler sequence. Although the lyrics are a bit awkwardly written, the tune is fun to sing now and then. The storylines for each tale seem intact. (They're not extensively modified as in the Disney style) The connecting sequences, which comprise a biography of the Grimm brothers, is cleverly written. The somewhat different personalities and career goals of the two brothers are wonderfully related. Children might be especially amused by the scene where one brother leans on a suit of armor, causing the entire suit to collapse. The "voice" of the singing bone is exquisite. Another clever moment is the means by which the cobbler addresses a hunter, i.e., "Your Marksmanship." Another memory that stuck with me from my first viewing in the early 60's, was the effect of a sleeping potion on a plant, causing the plant to whither. The conclusion of the film, featuring masses of children cheering in a railroad station, is ideal for this story. What a great ending! The print is more than adequate, unlike, for example, the Beatles' Help, and Disney's Darby O'Gil and the Little People, which seem only available on blurry videotape prints that are difficult to endure. I can think of only one real complaint -- the dragon's fire looks like it was put on the film with strips of cut out colored paper.

The producers of this video have to be crazy to put it out in its current form! You should demand that it be released in letterbox format. The whole reason for making this movie, after all, was to showcase the then-new process of Cinerama, which at the time produced a picture so wide that it took 3 projectors and 3 screens to show it all. You can still see faint lines on existing prints where the images didn't quite fit together.

The stories are among the Grimm Brothers' less famous, so the kids might enjoy seeing something different. The production is just fine, but there's nothing that really grabs you.

One word of warning: the theme song is addictive and you'll find yourself humming it for weeks!

I loved the story line of this movie...it is so much better than the 2005 Movie. This movie should be on dvd...it has so much to offer to children all over. The story of the brothers is as much a story as the ones they bought and wrote or rewrote for all children.
The 3 Fairytales in the movie are wonderful in the telling and the claymation is exciting to watch....from the first time I watched it...I will always remember Russ Tamblyn dancing with the princess and riding on the back of the coach down through the very narrow lane in the german country.
I really feel this movie is a truer rendition of the Brothers Grimm....than the movie of 2005.
S. Lee