james higgins
64/100. Way overlong but it certainly is creative and imaginative. Impressive special effects, perhaps not by today's standards but it must have been enthralling in 1962. It is entertaining and good for the whole family, although I can't see a lot of children being able to sit through over two hours of this. The production is impressive. It won the Oscar for best costume design and was nominated for both art direction, music score and cinematography, all of which were quite good. A lot of money went into the production, and it shows. It is divided into four segments. The Puppetoons are particularly enjoyable and the part I think children would enjoy the most.
Caz1964
I saw this on TCM last week usually its shown at a really awkward time for me such as 11am in the morning when I'm at work,the only chance i had of catching it was to view it at 5am on a Sunday which was my only chance,i wasn't disappointed. The story is about the early days of The Brothers Grimm and how they got inspiration to wright so many wonderful stories.Laurence Harvey gives a good sensitive performance as the brother Willhelm who was more of the dreamer of the two and who almost gives up when he becomes ill during the latter part of the film only to get better when his invented characters come to him in dream form and urge him to get better and continue to wright,which he eventually does. Also in the film are three separate fairy tales my favourite being the first one The Dancing Princess which contains a lovely dance routine between Russ Tamblyn and Yvette Mimuex, Mr Tamblyn is full of charm and shows off his clever gymnastic skills in a story which is also humorous and has some clever special effects such as the invisible cloak.The Singing Bone starring Terry Thomas is also very humorous although the dragon doesn't look scary in the least,but then this was probably intentional as the story is made for children. The three stories are all very colourful and not overlong and would suit a young child's attention span.This is definitely a film that can be enjoyed by all ages,I've often heard that this film was so much better on the big screen,that i can well believe although i think the TCM version is good ma by not as good but it will do. I along with a lot of other people am wondering when they are going to release this on DVD,as i wouldn't mind a copy.
backseat-2
Of this film's three re-enacted fairy tales, I can recall the first segment's carriage ride and the third segment's dragon cave from when I was little kid, and I remember loving those parts. Over the decades, I have tried to figure out which movie had those sequences, but without success. Finally I happened across this video tape in the library, and my eyes probably popped out of my head! The librarian gave me a look that said, "Aren't you a little old for this movie?".Having watched it now, I am impressed by the extensive use of wonderful German locations, including Neuschwanstein Castle, Rothenburg, and so on. The stop motion animation is a bit cheesy, but in many ways is really very well choreographed...live actors move convincingly around the animated characters. I also wonder what technique was used for the magic cloak of invisibility in the first segment, it looks pretty good.It seems that only the pan-and-scan version is available on video at this time, and the version I saw had a noticeable pair of vertical lines on either side of the image; I had not realized that the original film was in Cinerama with it's three screen projection - I suppose that those lines are the places where the outer two images merge with the center image. I wonder if they were as visible when viewed on the big screen? Still, there are many good things about this movie, and if one were to edit out just the fairy tale segments to another video, it would be worthwhile for kids.
preppy-3
Fictionalized (?) account of the brothers Grimm (Laurence Harvey and Karl Boehm)--their lives and loves. Three of their fairy tales are dramatized."The Dancing Princess" stars Russ Tamblyn, Jim Backus and Yvette Mimieux. It's cute but there's a dance sequence that goes on much too long. However there is a long coach ride which makes full use of the three screens in Cinerama and provides some fantastic scenery (even on TV)."The Cobbler and the Elves" stars Harvey and includes a little Puppetoon (stop motion animation) sequence. It's OK for the kids."The Singing Bone" has Terry-Thomas and Buddy Hackett fighting a very bad stop-motion animation dragon. As with the first two, it will appeal to kids.This film must be seen in the Cinerama format--that was a short-lived process in which three screens were used to project a full picture along with three projectors running. The triple screens are used effectively all throughout the film--I can't imagine this working in a pan & scan format. Luckily, Turner Classic Movies always shows it in that format.It's perfect family entertainment except for a few minor quibbles--at 129 minutes it's a bit too long; there are too many (bad) songs; the dances could be cut and the stop-motion animation is stunningly bad.Still, it's beautiful to look at, the cast is very good (except for Boehm) and the whole picture has a playful quality about it. Also I've never seen Laurence Harvey so animated and full of life!Worth catching--in wide screen only.
AD
