This review concerns a movie that I consider to be one of the finest family films of all time, THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM from 1962. I first saw this when I was on a German ocean liner on my only trip to Europe in what must have been a high quality 70mm print not the 3 camera Cinerama version. All I remember is that it was bigger than life and I was totally enchanted by it. I was still enough of a child at 12 to appreciate the special effects and the juvenile approach to certain elements of the script that keep this movie from getting a top rating today. Nevertheless it is a classic example of the type of wholesome entertainment (and I mean that as a compliment) that Hollywood used to turn out. The kind that bring out the child in all of us.
MGM spent big bucks on this movie, filming it in Cinerama and mixing studio scenes with some wonderful location shooting in Bavaria and the historic town of Rothenburg. The cast was a mix of international actors (Laurence Harvey and Oscar Homolka are wonderful) and MGM contract players. The director was the workmanlike Henry Levin who does a solid but not spectacular job. However the producer, the legendary George Pal, directed the fairy tale sequences of which there are three with quite a bit of flair. One of them, THE COBBLER AND THE ELVES, even features Pal’s famous Puppetoons. Most people remember THE SINGING BONE with Terry-Thomas, Buddy Hackett, and a most amusing dragon. THE DANCING PRINCESS gives Russ Tamblyn the opportunity to show off his athletic dancing prowess.
Much has been made in other reviews about the fact that this isn’t available on DVD. Stories abound that the original negative has been severely damaged and that it’s impossible to restore. That may be, but the widescreen version currently showing on Turner Classic Movies would look just fine and would be an improvement over the existing VHS whose aspect ratio is very bad. There are still a ton of titles that have yet to make it to home video and many that never will. THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM shouldn’t be one of them…….Oh yes, please don’t confuse it with the later Terry Gilliam film, THE BROTHERS GRIMM, that features Matt Damon and Heath Ledger.
UPDATE 2022 – Warner Brothers has finally issued WONDERFUL WORLD on Blu-Ray. It has been fully restored and comes in two versions. One is traditional widescreen while the other is the Cinerama version which is shown with Smilebox technology that reproduces the look of Cinerama with wide edges and smaller center. The Special Feature on the restoration of the movie explains why it was unavailable for so long.
The Capsule Critic 