I recently heard an old podcast Stuff You Should Know titled How Grimm’s Fairy Tales Work. I was treated to the origins of the Brothers Grimm’s true stories. The Brothers Grimm stories have been around for such a long time that they have embedded themselves in Hollywood and pop culture more than ever since it was first published. Walt Disney sanitized most of the stories to stockpile their fortunes. The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is a 1962 fantasy film directed by Henry Levin and George Pal. The film was one of the highest-grossing films of 1962. It won one Oscar and was nominated for three additional Academy Awards. Several prominent actors—including Laurence Harvey, Karlheinz Böhm, Jim Backus, Barbara Eden, and Buddy Hackett—are in the film. The movie was originally distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cinerama Releasing Corporation.
The classic film The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm will debut as a Two-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray on March 29 from the Warner Archive Collection.
The story behind the brothers who created beloved fairy tales come to life, with reenactments of three of their stories.
The film tells the story of the brothers’ long struggle for recognition and the sacrifices they and their families made to achieve their goals.
Between dreamer Wilhelm (Laurence Harvey) and practical Jacob (Karl Boehm), some marvelous fairy tales develop.
In “The Dancing Princess,” a princess (Yvette Mimieux) falls in love with a charming woodsman (Russ Tamblyn). In “The Cobbler and the Elves,” a Christmas miracle of dedicated labor helps the cobbler out when he most needs it. And in the last story, a fire-breathing dragon threatens the kingdom until a lowly servant (Buddy Hackett) saves the day.
Shot on location in West Germany, the innovative production features Puppetoons, a technique developed by Oscar-winning special effects expert George Pal. Meticulously restored from its original Cinerama negatives, this fanciful delight is a treat for audiences of all ages…..and this Deluxe Two-Disc Edition gives the viewer the opportunity to watch the film either in a traditional letterbox format or in the Smilebox format which attempts to re-create the immersive Cinerama experience with a simulated curve to the screen. Both versions bring together the three original Cinerama panels with virtually no trace of the lines that joined them together when originally projected in theaters back in 1962.
SPECIAL FEATURES: New featurettes RESCUING A FANTASY CLASSIC (HD); THE EPIC ART OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM (HD); THE WONDERFUL CAREER OF GEORGE PAL (HD), and more, plus multiple trailers and audio pieces