The image is stretched across the screen with arcing mattes try to imagine a bowtie-shaped image, full-screen at the sides but slightly squished in the middle. One disc presents the movie in “Smilebox” format, which feels strange for about the first two minutes until the eyes adjust. Unfortunately, as the somewhat-uncommon format died out in the late ‘60s, many of its films fell into disrepair-or were reissued in smaller formats which lost the grand scale of their original Cinerama release.Ī suitable compromise was found here for Brothers Grimm, which has been shown in less-than-stellar formats over the decades since its Cinerama debut. It’s a view similar to that of the human eye, and is remarkably immersive. Some of these specialized theaters featured screens that were more than 100 feet wide, and which curved roughly 146 degrees around the audience. The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm was the first non-documentary feature film released in the Cinerama format, which required three synchronized images to be projected at once to produce an ultra-wide, curved presentation. Special effects are particularly on display here, with a stop-motion dragon integrated in with the live-action actors in a manner that holds up surprisingly well, even today. The most impressive segment of the trio is “The Singing Bone,” which feature Buddy Hackett as the dim-witted squire to the traitorous Sir Ludwig (Terry-Thomas). The stars of the Christmas-themed “The Cobbler and the Elves” aren’t big-name actors, but a cadre of George Pal’s trademark “Puppetoon” creations who manufacture an assortment of shoes to music. This segment also features an exciting chase scene, as Tamblyn scrambles to keep up with a speeding, horse-drawn buggy in the mountain roads of Bohemia, and supporting appearances from Jim Backus and Beulah Bondi. Russ Tamblyn stars as the resourceful woodsman in “The Dancing Princess,” winning the heart of the titular royal (Yvette Mimieux) in a gorgeous, forest-set dance number that takes full advantage of the movie’s three-panel Cinerama format. The film truly comes to life each time Wilhelm recounts (or overhears) one of the famous tales that would become part of the brothers’ canon. There’s not much to this framework for The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, but that’s by design. When Wilhelm’s fairy tale obsession puts their livelihood at risk, the brothers’ partnership is nearly torn apart. Meanwhile, Wilhelm finds himself often distracted by the folktales spun by local spinsters and shopkeepers, handing over his pittance salary to their tellers for the right to record them for posterity-money that he barely has to support his wife and children. Jacob is devoted to his work, unable to even notice when a beautiful tourist (Barbara Eden) takes an interest in him. Wilhelm (Laurence Harvey) and Jacob (Karl Boehm) Grimm work together, paycheck to paycheck, churning out technical tomes on German grammar and commissioned histories for the local duke. This 1962 feature directed by Henry Levin and George Pal-the science fiction legend of War of the Worldsfame and more-imagines the beginnings of their early careers as gatherers of fairy tales, and punctuates that story with fantastical, special effects-packed versions of three of their famous fables. The Brothers Grimm earned their place in literary history for their work preserving European folklore in the early Nineteenth century.
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