One of the great fantasy film’s by George Pal isThe Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm .The picture is a 1962 fantasy film directed by Henry Levin and George Pal with an amazing cast that includes Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Barbara Eden Yvette Mimieux, Russ Tamblyn and Jim Backus, just to name a few. It was filmed in the Cinerama process which comes to great use on this release!
The story’s main crux is on the Grimm brothers, Wilhelm (Laurence Harvey, The Manchurian Candidate, Romeo and Juliet) and Jacob (Karl Boehm, Peeping Tom). They are working to finish writing a family history for a local duke, but Wilhelm is far more interested in talking about and writing fairy tales. Jacob, however is devoted to his work, and does not notice when a beautiful tourist, Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jeannie) shows interest in him. Wilheim and his devotion to his fantasy world nearly spell doom for the brothers.
During the film, Wilhelm loses the manuscript of the duke’s family history while writing down his third story. Wilhelm is supposed to be getting additional information for the duke and unfortunately the brothers cannot meet their deadline as the manuscript was lost. While trying to retrieve the manuscript, Wilhelm gets sick with pneumonia. Ultimately his brother Jacob comes around and begins to work with him on writing fairy tales. Brotherly love at its finest!
There are three stories in this film which are “The Dancing Princess”, “The Cobbler and the Elves”, and “The Singing Bone”
The Dancing Princess stars Russ Tamblyn (War of the Gargantuas) as a woodsman in this tale. He is trying to win the heart of a royal princess (Yvette Mimieux, The Time Machine) in a lush forest where song and dance numbers take place. Jim Backus of Gilligans Island fame is The King in this tale. Russ also reprises his role in Tom Thumb during a dream sequence
The Cobbler and the Elves has George Pal’s “Puppetoon” creations who manufacture various shoes. Legendary voice actor Mel Blanc has a part in this story.
The Singing Bone is told by an old woman and includes a cool dragon. This one is my favorite, due to the dragon as I am a big fan of monster movies! Legendary actors Buddy Hackett and Otto Kruger star in this tale.
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is an exceptionally good film with great stories and fairy tales. The cast does a fine job in the acting department, with beautiful cinematography by Paul Vogel and superb music by Leigh Harline and Bob Merrill.
The splendid film gets an equally splendid Blu-ray release from Warner Archive! Their Blu-ray for The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is quite possibly their best work yet. Their press release for the film was a 1080p Blu-ray presentation that has been restored in 4K. Both the letterbox and Smilebox presentations look phenomenal. The image quality is a marvel to look at, with rich colors with immaculate details to scenery, the costumes that the actors wear, and the beautiful blue skies above. Black levels are sharp. Flesh tones look spot on perfect. No DNR or other digital manipulation has been applied. I cannot say enough positive things about this release! This looks almost as good and, in some cases, better than some films that are on UHD. It just comes down to if you prefer the letterbox or Smilebox version for your viewing. Either way, you will be delighted at beautiful the image quality of the film is.
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is also superb with rich, clear dialogue and original scores and songs by Leigh Harline and Bob Merrill coming in as dynamic as it gets. The clarity in the audio is just perfect as both the dialogue and music blended perfectly together without any issues while listening. No hissing, popping or other issues were detected. English subtitles are available for this release.
Warner’s Blu-ray of The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is loaded with extras. First, this is a two-disc set that’s housed in a dual-hubbed keepcase (two separate hubs for the discs, basically) with sleeve excellent sleeve art and a nice eight-page booklet. I think this is a first for them.
On disc one we are treated to an Announcement Trailer, which is an original Cinerama theaters announcement trailer for the film, which has been restored.
There is a theatrical trailer, also restored.
Radio Interviews – this is a pair of promotional pieces from 1962 with reporter Dick Allen interviewing two stars of the film, Russ Tamblyn and Vyette Mimieaux. The audio clips are paired with behind-the-scenes stills.
In the feature, The Epic Art of the Brothers Grimm, Justin Humphreys, curator of the George Pal estate, displays original paintings and publicity art from the film by artists Reynold Brown and Joe Smith.
The Wonderful Career of George Pal also has Justin Humphreys pays tribute to the famous animator, film director and producer.
Disc two has more features to enjoy!
We get the Cinerama Announcement Trailer that is presented in Smilebox format this time. There is the theatrical trailer also in the same Smilebox format.
Rescuing a Fantasy Classic. This is a featurette about the restoration of The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, that stars Harrison Engle who give a tour de force on how the restoration process went for both the letterboxed and Smilebox versions of the film
Location Commemorative Plaque is short feature about a location plaque erected in Rothenberg, Germany to commemorate some outdoor scenes shot there. It’s less than a minute long!
A Salute to William Forman is another short feature about William R. Foreman, the founder/chairman of Pacific Theaters and former Chief Executive of Cinerama, Inc.
There is a slideshow and a Song Selection option which is on both discs, which gives viewers access to fourteen musical numbers.
One of the great fantasy films gets a truly fantastic release from Warner Archive, with spectacular and flawless audio and video to go with hours of supplements. Highly recommended!
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
Directors- Henry Levin and George Pal
Cast- Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Russ Tamblyn
Country of Origin- United States
Distributor – Warner Archive/Warner Home Video
Number of Discs – 2
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –4/7/2022