The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm (1962)

The story of the Grimm Brothers, Wilhelm (Laurence Harvey) and Jacob (Karlheinz Bohm), and their struggle to survive writing books no one wants to read. Jacob is the practical one and Wilhelm is the dreamer who collects fairy tales which are his true passion. Produced by George Pal (THE TIME MACHINE) and directed by Henry Levin (JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH). Filmed in the Cinerama process, this was the first movie to be released in that format that had a storyline. A second one HOW THE WEST WAS WON would follow before Cinerama was abandoned. Some movies (like 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY) would use the Cinerama name but it wasn't actually filmed in the process. Previous Cinerama films were either travelogues or documentaries. Oscar nominated for its cinematography, the film is beautifully shot by Paul C. Vogel (HIGH SOCIETY) utilizing Bavarian locations and Mary Wills won the Oscar for her costumes. As to the movie itself, it's highly fictionalized and the tired screenplay gives us the usual struggling writer cliches rather than anything insightful. Where the films comes alive are in the three fairy tale sequences which are charming and fun: The Dancing Princess with Yvette Mimieux and Russ Tamblyn, The Cobbler And The Elves with Laurence Harvey and The Singing Bone with Buddy Hackett and Terry Thomas. With Claire Bloom (wasted), Barbara Eden, Walter Slezak, Oscar Homolka, Beulah Bondi, Jim Backus, Martita Hunt, Betty Garde and Walter Rilla.