Powerful

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Throughout the 30s, the 40s and indeed well into the 50s, M-G-M was the principal mainstay of Saturday nights at the pictures with a ready supply of historical melodramas and spectacles, escapist musicals, friendly knockabout comedies (not too rough or downmarket) and above all high-grade soap operas that no other studio could match.By the early 1960s, M-G-M had lost a great deal of its exhibitor support. No longer was the lion an instant guarantee of entertainment quality, but even the entertainment value of such films as Night of the Quarter Moon, The King's Thief, The Rack, Gaby, I Accuse, The Living Idol, The Seventh Sin, Underwater Warrior, Count Your Blessings, The Beat Generation, Key Witness and All the Fine Young Cannibals was decidedly tatty. The studio did not help relations with its once lapdog exhibitor friends by its brief flirtation with Cinerama. Here was a three- screen, three-projectors, three 35mm films process that could only be shown in theatres expensively re-equipped. So what was the film like? Rather dull actually. All the framing story directed by Henry Levin was a real bore, save for some wonderfully picturesque scenic shots of castles in Bavaria. George Pal's fairy- tale material was certainly more lively, with the process' potential entertainingly explored in a runaway coach sequence. All the same it was hard to enjoy the film because of Cinerama's many technical shortcomings. The three screens were often imperfectly joined, the dividing seams were always visible, and the luminosity of each screen sometimes varied considerably, accentuating a flickering effect that was almost always present, though at times less noticeable than others.But the biggest drawback was that the screen was simply too big to accommodate actors. Scenery, yes, special effects, maybe; but human beings, especially grossly dull humans like Laurence Harvey and Karl Boehm and Claire Bloom — whose deadly lack of charisma seemed inordinately magnified — definitely not. The support players came out of it best, but even the best of them — with the notable exception of Russ Tamblyn — seemed dwarfed and over-awed.

The Grimm brothers, Wilhelm (Laurence Harvey) and Jacob (Karlheinz Böhm), are working on the local Duke (Oscar Homolka)'s history. Wilhelm is more interested in collecting fairy tales from the locals but Jacob is more concerned about the Duke's work. Greta Heinrich (Barbara Eden) is a fan of their writing. The movie does show "The Dancing Princess", "The Cobbler and the Elves" and "The Singing Bone" as the stories are told by characters in the movie.The 3-camera Cinerama looks beautiful and I can only imagine the visuals coming from all sides. I remember watching one of the travelogs in my childhood. The story itself is rather boring. Nothing is particularly memorable except for Buddy Hackett and Terry-Thomas. At least, they are funny. The leads don't stand out especially with the way the movie is shot. It's not the best use of the format. When the movie uses the format effectively, it looks marvelous. The story itself also lacks drama. They are probably better off making a shorter movie with one of the Grimm's tale and try to maximize the visual aspects. It is a cinematic oddity and worthwhile to see.

I saw this on TCM last week usually its shown at a really awkward time for me such as 11am in the morning when I'm at work,the only chance i had of catching it was to view it at 5am on a Sunday which was my only chance,i wasn't disappointed. The story is about the early days of The Brothers Grimm and how they got inspiration to wright so many wonderful stories.Laurence Harvey gives a good sensitive performance as the brother Willhelm who was more of the dreamer of the two and who almost gives up when he becomes ill during the latter part of the film only to get better when his invented characters come to him in dream form and urge him to get better and continue to wright,which he eventually does. Also in the film are three separate fairy tales my favourite being the first one The Dancing Princess which contains a lovely dance routine between Russ Tamblyn and Yvette Mimuex, Mr Tamblyn is full of charm and shows off his clever gymnastic skills in a story which is also humorous and has some clever special effects such as the invisible cloak.The Singing Bone starring Terry Thomas is also very humorous although the dragon doesn't look scary in the least,but then this was probably intentional as the story is made for children. The three stories are all very colourful and not overlong and would suit a young child's attention span.This is definitely a film that can be enjoyed by all ages,I've often heard that this film was so much better on the big screen,that i can well believe although i think the TCM version is good ma by not as good but it will do. I along with a lot of other people am wondering when they are going to release this on DVD,as i wouldn't mind a copy.

My parents took me to see this movie when it first came out. I was 12. My girlfriend went with our family and she was Mennonite. She didn't have a TV and never went to movies. But her family let her go with us. We were mesmerized by the fantastic stories and the music was excellent. It was action packed and it used a new process called Cinerama, so it felt like you were really there. It stands out in my mind as a wonderful memory. I am now a Grandma and want my 6 year old Granddaughter to see it. I can't imagine the new one being this good. Even though I love Terry Gilliam, it sounds like he has changed the core story and added the latest cutting edge special effects. There is something to be said for 'less is more.'