Once Upon a Brothers Grimm

November. 23,1977      NR
Rating:
7.5
Trailer Synopsis Cast

While traveling to meet with the Hessian King, the famed Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, travel through an enchanted forest where they find themselves trapped in the world of their fairy tales.

Dean Jones as  Jacob Grimm
Paul Sand as  Wilhelm Grimm
Ruth Buzzi as  Queen Astrid
Teri Garr as  Frog Princess
Arte Johnson as  Selfish and Mean
Cleavon Little as  Wolf
Clive Revill as  Rumplestiltskin
Chita Rivera as  Gingerbread Lady
Sorrell Booke as  King of Hesse
Corinne Conley as  Fairy Godmother

Similar titles

Thumbelina
Starz
Thumbelina
Born of a flower and growing to only a couple of inches tall, poor Thumbelina is worried she'll never meet someone her own size, until she happens to catch the eye of Prince Cornelius of the Fairies. Just as soon as she finds love, however, it's torn away from her when she is kidnapped by Ms. Toad. Now Thumbelina has to escape Ms. Toad's grasp and search for Prince Cornelius. Luckily, there's a whole city of animals willing to help her.
Thumbelina 1994
The Juniper Tree
The Juniper Tree
Margit and her older sister Katla flee for safety after their mother is burned to death for witchcraft. Finding shelter with Johan and his resentful young son, Jonas, the sisters help form an impromptu family unit that’s soon strained by Katla’s burgeoning sorcery.
The Juniper Tree 1990
The Story of King Midas
The Story of King Midas
A greedy King Midas is visited one day by a mysterious visitor who grants him the ability to turn all things he touches to gold. He learns his lesson when the food he tries to eat and his own daughter are turned to gold as well. The visitor reappears and offers him the opportunity to return to his old self, which he gladly does.
The Story of King Midas 1953

Reviews

SnoReptilePlenty
1977/11/23

Memorable, crazy movie

... more
Odelecol
1977/11/24

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

... more
KnotStronger
1977/11/25

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

... more
Kien Navarro
1977/11/26

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

... more
johnstonjames
1977/11/27

once upon a time and long ago, many baby boomers like myself thrived off of programs like this because believe it or not fantasy was somewhat rare and there was a limited amount of channels to choose from and musicals were either defunct or inaccessible like the Broadway stage plays.to be honest, i never heard of this. actually a lot of my age group didn't really care about stuff like this. they saw 'OZ' and a few holiday cartoons, but they mostly followed rock music trends or sports and had little patience or interest in actors theater or musicals, especially ones aimed at families and little kids. i usually watched stuff like this or was aware of it. don't know, i guess i must have been out partying too that night because this one escaped me at the time.well i'm glad i found out about this now because i really enjoyed it and found this to be timeless retro television that provides wholesome, quality entertainment for families looking for a "G" rated alternative to morally bankrupt values of today's commercially charged studio market. it is good, clean, old fashioned entertainment without being too homogenate in conception. it also manages to avoid commercialism and display some genuine cultural pursuits without seeming too pretentious.after all, how can you be too pretentious when you have Disney 'Monkey Go Home' star Dean Jones and 'Can't Stop The Music' star Paul Sand. both who are very good here. especially Dean Jones who rarely had starring roles outside of Disney films.this was a truly magical production and made great use of videotape photography and studio stage settings. the choreography was outstanding and the original plot using the fairy tales was very clever although it had strange similarities to Terry Gilliam's 2005 surrealist fantasy and of course proceeded Sondheim's 'Into The Woods' by a decade.i was so glad i accidentally stumbled into these woods much like the Grimm bros. themselves. i'd never heard of this. and i'd thought i was familiar with everything like this from my boomer past. guess ya learn something new every day. even about old things.

... more
awalter1
1977/11/28

I'm guessing I saw this 1977 TV movie one time when it was first aired on CBS. Which puts me at age 6 or so. "Once Upon a Brothers Grimm" made a huge impression on me, though I didn't see it again for another 25 years. What stuck most in my memory was the very strong premise: the famous Grimm brothers are on a long journey when their carriage halts outside an enchanted wood, through which their driver refuses to travel at night. They carry on without the driver, become separated in the woods, and stumble through a number of famous fairy tales. (Remember that this came a full decade before Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods.") And the sequence that stayed most vivid in my memory over the years involved the 12 dancing princesses and the swan princes. It was certainly one of the sparks that gave me a lifelong interest in fairy tales.Looking at it now, 30+ years since it was made, the film carries a lot of late 70's baggage. It has a number of those peculiar stars of the era recognizable--to kids who grew up then--by their appearances on the Muppet Show or their voice work in the Smurfs. And, yes, there's a faint haze of Hollywood Squares about the production. However, look past that, and there is something worth preserving. As the leads, Dean Jones and Paul Sand are a great duo. Jones, as always, sells his scenes 100 percent, and Sand matches that with true gusto. Probably the most noteworthy appearance of a supporting actor is that of Teri Garr, as a princess seeking a princely frog. To contemporary eyes, the film goes a bit off the rails a few times, but never more so than during Chita Rivera's surreal solo. But, in fact, most of the musical and dance numbers are surprisingly well conceived and executed. For kids 8 years old and under--assuming they haven't been ruined by the production standards of modern TV and film--this should remain a unique treat.

... more
alkalineali
1977/11/29

I used to watch this all the time on Disney...old Disney. I remember kind of scaring me as a kid, but i really, really liked it. The characters were all so amusing. I wish they would play stuff like this all the time; for example, rodger's and hammerstein's cinderella, alice in wonderland and rosebud. Oh! and how can I forget Avonlea? I get excited just about thinking of those old movies and such. I wish Disney wouldn't show the crappy shows they have on there now, i hate them. Whatever happened to paying for it? It was much better when you had to--back in 1990. haha. I'd give anything for them to play all the old shows or make like an "disney at night" program specifically for them. that would be fantastic.

... more
wewdie
1977/11/30

I saw this film a while ago, and it still holds strong in my memory as a very good movie. While it is obvious that this film is meant for children, there is no reason that adults (children of all ages) cannot enjoy this film. There are several silly and cheesy moments, from the costumes to the dialogue (i.e. really really bad jokes), even to the acting. However, in this case the good outweighs the bad. One of the most remarkable thing about this film is that most, if not all, of the fairy tales mentioned are set in some way to music and/or dance. To see these fairy tales come to life in this way is remarkable. I would definitely recommend this film to every child I know...and even to a few adults.

... more