THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM: Blu-ray (MGM/Cinerama Corp. 1962) Warner Archive
Directors Henry Levin and George
Pal’s The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962) has, for some
time, become the Holy Grail of all Cinerama productions – a monumental
undertaking with an all-star cast, raking in a cool $8,920,615 against its $6.2
million budget, it was one of the highest-grossing pictures of that year,
nominated for multiple Oscars, for which it took home but a single statuette
for Mary Wills’ costumes. Like many movies to linger in the mind’s eye and
memory, but otherwise remain conspicuously absent from public view on home
video, despite its immediate popularity with audiences, the remembrance of
seeing The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm projected in the
expansive 3-panel Cinerama process – fit, mostly for travelogues – is greater
than the picture itself, its MIA rank on home video only helping to propel it as
a forgotten classic. While the picture is star-studded and occasionally reveals
some breath-taking cinematography a la Paul Vogel, marking the beginning of the
end of his emeritus years in the picture-making biz, viewed today, the show
leaves much to be desired. The screenplay, cobbled together by Charles Beaumont,
William Roberts and David P. Harmon, is a hodge-podge of fantasy fiction.
Laurence ‘I have too much starch in my britches’ Harvey and Karl Boehm
headline as the brothers Grimm; Wilhelm and Jacob respectively, with Harvey
also doing double duty as ‘the cobbler’ during one of the many fantastic
vignettes, The Cobbler and the Elves. One of the difficulties with The
Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is that it was made at MGM during a
period of financial entrenchment. The Brothers Grimm ought to
have been a titanic, globe-trotting adventure yarn set entirely in Europe to
capitalize on authentic locations. Instead, it is stitched together from actual
location work and stage-bound sets that look every bit as fake without actually
embracing the artifice of the story to add something surreal and beautiful to
it.
In the mid-1950s, Hungarian-born
director/producer, George Pal departed Paramount Studios, his home base of
operations for several years to form his own company – Galaxy Pictures. It was
yet another step for Pal, who had patented an animation technique, the
Puppetoons in the mid-1930’s, made the successful segue into advertising in
Europe, then crossed the Atlantic to escape the Nazi threat and set up a base
of production alongside his friend and fellow animator, Walter Lantz (of Woody
Woodpecker fame), who also helped Pal attain his American citizenship. The
Puppetoons earned Pal an honorary Oscar. Pal then did the unthinkable, diving into
live-action picture-making with The Great Rupert (1950). Yet, his heart
remained with the more fantastic possibilities of his craft, responsible for such
memorable special effects in fare like The War of the Worlds (1953), Tom
Thumb (1958, and which he also directed), and, The Time Machine
(1960). The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is based on a
screenplay by David Harmon, acquired by Pal in 1956, itself an adaptation of the
brothers’ bio by Dr. Hermann Gerstner. After the resounding success of Tom
Thumb, Pal made it known around town he was planning The Brothers
Grimm as his follow-up. Alas, it remains unclear what happened next.
But Pal instead agreed to make The Time Machine for MGM. However, as
production advanced on The Time Machine, Pal diligently kept ‘Grimm’
alive by planting stories in Variety. One suggested Russ Tamblyn, who had
played Tom Thumb, would reprise his role in ‘Grimm’. Another heralded
the signing of Yvette Mimieux for The Dancing Princess sequence. By 1959,
it was also rumored Pal had struck a deal with Bing Crosby to appear in the
picture, with Stan Freberg assigned to add ‘special material’. Gossip
columnist, Hedda Hopper put in her own two cents’ worth, reporting a change of
venue – the picture to be made in America, rather than Europe. But then, as The
Time Machine was winding down, Pal put his plans for ‘Grimm’
on hold to make Atlantis, the Lost Continent (1961).
Industry insiders began to grumble,
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm now appeared to be Pal’s folly
– a pie-in-the-sky that would forever remain in perpetual turn-around. But
then, Pal announced in the trades he was, in fact, committing to Grimm
as his next picture. And this time, he meant it. From the outset, Pal aspired
to assemble a dream cast, but was vetoed in his pursuit of Brits, Peter Sellers
and Alec Guinness to costar as the brothers. Instead, MGM reported Edmund
Hartmann was putting the finishing touches on his script, and, Alan Young would
be joining the production. By the end of 1961, it was revealed Laurence Harvey
and Karlheinz Böhm had won the coveted leads with Yvette Mimieux cast as Jacob
Grimm’s wife, Greta Heinrich (a role eventually to go to Barbara ‘I Dream
of Jeannie’ Eden). Ironically, the biggest ‘marketing plot’ for the
picture was Cinerama, until 1961, relegated to travelogue features that, by
1959, had begun to lose their steam at the box office. The cumbersome 3-camera/3-projector
setup of Cinerama had many failings, not the least of which it made close-ups virtually
impossible, and, on the flipside, created much ‘dead space’ within the
ultra-elongated film frame, requiring ample scenery to mask its static nature.
In a last-ditch effort to shore up its sagging bottom line, MGM – once perceived
in Hollywood as the king of features – had inked a deal with the Cinerama Corporation
to make 4 movies in this expansive widescreen process, each driven by
conventional storytelling. Simultaneously in the hopper, How the West Was
Won (1962), a sprawling saga, adding melodrama to the plight of early pioneer
days, and, directed by three of Hollywood’s stalwart talents: Henry Hathaway, John
Ford and George Marshall. In the final analysis, only ‘West’ and ‘Grimm’
would be made in 3-camera Cinerama, with MGM and United Artists later marketing
a single-strip derivation - Ultra-Panavision - as Cinerama for the release of
1963’s It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, 1966’s Grand Prix and
1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. From this inauspicious beginning, Pal departed
for Munich, eager to create a magical masterpiece with then state-of-the-art
special effects. In July (one month after ‘West’ began to shoot),
Pal broke ground on ‘Grimm’ in Bavaria, at Rothenberg and
Dinkelsbuel, subbing in for the actual Grimm brother’s native home in Kassel.
This had been bombed out during WWII. By September, Pal was back in Hollywood,
with Henry Levin assuming the director’s reigns for the plot-driven portions of
the picture, while Pal continued to augment the fairytale sequences.
Our story is centered on the life
and times of the Grimm brothers, Wilhelm and Jacob who, at present, are toiling
to complete a history for a local Duke (Oscar Homolka). Wilhelm,
however, is quite distracted by his passion project – gathering fairytales into
a definitive written text. These include, The Dancing Princess (brought
vividly to life by Yvette Mimieux’s princess, Russ Tamblyn, as the woodsman,
Jim Backus as the king, Beulah Bondi as the gypsy and Clinton Sunberg as the
Prime Minister) and The Cobbler and the Elves (to costar Walter Brooke
as the Mayor, Sandra Bettin as the ballerina, and Robert Foulk as the hunter).
This latter story is relayed to 3 precocious children in a bookshop to test the
target audience for their splendid interest. Later, The Singing Bone
(featuring Terry-Thomas as Ludwig, Buddy Hackett as Hans, Otto Kruger - the
King, Robert Crawford Jr. - the shepherd and Sydney Smith – the spokesman) is
overheard by Wilhelm who secretly eavesdrops from an open window. The
Singing Bone is also noteworthy for its jeweled dragon sequence, by far the
most elaborate use of special effects in the entire movie. For the rest, we are
given glimpses into the Grimm’s more time-honored fairytale folk like Arnold
Stang’s Rumpelstiltskin, Pamela Baird’s Cinderella, Billy Barty’s Court Jester,
Diana Driscoll as Gretel to Stanley Fafara’s Hansel, True Ellison’s Snow White,
Ruthie Robinson’s Little Red Riding Hood, and Peter Whitney’s giant.
Tragedy strikes when Wilhelm mislays
the Duke’s family history while writing down his third fairytale, resulting in
a missed deadline. As the rent, waived while the brothers were employed by the
Duke, must now be paid, Wilhelm wades through a frigid stream upon discovering
the Duke’s manuscript having fallen from his broken briefcase. Alas, exposure
to the elements results in a bout of potentially fatal pneumonia. As Wilhelm feverishly
fades in and out of consciousness he hallucinates impassioned pleas for his
survival, made by his cavalcade of fairytale friends who have remained more
real and ever-present to him than life itself. Russ Tamblyn, reprising his role
as Tom Thumb from the ’58 movie, is the last to convince Wilhelm he cannot die.
Wilhelm’s fever breaks. He recovers and together with Jacob, embarks upon a
lucrative career publishing legitimate books on German grammar, myths and
legends, and the law. Stirred by his brother's passion, Jacob endeavors to
collaborate on a book of fairy tales to honor his brother’s legacy. The brothers
receive an honorary membership into the Berlin Royal Academy, but snub Wilhelm
by making no mention of the fairytales. Insulted, Jacob prepares to deliver a
speech that will call out the members of the academy for their shortsightedness.
However, as the train pulls into the station, the brothers are besieged by a
large gathering of children, demanding to hear another fable. In reply, Wilhelm
beings, “Once upon a time there were two brothers…” as the scene dissolves
into a title card, reading “…and they lived happily ever after!”
The Wonderful
World of the Brothers Grimm is a fairly leaden pseudo-biographical re-working of
the Grimm’s real-life story. Caught somewhere between Pal’s verve for a fantastical
adventure and a legit biopic about Wilhelm and Jacob, The Wonderful World of
the Brothers Grimm toggles between a cabinet of curiosities and an unevenly
unfurled story about brotherly love, explored through crisis, yet immortalized
via their penultimate success in reaching the hearts and minds of the younger
generation. There are moments of tenderness scattered throughout this highly
fictionalized tale. But the movie remains unbalanced by two criteria: first,
Pal’s custodianship and telescopically focused desire to create a more lavishly
escapist fantasy feature, merely to exploit the Grimm’s lives as connective
tissue set between the vignetted fairytales, and second, by the studio’s
decision to shoot this modest spectacle under the stringencies of Cinerama. To
be certain, there are a handful of visually arresting compositions spread
throughout the picture’s 140-min. runtime – just not enough to completely envelope
the ultra-expansive and slightly curved proscenium, underpopulated by players,
spread too thin across its girth.
If only MGM had permitted Pal to
shoot the entire movie abroad in actual European locations to augment its
visual style. Alas, the awkward assembly of stock, second-unit and backlot
facades makes for some jarring transitions. Time-honored free-standing sets on the Metro
backlot, like MGM’s Dutch Street, looking slightly careworn and neglected, then,
give way to actual shots of Tyrolean hillsides and mountain landscapes,
obviously far removed from these cardboard and plywood backings. It’s the ole
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gloss that is absent here, and, occasionally, looking very
much like second-hand stuffing in 3-camera Cinerama. Evidently, the mostly
adult audience in attendance of this child-driven spectacle were delighted by
what they saw, proving the gimmick of Cinerama could still guaranteed a sizable
audience. The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm was the 13th
highest-grossing picture of the year and was Oscar-nominated for Best Art Direction/Set
Decoration, Cinematography, and, Music/Scoring. A word here about the score,
written by the great Leigh Harline whose contributions cannot be overstated. If
nothing else, Harline, together with Ned Washington, wrote one of cinema’s most
iconic and Oscar-winning pop tunes, ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’ for Walt
Disney’s Pinocchio (1940). After The Wonderful World of the Brothers
Grimm, Harline would be hired by Pal again to write the score for 7 Faces of Dr.
Lao (1964), Pal’s third to last movie.
For decades, it was rumored The
Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm would likely become a ‘lost’ film,
owing to extensive age-related damage. Mercifully, this has proven not to be
the case. While some of the original 3-panel Cinerama camera negatives have
sustained average wear and tear and suffered additional color fading, original
Technicolor separation prints exist for the entire movie. Striking new Technicolor
separations from 3-color separation reels for each of these 3 panels has proven
a costly, though not impossible endeavor. It has taken roughly 30-years and a
rumored $1-2 million, but the wait is over, and arguably, the cost worth it.
Because the Brothers Grimm in 1080p have never looked more
lovely. David Strohmaier and Tom March, responsible for bringing virtually all
of the Cinerama travelogue catalog to home video under the Flicker Alley label
have conspired with the Warner Archive on a Herculean effort, spending time and
money to eradicate, fix or otherwise resurrect this image anew. But they have
also assumed a responsibility to remaster and cure the image of its dated technical
problems, especially present during the animated sequence. WAC’s new to Blu is
a quality affair from start to finish and presented for our enjoyment twice –
once, in the appropriate 2.89:1 flat letterboxed ultra-widescreen format; then
again, in Strohmaier’s patented ‘Smilebox’ edition, approximating the curvature
of a Cinerama theatrical presentation. A note here: nothing can ‘recreate’ the
actual experience of seeing vintage Cinerama projected on a curved screen in a
theater built expressly for this format’s uber-massive and ultra-immersive
widescreen process. But WAC’s presentation here is, arguably, better still – primed
from 2K scans of all 3 panels – resulting in a 6K combined image, downrezzed to
4K, and finally, output for this Blu-ray to 1080p. Not sure how the miracle has
been achieved, but panel breaks are gone, creating one seamless, extra-large expanse
from corner to corner, with bright, sharp and pristine quality, surely to
impress. In addition, the newly created 5.1 DTS audio is a minor revelation.
Cinerama productions were well-known for their formidable stereophonic sound
and this remastered effort is no exception.
It sounds wonderful! Best of all – 3 featurettes: we get a nearly 40-min.
documentary from Harrison Engle who analyzes the complex task of bringing The
Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm back from the brink and giving it a
new life on home video. A comprehensively made and fascinating backstage pass
to the restoration process, plus, ‘The Epic Art of the Brothers Grimm
and The Wonderful Career of George Pal – two reflections on the
art and man behind it all. All three are presented in hi-def, along with multiple
trailers and audio promos. Bottom line: while I continue to regard The
Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm as an uneven and not terribly
prepossessing fantasy flick, this Blu-ray presentation made me marvel at how far
film preservation/restoration has advanced since the early days of Blu-ray. WAC,
employing its own MPI mastering facilities, and, always at the forefront of
achieving optimal quality on home video, and their collaborators herein, get very
high marks for this hi-def release. Very, very, high marks. And very highly
recommended!
FILM RATING (out
of 5 – 5 being the best)
3.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
5+
EXTRAS
5
Comments