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WARNER

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Henry Levin, George Pal
Cast:
Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Barbara Eden
Writing Credits:
David P. Harmon, Charles Beaumont, William Roberts

Synopsis:
The story of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm as well as some of their stories.

MPAA:
Rated NR.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 2.89:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles:
English
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 140 min.
Price: $24.99
Release Date: 3/29/2022

Bonus:
• Both Letterbox and Smilebox Versions
• 2 Radio Interviews
• “Epic Art” Featurette
• “The Wonderful Career of George Pal” Featurette
• “Rescuing a Fantasy Classic” Featurette
• “Location Commemorative Plaque” Featurette
• “A Salute to William R. Forman” Featurette
• Slideshow
• Trailers
• Booklet


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RELATED REVIEWS


The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm [Blu-Ray] (1962)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (March 23, 2022)

Due to the complexities of its three-camera/three-projector format, the ultra-widescreen Cinerama system never really came into common use. Most of the handful of these films leaned toward travel documentaries.

However, a few features used true Cinerama. For one of these, we go to 1962’s The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.

Set in Prussia circa the early 19th century, brothers Jacob (Karl Boehm) and Wilhelm Grimm (Laurence Harvey) get a contract to write the family history for a local Duke (Oscar Homolka). However, they don’t find their hearts in this task.

While the practical Jacob wants to plod through this biography, more fantasy-minded Wilhelm prefers to write up fairy tales. As they create some of these works, we see some of the fables brought to life.

As mentioned, World offers one of only a few feature films shot in the Cinerama format, and that makes it a feast for the eyes – mostly. Whereas it enjoys a massively wide image, in reality the action settles on the center of the screen most of the time.

Not that nothing occurs in the right or left thirds of the screen, as they come with a reasonable amount of information. However, these sectors tend somewhat superfluous information a lot of the time.

Nonetheless, the width of the image does impress, especially during the sequences that take the best advantage of it. A few stand out as showstoppers in the way they utilize all that cinematic real estate.

Unfortunately, all this impressive visual material comes in the service of a pretty forgettable movie. As great as World looks, the actual film doesn’t work especially well.

The main issue stems from the bifurcated nature of the program. World splits pretty evenly between material with the Grimm boys and renditions of the fairy tales they spin.

A better-made version of this narrative might effectively meld the two. However, this one can’t find a good way to balance its two sides.

This means World essentially grinds to a halt when it shifts from "real world” to fantasy. While the filmmakers attempt to segue in/out of these domains, the shifts don’t succeed and the two sides fail to gel.

I understand the desire to act out some of the Grimm fantasies, but World goes too far. A version with tastes of the fables – or in which the Grimms maintained a stronger presence – would fare better.

In this case, however, the combination of biography and fantasy doesn’t mesh. Because World spends so much time with the fairy tales, we lose track of Wilhelm and Jacob too often.

As such, World acts as a poor take on their narrative. It also spends too little time with the acted-out fables to satisfy in that matter.

World really should’ve committed to one side or the other. Either go for a formal biography of the Grimms or just create an anthology of fantasy tales, as the mix becomes less than compelling.

Like I mentioned earlier, World does look great, as it comes with excellent production values. We see the budget on screen, so expect a lavish cinematic adventure.

I do enjoy the occasional animated bit. We get some fine stop-motion work here that adds charm to the proceedings.

I just wish World managed to give us a more compelling story. At 140 minutes, the movie runs too long to keep us occupied due to its lack of real substance or engaging material.


The Disc Grades: Picture A+/ Audio B+/ Bonus C+

The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.89:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. A second platter also includes a smilebox version of World.

That means that whereas Disc One’s image sticks with a flat, consistent 2.89:1 ratio across the screen, Disc Two’s “smilebox” curves the visuals to approximate the way the movie would look on a massive Cinerama screen, and that leaves a varying aspect ratio dependent on which part of the image you inspect.

Whichever version you choose, you’ll encounter dazzling visuals here. Sharpness remained spot-on from start to finish. This meant a film with tight, precise elements at all times.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws failed to mar the presentation.

With a broad palette, World came with a vivid set of hues. These looked bold and dynamic through the entire flick.

Blacks felt deep and dark, while shadows appeared smooth and concise. The image looked about as good as Blu-ray will allow.

Did I find one version of World to stand as superior to the other? Honestly, it became a toss-up because of the strengths/weaknesses of the smilebox presentation.

On one hand, I like the way in which that World offered a facsimile of the source, and it formed a more involving rendition. However, this came with some weird distortion, so characters and settings could show proportions that seemed “off”.

I would probably lean smilebox because it delivered such an unusual depiction, and the anomalies seemed less distracting as I got used to them. However, the standard 2.89:1 offered the more consistent presentation and it worked just fine in its own right.

Though not quite as impressive, the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack seemed strong for its era. The soundscape opened up through the film, with a good sense of music from the side and rear channels.

In addition, we got lots of localized dialogue across the front, and effects broadened around the room when necessary. Much of this oriented toward ambience, but more action-oriented sequence allowed for engaging movement and involvement across the auditory spectrum.

Sound quality held up well over the last 60 years, with dialogue that worked fine for the most part. Though the lines could feel a little reedy at times, they usually demonstrated fairly natural tones.

Music seemed reasonably lush and full, and effects satisfied for their age. They lacked great range and showed a little roughness at times, but these elements seemed fine given their vintage. This became a well above-average track for a movie from 1962.

We get a mix of extras across these two platters, and Disc One boasts two trailers. Called “Announcement”, the first goes for four minutes, 36 seconds, while “Theatrical Letterbox” spans two minutes, 27 seconds. “Announcement” becomes the more creative and interesting of the pair.

We also find two Radio Interviews. These feature actors “Russ Tamblyn” (5:11) and “Yvette Mimieux” (5:39),

Along with journalist Dick Allen, the actors discuss their experiences during the movie. This mostly stands as promo fluff, but we get a few decent notes.

Two featurettes ensue, and Epic Art for The Brothers Grimm lasts seven minutes. Here George Pal Estate curator Justin Humphreys shows us some promotional paintings and discusses them. This provides a nice look at these elements.

Lastly, The Wonderful Career of George Pal fills eight minutes, 47 seconds with material from Humphreys. He gives us info about filmmaker/animator Pal, with an emphasis on Pal’s work for World. Humphreys delivers another informative chat.

On Disc Two, we find another pair of trailers. Here we get “Cinerama Announcement Trailer” (4:37) and “Smilebox Theatrical Trailer” (2:27). Both present ads in the “smilebox’ format, which makes them interesting.

A program called Rescuing a Fantasy Classic goes for 40 minutes, 19 seconds and provides comments from Cinerama Director of Film Restorations David Strohmaier, Pro-Tek Film Vaults film inspector Randy Gitsch, Cinerama’s James Vandever, former WB VP Technical Operations Steven Anastasi, restorationist Tom H. March, and Audio Mechanics’ John Polito.

This piece looks at all the work involved in the movie’s massive restoration. 40 minutes of this material feels like 20 minutes too much, but we do get a good view of the amazing technical achievements behind this terrific presentation of the film.

Rothenberg, Germany Location Commemorative Plaque lasts 56 seconds and tells us that such memorial exists in that town. Yawn.

Next comes A Salute to William R. Forman, a one-minute, 49-second clip with Vandever. He tells of the career of Forman, the man who ran various Cinerama theaters. Don’t expect much more than general praise.

Finally, a Slideshow presents a filmed montage of photos. It spans 12 minutes and includes 100 images of shots from the production, publicity elements and related material.

The stills themselves offer lots of good tidbits. However, the presentation – in which the stills “zoom” out at the viewer – leaves a lot to be desired. A standard stillframe gallery would work better.

The set also includes a booklet. It provides some art and various production notes. While not revelatory, it offers a nice conclusion to the package.

As a technical production, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm impresses. As a narrative endeavor, unfortunately, the movie tends to feel too long and too scattered. The Blu-ray boasts absolutely stunning picture along with very good audio and a decent array of bonus features. While I don’t care for the movie, this turns into a top-notch Blu-ray.

Viewer Film Ratings: 3.4285 Stars Number of Votes: 7
25:
14:
2 3:
22:
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View Averages for all rated titles.

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Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main