| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Laurence Harvey | ... |
Wilhelm Grimm /
The Cobbler ('The Cobbler and the Elves')
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Karlheinz Böhm | ... |
Jacob Grimm
(as Karl Boehm)
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| Claire Bloom | ... |
Dorothea Grimm
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Walter Slezak | ... |
Stossel
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| Barbara Eden | ... |
Greta Heinrich
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Oskar Homolka | ... |
The Duke
(as Oscar Homolka)
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| Arnold Stang | ... | ||
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Martita Hunt | ... |
Anna Richter (Story Teller)
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Betty Garde | ... |
Miss Bettenhausen
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Bryan Russell | ... |
Freidrich Grimm
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| Ian Wolfe | ... |
Gruber
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Tammy Marihugh | ... |
Pauline Grimm
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Cheerio Meredith | ... |
Mrs. Von Dittersdorf
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Walter Rilla | ... |
Priest
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| Yvette Mimieux | ... |
The Princess ('The Dancing Princess')
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The fictionalized lives of the story-telling Grimm brothers are brought to life in this all-star fantasy film. In the early nineteenth century, the brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm are commissioned to write a family history for a local Duke. Reenactments of three of their stories including "The Dancing Princess", "The Cobbler and the Elves" and "The Singing Bone". Written by alfiehitchie
You have to be young at heart to relish the film and I enjoyed the visuals as a child would. You know today that the two brothers wrote on two desks side by side to accommodate the cinerama screen--yet it looks so much better visually. It is not great cinema but good cinema of the sixties.
Of particular note was the Terry Thomas and Bud Hackett sub-plot which might not appear to be great technically but is funny and heartwarming even today. Laurence Harvey as Wilhelm Grimm (it was difficult to note that was the Cobbler as well) and Martita Hunt as the witch were superb. The German locations were ideal. The art direction and the puppet/animation sequences were really topnotch--who cares if there was a car visible in one shot!
In short, this is an ideal film for family viewing and the studios should consider re-releasing it for school viewing. All the kids today know of Snow White and Cinderella, but how many know of the Grimm brothers or of why Cinderella was called by that name? The film needs imaginative marketing to keep the box office jingling...