The frame story of The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, involving the writing of the family history of a local duke by Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, is nowhere near as interesting as the three fairy tales that are presented and that make up a significant portion of the film’s plot. In essence, it’s like having three clever short films linked together by a rather weak and uninteresting story of the guys who collected them. They might have been more successful had they been released as separate short films. Wilhelm Grimm (Laurence Harvey, as unctuous as ever) keeps getting distracted from the work for which he and his brother are being paid and which is allowing them to live rent free. He only cares about the enchanting stories that he hears from local people. Jacob (Karlheinz Bohm, probably best known for his work in European films) is wooing (badly) the beautiful Greta Heinrich (Barbara Eden) and writing boring books about grammar and other dull subjects that no one really wants to purchase. By the way, it’s always a shock for me to see actors like Eden who are so identified with a particular role performing in a film or TV show that’s so vastly different from what they’re known for. The most interesting thing that happens to the two brothers is the loss of the manuscript of the duke’s history and Wilhelm’s subsequent illness that leaves him hallucinating that he’s being visited by various fairy tale characters like Rumpelstiltskin and the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood. Since the film is geared towards kids, it’s tough to imagine that this kind of stuff would hold their interest for the whole 135 minutes running time. The three stories, however, are delightful; they’re bright and colorful representations of the tales Wilhelm is collecting. The first one, “The Dancing Princess,” features Yvette Mimieux and Russ Tamblyn, a cloak that renders the wearer invisible, and one of the longest carriage rides in the history of film—no, really, it takes up a ridiculous amount of time. This segment also has Jim Backus and Beulah Bondi in supporting roles, just a couple the supporting players who make the film more watchable. “The Cobbler and the Elves” actually features Harvey as the shoemaker and George Pal’s Puppetoons as the elves. The story is a famous one about how the cobbler gets into trouble with everyone because he’s always late with their orders, but the elves save him by making all of the shoes in just one night. Watching the Puppetoons craft the shoes is a lot of fun, honestly, and you’re willing to forgive the inclusion of Harvey in this second role because he’s not always the main focus. This is the story that Wilhelm tells a group of kids and the patrons of a bookstore in order to see if there’s any interest in a book of these kinds of tales; I think we all know how that turns out. The final fairy tale is the strangely-named “The Singing Bone” starring Terry-Thoms and Buddy Hackett, a story of betrayal involving a knight and his squire, a very sparkly dragon, a miraculous return from the dead, and the most and best special effects of the movie. One of the few films to be produced in Cinerama, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm makes effective use of all that screen space. Most of the movie still makes for fun viewing, but I kept wanting to fast forward through all of the stuff involving the brothers’ personal lives and get back to the fairy tales.; that’s where the true fun is.
Oscar Win: Best Color Costume Design
Other
Oscar Nominations:
Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Direction-Set Decoration, and Best Scoring
of Music, Adaptation or Treatment
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