What would you expect from an East German fairy tale movie, based on a Grimm Brothers story, certified for age 6 and above? At least my expectations were blown right through the wall. This is extremely powerful cinema, even though the DVD that came with last weeks SuperIllu wasn't digitally remastered, so colors are often bleached out. But I still found it worth every minute I watched, and every of the 299 cents I paid for it.
With the Grimm tale, you get: lots of satire about monarchy (which GDR was, in some way), thrilling Italo-Western optics avant la lettre (didn't they really start in 1976?), some Edgar Allan Poe-like horror (the squeezing bed, the boiling iron room), and even some allusions to sports doping...
Big fun for friends of bizarre movies today, but I wonder how it inspired GDR kids back in 1972. It sure thrilled this FRG kid born 1956. Very worthwhile. I rarely do, but this film wins 10/10 from me :^)
With the Grimm tale, you get: lots of satire about monarchy (which GDR was, in some way), thrilling Italo-Western optics avant la lettre (didn't they really start in 1976?), some Edgar Allan Poe-like horror (the squeezing bed, the boiling iron room), and even some allusions to sports doping...
Big fun for friends of bizarre movies today, but I wonder how it inspired GDR kids back in 1972. It sure thrilled this FRG kid born 1956. Very worthwhile. I rarely do, but this film wins 10/10 from me :^)
