Dornröschen

If you can overlook the bad dubbing and sometimes barebones production values (a dragon toward the end is particularly unfortunate), this is a completely charming version of the familiar tale. It was filmed on the grounds of an actual palace in Austria, and the director also plays the King. All of the actors are convincing and committed to their roles,never "playing down" to the material or snickering at it in a shared joke with the audience, as so often happens in our more cynical era. Among the more atmospheric scenes: the young queen's meeting with the wicked fairy early on; the exodus of the twelve good fairies from the depths of the lake; the wicked fairy putting the whole palace to sleep, and so on. This film manages to capture a naive sense of "long ago and far away" that is wholly and distressingly absent from more recent attempts at live-action fairy tales, like Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre and the lamentable Golan-Globus productions, which substitute modern-day smart-aleckiness and prosaic scripts for the true magic that films have always been capable of. This film was one of a series based on the better-known Grimm's tales that was filmed in West Germany in the 1950's, which perhaps accounts for the less-than-sumptuous settings; post-war Germany was not exactly overflowing with "filthy lucre". For those who like a little magic and poetry with their fairy tales, however, these films are just what the doctor ordered. They are available from amazon deutschland on Region 2 DVDs, but I don't think they are subtitled.

SLEEPING BEAUTY (1955) is another West German production that was picked up for American distribution in the 1960's by Childhood Productions. The story roughly follows the plot of Sleeping Beauty but with some fun additions such as a magic frog statue, magic lake fairies, evil goblins, and magic rose bushes. The dubbing is on par with the rest of Childhood Productions output, the sets all pop with wonderful craftsmanship, and the costumes are dazzling. This kiddie matinee isn't quite as psychotronic as comparable affair such as SANTA AND THE ICE CREAM BUNNY (1972) but the skill and money showcased here pairs well with some of the goofier aspects of the story.

If you enjoy some classic, kiddie matinee material then I'd definitely suggest this to you.

Fritz Genshow's "Sleeping Beauty" is another German fairy tale film imported to the US in 1965. Originally made ten years earlier, it has the timeless, dreamy quality the story should have. As usual, the settings are lovely, as are the castle and village used as background. Once again, the English dubbing is out of sync most of the time, but the voices used match the actors, so this can be forgiven. The real treat is, again, a marvelous new score by Anne and Milton Delugg, which is beautifully orchestrated by George Brackman. This is the Grimm Brothers version of the story, which is really not all that different from the better known Charles Perrault rendition. Worth looking for, but not easy to find, "Sleeping Beauty" is a winner!