An enchanting faerie tale anthology film, couched in a biographical story that is somewhat less interesting than the stories themselves, which is perhaps inevitable. There are a lot of stars in a lot of stories -- Russ Tamblyn shows off some of the fantastic aerobic dancing he displayed in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." If only they could have come up with a more worthy opponent for their lovely stop motion dragon than Buddy Hackett (who, on the flip side, makes for an unusual ghost).

The writing is good, and there are a lot of really fun scenes. The Cinerama process is used very effectively (wish I could have seen it on the big screen).

Maybe it's because I grew up with this movie, and am stuck in that age, but I have always found this to be a special and magical movie experience. It was especially so on the big screen when I was 6 years old. We also had the soundtrack box edition on vinyl. So, I rated this movie highly, because I feel it truly was perfection (especially for its day),and needs to be re-discovered by families, and the young-at-heart everywhere. I hate clichés, but they just do not make them like this anymore. This gem should be restored in its full glory, and preserved and brought back to life. Hope you get to enjoy it someday.

Back when it first was out I never did get around to seeing The Wonderful World of The Brothers Grimm and it should be seen in the theater rather than a formatted VHS version. This was indeed a film for which Cinerama was definitely suited.

During the Fifties a whole lot of the Grimm stories were used in a shortlived series hosted by the grown up Shirley Temple entitled Shirley Temple's storybook. I think they were better presented on the big screen.

I'm not sure if these in fact are the real Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm as played by Laurence Harvey and Karl Boehm. Wilhelm is the married one, in fact married to the lovely Claire Bloom, with two small children and it's those kids who keep him interested in German folklore and tales of such. The more serious minded Jacob, scholar, historian, and linguist would like to marry Barbara Eden, but that ain't happening unless the brothers finish the dynastic history they've been commissioned to write by Duke Oscar Homolka. And Jacob can't keep Wilhelm's mind on the business at hand.

The real story of the brothers is merely a plot device on which to hang cinematic presentation of three of the Grimm fairy tales and the presence of a lot of the others during a delirious fever sustained by Laurence Harvey. The regular story is directed by Henry Levin, but George Pal who probably got the biggest budget in his career to utilize in The Wonderful World of The Brothers Grimm gets to direct the fairy tale segments.

My favorite is The Singing Bone with Terry-Thomas as the braggadocious knight and Buddy Hackett as his put upon squire and their encounter with a dragon in a cave. That is George Pal and Cinerama at their very best.

Don't expect a whole lot from this film, it's not deep, it was meant for the kid market. And it dates not a bit though with today's computer generated special effects it would be even better if done today.