Lotte Reiniger, the animator who made the oldest surviving animated feature, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, created this version of Hansel and Gretel in 1955. It uses her cutout silhouette technique.
Tag Archives: Fairy Tale
Goethe’s Derl Erlkönig: A Film by Raymond Salvatore Harmon
Really frightening film adaptation of Goethe’s Der Erlkönig. Raymond Salvatore Harmon made this film that revels in the dark terror of fairy tales. It’s a densely layered film that conveys the sense of riding through the forest beautifully. Those trees keep going by and the dolls bounce along on their horse. Amazing! I love terrifying fairy tales! A child, held tight in his father’s arms, senses a supernatural being of some sort approaching. You’ve got to pay attention to this one right up to the end!
Animation: The Machine
A machine tells the tale of another machine and its hunger for control. A beautiful and frightening fairytale about the machinery of power. Rob Shaw and Sarah Hulin animated it.
Storybook: Thumbelina
Once upon a time there was a woman whose only wish was to have a tiny little child. She had no idea where to get one, so she went to an old witch and asked her: “Please, old witch, tell me where I can get a tiny little child.”
“That is not so hard,” said the witch. “Plant this seed in the ground and see what happens.”
The woman paid the witch twelve gold coins and went home to plant the seed. No sooner was it in the ground than it started to sprout. A big beautiful flower grew up. It became a tulip that was ready to bloom.
“What a lovely flower,” said the woman as she kissed the red and yellow petals that were closed so tightly. With a snap they opened and became a real tulip. In the center of the flower sat a tiny little girl. She was so beautiful and so delicate, and exactly one inch long.
Animation: The Emperor’s New Clothes
Here is the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Emperor’s New Clothes, as told by the Toei Animation Company in Japan. It’s a limited animation in a sort of anime style that tells the story quite well.
Storybook: Fairy of the Dawn – An Epic Fairy Tale
This is an epic fairy tale that reworks the classic Grimm’s story, ‘The Water of Life,’ into a grand Nordic tale of magic, goddesses, fairies and heroes. Go on an epic quest with the young son of an emperor to find the magic of the Fairy of the Dawn.
Fairy of the Dawn
By John Brookes
There was once an emperor, very great and mighty, and he ruled over an empire so large that no one knew where it began and where it ended. But if nobody could tell the exact extent of his Sovereignty everybody was aware that the emperor’s right eye laughed, while his left eye wept. One or two men of valour had the courage to go and ask him the reason of this strange fact, but he only laughed and said nothing; and the reason of the deadly enmity between his two eyes was a secret only known to the Monarch himself.
Grimms’ Fairy Tales: Little Brother and Little Sister
Little brother took his little sister by the hand and said, “Since our mother died we have had no happiness; our step-mother beats us every day, and if we come near her she kicks us away with her foot. Our meals are the hard crusts of bread that are left over; and the little dog under the table is better off, for she often throws it a nice bit. May Heaven pity us. If our mother only knew! Come, we will go forth together into the wide world.”