My 2 cents worth on “Brothers Grimm” (1 Viewer)

[William Moore]

If you have seen this in cinerama many times you know how great it looked, I cannot see how the picture quality of an LD can be satisfactory then. So to each his own I guess but I do not see the point of watching WWOTBG in LD quality.

Better than not watching (enjoying) it at all!

 

[OliverK]

Better than not watching (enjoying) it at all!

I would watch it in that kind of quality if I knew it will never be available to me by other means but I still hope that I will either make it to one of its rare cinerama screenings, or if that fails for some kind of HD version on home video or as a last resort I'll try to watch one of the remaining 35mm prints.

 

[cinemiracle]

One of the all-time great soundtracks helps make the movie a masterpiece when seen in Cinerama or any other medium.

 

[Thomas T]

One of the all-time great soundtracks helps make the movie a masterpiece when seen in Cinerama or any other medium.

All time great scores? I assume you're talking about the other Cinerama feature How The West Was Won (with its stunning Alfred Newman score) as opposed to The Wonderful World Of the Brothers Grimm. I've seen TWWOTBG and can barely remember the music and I'm a positive geek about film scores.

 

[RolandL]

I've only ever seen WWOTBG on VHS, and I enjoy the hell out of it. It's a toss up for my 2nd favorite George Pal film between this and Destination Moon. The Time Machine is my #1 favorite.

I haven't watched the TCM recording yet, but will be soon. I can't imagine it'll be WORSE than the VHS.

The VHS is cropped to 1.33 right? The TCM broadcast will show almost twice that. Below were taken from the internet so they look like crap. I'm just showing about what you would see on VHS compared to the broadcast.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I haven't watched the TCM recording yet, but will be soon. I can't imagine it'll be WORSE than the VHS.

Its an almost 30 year old mastertape made from a rather beat-up looking Cinermascope conversion print and the same tape was probably used on that VHS as well. Don't get too excited.

 

[William Moore]

All time great scores? I assume you're talking about the other Cinerama feature How The West Was Won (with its stunning Alfred Newman score) as opposed to The Wonderful World Of the Brothers Grimm. I've seen TWWOTBG and can barely remember the music and I'm a positive geek about film scores.

The score was composed by Leigh Harline and is positively delightful!

 

[richardburton84]

The score was composed by Leigh Harline and is positively delightful!

While I wouldn’t go so far as to call Harline’s score for Brothers Grimm one of the all-time greats, it’s still a very good score with an extremely catchy main theme, plus I adore the Gypsy Rhapsody music in the Dancing Princess sequence.

 

[Dan_Shane]

The score was composed by Leigh Harline and is positively delightful!

Bob Merrill's song contributions are also very good. I play my FSM soundtrack CD pretty regularly.

 

[Thomas T]

The score was composed by Leigh Harline and is positively delightful!

I have absolutely no issues with that statement. It was the hyperbolic "all time great scores" that was a head scratcher. Leigh Harline is a fine film composer but if I had to choose a best score from him, it would be Broken Lance (1954) which is a real beauty. I just don't see Harline's TWWOTBG score standing next to such all time great scores as Bernard Herrmann's Psycho, John Williams' E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Alex North's Spartacus, Elmer Bernstein's To Kill A Mockingird, Max Steiner's King Kong, Miklos Rozsa's Ben-Hur, John Barry's Out Of Africa, Dimitri Tiomkin's High Noon, David Raksin's The Bad And The Beautiful etc.

 

[Dan_Shane]

I just don't see Harline's TWWOTBG score standing next to such all time great scores as Bernard Herrmann's Psycho, John Williams' E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Alex North's Spartacus, Elmer Bernstein's To Kill A Mockingird, Max Steiner's King Kong, Miklos Rozsa's Ben-Hur, John Barry's Out Of Africa, Dimitri Tiomkin's High Noon, David Raksin's The Bad And The Beautiful etc.

Possibly the OP was overly enthusiastic; Harline and Merrill didn't reach the heights of the scores you listed, but then the film isn't quite in the same league as those. Considering the subject matter I think both gentlemen matched the music to George Pal's film quite well. Leigh Harline also favored Pal's 7 FACES OF DR. LAO with an enjoyable score that also gets lots of play on my stereo. The music may not be profound or soul-stirring, but it's darn catchy! I find myself absent-mindedly whistleing tunes from both films.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Leigh Harline is a fine film composer but if I had to choose a best score from him, it would be Broken Lance (1954) which is a real beauty.

What about Pinocchio? That's literally his most famous work.

 

[richardburton84]

What about Pinocchio? That's literally his most famous work.

Also, while he didn’t write the full score, there’s also his work on Snow White (another Grimm story), which, along with Pinocchio, pretty much guarantees Harline a spot on the all-time great scores list.

 

[Matt Hough]

Possibly the OP was overly enthusiastic; Harline and Merrill didn't reach the heights of the scores you listed, but then the film isn't quite in the same league as those. Considering the subject matter I think both gentlemen matched the music to George Pal's film quite well. Leigh Harline also favored Pal's 7 FACES OF DR. LAO with an enjoyable score that also gets lots of play on my stereo. The music may not be profound or soul-stirring, but it's darn catchy! I find myself absent-mindedly whistleing tunes from both films.

Same here. Both Harline scores for these Pal films are among my favorite leisure listening discs, and I'm so glad to have the REAL soundtrack albums even if I had to wait decades after the movie releases to get them.

Dr. Lao never had any kind of album. I wore out my Brothers Grimm storybook "soundtrack" LP just to get the bits and snatches of the background score and songs. I remember being so furious that I could buy a soundtrack album for The Yellow Rolls Royce but not for The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao. Never did understand the logic behind those releases.

 

[Thomas T]

What about Pinocchio? That's literally his most famous work.

With rare exceptions, animated movies aren't my bag. Even as a kid, stuff like Snow White And The 7 Dwarfs, Pinocchio and Dumbo were a chore to sit through. The latter two aren't in my collection and the only reason Snow White is is because of sentimental reasons. It was my mother's all time favorite movie. Frankly, if I never hear When You Wish Upon A Star again, I'll be a happy guy! Curiously, I do like Japanese anime.

 

[JPCinema]

I had no idea how badly WWOTBG looks on TCM. :-(

 

[William Moore]

Same here. Both Harline scores for these Pal films are among my favorite leisure listening discs, and I'm so glad to have the REAL soundtrack albums even if I had to wait decades after the movie releases to get them.

Dr. Lao never had any kind of album. I wore out my Brothers Grimm storybook "soundtrack" LP just to get the bits and snatches of the background score and songs. I remember being so furious that I could buy a soundtrack album for The Yellow Rolls Royce but not for The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao. Never did understand the logic behind those releases.

The IS a CD of the soundtrack music for "7 Faces." Released by FSM a few years back and it's great, and comparable to the FSM release of "Brothers Grimm" score. It was a limited edition release, so may be a few copies out there somewhere.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Here's a killer version of the Main Theme by the great Lawrence Welk from his Top Ten album, "Baby Elephant Walk,"

 

[Matt Hough]

The IS a CD of the soundtrack music for "7 Faces." Released by FSM a few years back and it's great, and comparable to the FSM release of "Brothers Grimm" score. It was a limited edition release, so may be a few copies out there somewhere.

If you'll carefully reread my first sentence or two, you'll notice that I said "discs" meaning that I have both Grimm and Lao on CD which are among my favorite leisure listening discs. My rant was about having to wait decades to get the soundtrack to Lao instead of instantly being able to buy it on LP when the movie was first released in 1964. When I said Lao never had any kind of album, I meant a soundtrack LP. I guess I should have been clearer about it, but I thought the first paragraph established that I had the CD soundtracks to both Harline scores.

 

[Dan_Shane]

The IS a CD of the soundtrack music for "7 Faces." Released by FSM a few years back and it's great, and comparable to the FSM release of "Brothers Grimm" score. It was a limited edition release, so may be a few copies out there somewhere.

That is the one I have, and it's a gem.