- Classification: U
- Studio: Sound & Media
- VHS Release Date: 4 Jun 2001
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00005IBCQ
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 13,093 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
This 1957 film version of the classic Grimm fairy tale The Singing Ringing Tree--or Das Singende Klingende Béumchen, ...is wonderful in its strangeness. The story is a fairly straightforward morality tale in which a haughty princess receives her comeuppance by being magically robbed of her beauty. Only when she learns to treat others with the consideration they deserve is the spell undone. The magical Singing Ringing Tree is a gift she demands from a suitor, not knowing that it will only do its thing in the presence of love--and yes, it does finally happen.
The presentation, however, is something else again. Imagine a fairy tale conceived by Wagner and directed by Fritz Lang, with nods in the direction of The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari and German Expressionism, and you'd be close. The hyper-real colouring process of the time, together with the quasi-operatic sets and theatrical acting styles make this European classic fascinating viewing for adults, while children will be mesmerised by this unfamiliar, haunting yet compelling film...--Roger Thomas
From the back cover
To win the love of the beautiful but conceited princess, the prince sets out to search for the Singing Ringing Tree which she deeply craves. He finds it in an enchanted garden which is ruled by an evil dwarf. The dwarf gives him the tree, subject to one condition--the prince must win the princess' love before nightfall. If he should fail, he will be transformed into a bear...
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
52 of 53 people found the following review helpful
I saw this film as a child in the BBC's Tales from Europe series and loved it back then. It was atmospheric, magical, spooky and rather frightening to me as achild - but utterly compelling. Years later as a 30 year old I saw it advertised at my local cinema for a one showing only. I strolled along, thinking I would be alone at the cinema....instead the queue stretched halfway around the building! They were all about my age and the ones i spoke to were there because they remembered it from when they were kids as well! We went in and i saw it in colour for the first time. Pure psychedelia quite frankly - the screen dripped hallucinatory colour and the film was as magical as that young child had remembered. The audience went wild! This is one of the most convincing fairy tales on film I've ever seen. An absolutely solid gold classic. Adults and children can all enjoy it. What a film - one of my all time top 10.
55 of 57 people found the following review helpful
Of all my childhood memories of children's TV, 'The Singing Ringing Tree' remains the most vivid and well loved. If that makes me a sad nostalgic 40 something then I'm comfortingly not alone, because 37 years after its first airing on British TV it has now been elevated to 'cult classic' status. So what was it about 'The Singing Ringing Tree' that has remained a cherished memory with so many adults. It's certainly not the special effects, charming and well done as they were for a film dating from 1957, nor was it the sumptuous colour of the original print which is has been digitally remastered for this video presentation - 1964 when it was first shown on British TV we had to make do with TV black and white. Ultimately, then, we are left with the story-line (an amalgam of three Grimm's Fairy Tales) that beautifully conveys the moral principle that in order to find happiness the individual needs to look beyond selfish desires and to care for the environment surrounding them. Is it too much to hope that it is that that we have carried with us in the form of our cherished memories over the years? It would be nice to think so. And what of its standing today? Well, I can see The Singing Ringing Tree becoming the memories of the future with children today, as great story-telling like this never really becomes dated. One final note: the digital remastering is absolutely superb, and the video has the original English narration from its showing on British TV. A Masterpiece.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
This is a series that was put on telly when I was young, and I am in my mid forties now. The grainy, spooky filming was atmospheric but in a freakish, unpleasant and scary way.
The series left me with a deeply uncomfortable sense of dread and fear.
Far worse than Doomwatch, the episode where the rats ate the nice lady....and my work colleague, disc Critch says much the same thing.
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