|
| • Advanced Search • Help |
The Singing Ringing Tree | Year: 1957 Classification: Foreign Film - German Directed: - Francesco Stefani creepy There are only a few tv programmes that create a truly indelible mark on your mind when you're a kid.For me,this was one of them.This is a genuinely amazing piece of work-a fairy tale with such a twisted edge that you simply cannot shake it from your mind.The print used here is gorgeous-incredibly vibrant and colourful.It was great to rediscover this film.I thought I'd never see it again. A must-have for children of the 1960s During the period 1964-69, the BBC ran the 'Tales from Europe' series of tea-time fairy tales, all of them in black-and-white, some of them created by the BBC itself but many of them coming from the East German DEFA stable. THE SINGING, RINGING TREE was for many British children, the most memorable, not just because the BBC ran it several times, but also because it was the most scary. This film has almost archetype status for many of us now in our forties. Dwarves (or should it be dwarfs?) do not get a good press in this story. The evil dwarf is a hideous, voyeuristic presence throughout much of the story. (This story is not about the Eastern bloc, but if the bear and the princess are imprisoned behind an impenetrable iron curtain, the dwarf could represent a Stasi spy.) I am sure this story influenced many of us children to look upon dwarves as malign, and that may be why this film isn't more widely available. We certainly need the likes of Tolkien to provide children with a far more positive view of dwarves. Seeing this again for the first time in more than thirty years has been almost a psychological release for me. The dwarf isn't all evil. The good-looking couple both have their individual faults. The sets aren't very well done. My 10-year-old daughter laughed when the fish turned up in the magic pool. The film has lost much of its psychic power because in comparison to today's big-budget productions, it just isn't convincing. It's just a fairy tale well told. Seeing it in gaudy colour is extraordinary. It has been well remastered, and the faltering sound quality of the music only adds to the magic. As other reviewers have said, the accompanying short film on the DVD seems an irrelevance. It carries a Tangerine Dream-like soundtrack, lasts about five minutes and appears to have been made in 1971. This is a film I absolutely had to see. The only question for me is whether I'll want to replay it again and again. Magical Childhood This is one of THE most sought after videos in the UK: the one with the English narration over the 'subdued' German. It's the one that was broadcast by the BBC in the 60's and the one that a generation of children hid from when it flickered on our black and white tellies. This is haunting, beautiful, terrifying; everything a fairy story should be. It's just been released in the UK on PAL so now we can all enjoy it again... Buy The Singing Ringing Tree at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Singing Ringing Tree Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Singing Ringing Tree This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
|
