Recently, the music distributor I work for picked up a line of dvds from ANS Entertainment. Most of the stuff is travelogue type releases and cartoons, geared for Spanish speaking people.
I was pleased to notice that there were some children's films, that actually are illustrated in a manner that would make one think that these are cartoons, but on closer examination, I saw that the back covers featured stills of live action shots that that led me to believe that these are the German fairy tale films that Tim Lucas covered in Video Watchdog #9!
These were German features that were made in the 50's, but not released in the U.S. until the 60's. The 2 I have run about 50 minutes each.
The ones have seen are Snow White & The Seven Dwarves and Hansel & Gretel. These could be some of the creepiest kid's films I've seen yet. For some reason, little kids with fake beards and wigs playing dwarves makes my skin crawl. Not only that, these are not the 7 dwarves most of us grew up with. These guy's names are Whitey, Bushy, Eddie, Teddy, Freddy, Blackie and Bim Bam! No Sleepy and Weezy here!
They do horrible dance numbers, work in a mine, and when they think Snow White is dead, they put her on a glass coffin. That particular scene reminded me of something that could've been in a scene from The Viy vs Juliet of the Spirits!
These dvds are cheap ($10 list), and the prints are terrible. Tons of scratches, but the color is actually pretty sharp. You get an option of Spanish or English dubbing.
Check out Video Watchdogs reviews, and if you think these might float your boat, try to find them, watch them, and thank the good Lord you didn't see these when you were a kid!
Gil
Are these the K. Gordon Murray productions? Those are awesome. My favorite is LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND THE MONSTERS. I must seek these treasures...
If these are something different I even more intrigued!
I'm pretty sure that these are not K. Gordon Murray productions. Those were Mexican features, and the ones I've mentioned are German.
Gil
This is very interesting news indeed to me, I collect Euro-kiddy flicks from the 1950s onwards. Which version of HANSEL UND GRETEL are we talking about here? Just how widely available are these discs Stateside? I live in the UK so they are unlikely to surface at film fairs here I guess... Any suggestions where I should look to find these for sale? eBay? And keep a look out for those Mexi-kids flicks, I have a Spanish-dubbed PULGARCITO (TOM THUMB) already, but would kill for the uncut versions of the LITTLE RED films!