| Hansel and Gretel | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | John Paul |
| Written by | Padraic Colum |
| Produced by | Michael Myerberg |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Martin Munkacsi |
| Edited by | James F. Barclay |
| Music by | Franz Allers |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 72 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.1 million [1] |
Hansel and Gretel is a 1954 stop-motion animated theatrical feature film released by RKO Radio Pictures.
 | This article needs a plot summary.(January 2024) |
The film is based on Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Hänsel und Gretel , from which its music derives. It was the first American feature-length animated film not made by Disney since 1941's Mr. Bug Goes to Town and the first American feature-length animated film not made with traditional animation.
In 1952, Evalds Dajevskis began working for Myerberg Productions to conceptualize the look of the film and design the miniature sets. [2] Dajevskis built the sets out of thick papier-mâché, appliqued paper cutouts and painted backings. The witch's gingerbread house, the Hall of the Angels, and Hansel and Gretel's home were all constructed with trap doors underneath. Because the sets were so large, there was no way to reach and animate the figures except from below. [3]
The film was shot in Myerberg's studio in New York. [4] The puppets used in the film were called "kinemins." [5] [6] The bodies of the kinemins were sculpted in clay by James Summers and cast in foam latex by George Butler. Summers also painted the figures. [3] The puppets were built to one-third scale and cost $2,500 each to build. [7]
The witch character was renamed Rosina Rubylips. This differs from the original opera in which the witch tells Hansel that her name is Rosine Leckermaul (translated as Rosina Tastymuzzle). [8]
The mother and father figures were sculpted to resemble Mildred Dunnock ( Death of a Salesman ) and Frank Rogier, who supplied their voices. [3]
After production, the Hansel and Gretel sets were disassembled, carted away and eventually sold to an amusement park where they were poorly reconstructed in a tent for display. In 1955, vandals looted Myerberg's studio and destroyed the remaining kinemins. [3]
In 1965, screenwriter Padraic Colum sold his copy of the screenplay (along with his notebooks, manuscripts, galley proofs and letters) to the Binghamton University Libraries, [9] where it is available for research viewing. [10]
In 1971, producer Myerberg donated his personal papers to the library of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. [11] Hansel and Gretel is among the productions documented through correspondence, contracts, financial records, promotional materials, reviews and scripts. [12]
The film was released on October 10, 1954 in New York City without a distributor; producer Michael Myerberg released the film himself. [13] Based on the positive reviews and box office performance, RKO Radio Pictures acquired the film for wide release for the Christmas season. [14] The film was sold to television four years after it was released, where it became a Christmas-season tradition on several stations.
The film was rereleased theatrically in 1965 through New Trends Associates, [14] and in March 1973 through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. [15]
The film has been released on VHS, CED videodisc and DVD. The VHS and CED videodiscs contain the original title. The DVD was released on October 30, 2001 [16] with the modified title of Hansel and Gretel: An Opera Fantasy.
An LP of the film's soundtrack was released in 1955 under the label "X" RCA, in 1959 under the label RCA Victor and in 1960 under the label RCA Camden. [17] In 1959, it was nominated for a Grammy award in the category of Best Recording for Children. [18]
RKO heavily promoted the film in time for the 1954 Christmas season, including $10 million worth of products such as candy, clothing, figurines and toys. [21]
A comic book adaptation was published by Dell Comics as issue #590 of its Four Color anthology series.
"Hansel and Gretel" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of Grimm's Fairy Tales. It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister.
Hansel and Gretel is an opera by nineteenth-century composer Engelbert Humperdinck, who described it as a Märchenoper. The libretto was written by Humperdinck's sister, Adelheid Wette, based on the Grimm brothers' fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel". It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, one of the most famous being the "Abendsegen" from act 2.
Anna Russell was an English–Canadian singer and comedian. She gave many concerts in which she sang and played comic musical sketches on the piano. Among her best-known works are her concert performances and famous recordings of The Ring of the Nibelungs – a humorous 22-minute synopsis of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen – and her parody How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera.
Babes in the Woods is a 1932 Silly Symphonies animated film.
Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil is a 2011 3D animated spy comedy film and the sequel to 2005's Hoodwinked!, directed by Mike Disa in his theatrical feature directorial debut. The film was written by Disa, Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards and Tony Leech, who wrote and directed the previous Hoodwinked! film. Most of the cast reprised their roles - with Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, and Joan Cusack joining the cast for the sequel. Anne Hathaway and Jim Belushi were replaced by Hayden Panettiere and Martin Short respectively.
Hansel and Gretel is a television special that was made in 1983 for The Disney Channel, directed by Tim Burton. It only aired once on October 31, 1983, at 10:30 P.M. The only other times it was shown was as part of the Tim Burton retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Tim Burton L'Exposition at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris as part of a traveling exhibit.
Franz Allers was a European-American conductor of ballet, opera, Broadway musicals, film scores, and symphony orchestras.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is a 2013 American fantasy horror film that stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the siblings from the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel" who are now grown up and work together to exterminate witches for hire. The film is written and directed by Tommy Wirkola. The film also stars Famke Janssen and Peter Stormare as the supporting cast.
"Hansel and Gretel" is a fairy tale.
Thomas Mann is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films Project X (2012), As Cool as I Am (2013), Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013), Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015), Kong: Skull Island (2017), and Halloween Kills (2021).
Hansel & Gretel is a 2013 American direct-to-video dark fantasy horror film produced by The Asylum and directed by Anthony C. Ferrante, starring Dee Wallace, Brent Lydic and Stephanie Greco. The film is a modern retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairytale of the same name, taking place in Candlewood, New Jersey and follows the eponymous pair of adolescent siblings who find themselves kidnapped by a cannibalistic bakery-owning witch who devours human meat as a way to rejuvenate her youth.
Hansel and Gretel is a 1954 German film, directed by Walter Janssen, based on the story of Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm. It should not be confused with either Hansel and Gretel, another German film, or an American film Hansel and Gretel, both of which were released in the same year.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters – Music from the Motion Picture is the score album to the 2013 film of the same name directed by Tommy Wirkola. The film features a musical score written by Hans Zimmer's protégé and Icelandic composer Atli Örvarsson. Zimmer also worked on the soundtrack as an executive music producer. The score which was recorded at the Sony Scoring Stage in Culver City, California, featured electronic, rock and heavy metal music blended with traditional and orchestral elements.
Gretel & Hansel is a 2020 dark fantasy horror film based on the German folklore tale "Hansel and Gretel" by the Brothers Grimm. The film is directed by Oz Perkins, and produced by Fred Berger, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, and Dan Kagan, with a screenplay by Rob Hayes. Sophia Lillis and Sam Leakey portray the titular characters, alongside Alice Krige and Jessica De Gouw. The story follows Gretel and Hansel as they enter the dark woods in order to find work and food, and then stumble upon the home of a witch.
Hänsel und Gretel is a 107-minute studio album of Engelbert Humperdinck's 1893 opera of the same name, performed by Ileana Cotrubaș, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Christa Ludwig, Siegmund Nimsgern, Elisabeth Söderström, Frederica von Stade and Ruth Welting with the Children's Chorus of Cologne Opera and the Gürzenich Orchestra under the direction of Sir John Pritchard. It was released in 1979.
Hansel vs. Gretel is a 2015 action horror film released by The Asylum as a sequel to the company's 2013 Hansel & Gretel — a modern update of the classic Brothers Grimm fairytale of the same name. The film picks up after the events of the first film and follows witch hunter Hansel, as he battles his sister Gretel, who is under a dark spell and is trying to become the new leader of a coven of witches. Brent Lydic returns to star as Hansel, although Gretel was recast and portrayed by Lili Baross.
Secret Magic Control Agency is a 2021 English-language Russian animated comedy film directed by Aleksey Tsitsilin and written by Analisa LaBianco, Vladimir Nikolaev, Jeffery Spencer, Tsitsilin, and Alexey Zamyslov. Produced by Wizart Animation, CTB Film Company, and QED International, the film is a loose adaptation of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm.
Witchslayer Gretl is a 2012 American-Canadian dark fantasy television film written by Brook Durham and Angela Mancuso, and directed by Mario Philip Azzopardi. Inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, it stars Paul McGillion as Hansel, a witch hunter who comes into conflict with his witch-possessed sister, Gretl, played Shannen Doherty. It was one of several similarly-themed Hansel and Gretel films that were made in an attempt to "cash-in" on the 2013 film Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.
Hansel and Gretel is a 1987 American Israeli fantasy musical film, part of the 1980s film series Cannon Movie Tales. It is directed by Len Talan and stars David Warner, Cloris Leachman, Hugh Pollard and Nicola Stapleton. It is a contemporary version of the classic tale of Hansel and Gretel of the Brothers Grimm. Like the other Cannon Movie Tales, the film was filmed entirely in Israel.
{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
"Hansel and Gretel" by the Brothers Grimm | ||
|---|---|---|
| Film |
|  |
| Animation |
| |
| TV |
| |
| Opera | ||
| Other | ||
