This is one of Ray Harryhausen's first films...a short fairy tale based on the familiar story. It features very nice stop-motion filmwork and is in vivid color.
The story itself is not quite the awful version I'd learned as a kid. That version included a nasty step-mother and father who simply didn't want to be bothered with the kids so he abandoned them in the forest to die. In this nice version, the family is poor and hungry but there's no step-mother...and the father would never think about abandoning them! Instead, the pair just wander off on their own. And, of course they meet a nasty witch...a blue one at that!
Overall, this is a very nice little film and you can see that even at this young age, Harryhausen was quite gifted. My only quibble is that instead of the characters talking, it's all done by the narrator...making it a much duller film in the process. Still, it's well worth while and apart from pushing the old witch into an over (that's pretty much in all versions), it's pretty kid-friendly.
The story itself is not quite the awful version I'd learned as a kid. That version included a nasty step-mother and father who simply didn't want to be bothered with the kids so he abandoned them in the forest to die. In this nice version, the family is poor and hungry but there's no step-mother...and the father would never think about abandoning them! Instead, the pair just wander off on their own. And, of course they meet a nasty witch...a blue one at that!
Overall, this is a very nice little film and you can see that even at this young age, Harryhausen was quite gifted. My only quibble is that instead of the characters talking, it's all done by the narrator...making it a much duller film in the process. Still, it's well worth while and apart from pushing the old witch into an over (that's pretty much in all versions), it's pretty kid-friendly.