Development In the mid-1950s, George Pal left Paramount Studios, which had been his base for a number of years. In March 1956, he announced the formation of his own company, Galaxy Pictures, saying he would make six films, including an adaptation of
The Time Machine written by
David Duncan;
Captain Cook, based on the novel
Lost Eden; a film about Atlantis; and
The Brothers Grimm, based on a script by David Harmon adapted from a biography of the brothers by Dr Hermann Gerstner. (Pal had bought the screen rights to Gerstner's biography in February 1956 and hired Harmon in March.) Pal signed an agreement with
MGM to finance Galaxy's slate, the first film produced being
Tom Thumb (1958), based on a Grimm fairytale. In 1957, Pal announced he wanted
Grimm to follow
Tom Thumb with Alan Young and
Eddie Bracken in the leading roles. In April 1958, he signed Mary Brown to do the costumes. However, in May 1958, after discussions with MGM, Pal decided to make
The Time Machine (1960) instead. In August 1959, Pal announced that key roles would be played by
Russ Tamblyn, Alan Young, and
Yvette Mimieux. Tamblyn would make the film - which would be shot in Europe - after he got out of the army. In December 1959, Pal was reportedly seeking
Bing Crosby for a lead role. That month,
Stan Freberg was reportedly adding "special material" to the film. In July 1960,
Hedda Hopper reported that Pal would make the film in America, not Europe. Pal then delayed the film again so that he could make
Atlantis, the Lost Continent. In August 1960, it seemed the film would be postponed indefinitely when Pal announced he intended to make
The Return of the Time Machine. However, that film was postponed (it would never be made) and, in January 1961, Pal announced
Grimm would definitely be his next film.
Casting Pal wanted to cast
Peter Sellers and
Alec Guinness as the brothers, but was over-ruled by the studio. In March 1961, MGM reported Edmund Hartmann was working on the final script. In March 1961, Pal confirmed Alan Young would appear in the movie. In April, Laurence Harvey was cast as William Grimm. The same month, Karl Boehm was cast as his brother with
Yvette Mimieux to play his wife. Mimieux wound up playing the dancing princess in the film while
Barbara Eden was borrowed from 20th Century Fox to play Boehm's love interest. In addition to playing the Woodsman,
Russ Tamblyn also reprises his role as
Tom Thumb, from Pal's 1958 film.
Cinerama The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm was produced and exhibited in the original three-panel
Cinerama widescreen process. MGM had signed a deal with Cinerama to make four films that attempted to tell a cohesive story, unlike previous productions, which had all been travelogues.
How the West Was Won would be the first film and, in March 1961, MGM announced
Grimm would be the second. (After these two a
single-lens Cinerama was used for narrative films.) George Pal said three fairy tales were chosen which would look good in Cinerama. He also wanted to use lesser-known fairy tales so the audience did not know how they ended:
The Dancing Princess,
The Cobbler and the Elves and
The Singing Bone.
Shooting Pal left for Munich in April 1961, saying he will use "every trick in the books" in the film. "We hope to get some wonderful special effects especially." Filming started 1 July 1961 (
How the West Was Won started in June.) It took place on location in Bavaria, at Rothenberg and
Dinkelsbühl. (Kassel, where the Grimms lived, had been bombed out.) After two months filming in West Germany, the unit returned to Hollywood. Henry Levin directed the Grimm brothers sequences while Pal did the fairytale ones. ==Reception==