Restoration process brings fairy tale classic back to life

The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm features some of the most spectacular scenery ever filmed, presenting a visually stunning and memorable world.

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In his memoirs, Laurence Harvey recalls: "There were moments in this film when the scenery upstaged us all, when you think about those winding cobbled streets, the picturesque squares, that lovely park, the walled city, and the 14th century buildings and houses, you wonder what competition an actor can be.

"Fortunately for all of us, there is a whale of a story in those two brothers who wrote fairy tales almost 150 years ago."

The town of Rothenburg, where most of the movie was filmed, is a tiny Franconian city that was only a few hundred kilometres from the Communist-occupied East Germany.

But for two months, its inhabitants forgot the world situation when they became extras in the big MGM production.

In the biographical story of the film, the Grimm brothers are hired by a disgruntled Duke to write his family history that he plans to present to the Emperor of Prussia.

But Wilhelm, the younger, incurable dreamer, allows his thoughts to wander to fantastic lands peopled by giants and elves, fairies, and dragons, knights and princesses.