Just as the English language has had to incorporate such foreign words as “giallo” and “krimi,” here is another I think it is high time we learned: “Märchen,” pronounced “mayr-chen.” “Märchenfilm” is the German term for a fairy-tale film, and German fairy tale films are as distinctly different from, say, the Russian or Mexican variety, as any other genre.
Can you tell that I’ve started delving into Deaf Crocodile’s new box set of DEFA FAIRY TALE FILMS? This is a hefty package, strictly limited to 1900 copies, which includes the following: Gottfried Kolditz’s SNOW WHITE (SCHNEEWITCHEN, 1961) and FRAU HÖLLE (1963), Götz Friedrich’s LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD (ROTKÄPPCHEN, 1962), Egon Schlegel’s THE DEVIL’S THREE GOLDEN HAIRS (WER REISST DENN GLEICH WOR’M TEUFEL AUS, 1977), and Siegfried Hartmann’s SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED (SCHNEEWEISSCHEN UND ROSENROT, 1979). The set is fully complemented with a stand-alone interview with Stephen R. Bissette and an impressive roster of new commentary tracks from Michael Brooke, Samm Deighan, Shelagh Rowan-Legg and Anne Golden, as well as a video essay by Evan Chester. There is also an 80-page illustrated booklet with contributions by Alexandra Heller-Nichols, Rolf Giesen, and other notables.
Last night I watched the two Gottfried Holditz films, SNOW WHITE and FRAU HÖLLE, and I was impressed by both of them. SNOW WHITE is not too drastically different from the live action fairy tales we’ve seen produced here in America - the Rogers & Hammerstein CINDERELLA with Lesley Ann Warren, for example. It’s a pageant of costumes and unusual characters, with intermittent breaks for thankfully short songs. The story has been only slightly changed from the version we know, omitting the scary bits with the huntsman and sparing the sleeping Snow White her reawakening kiss, but it is far less frightening than the Disney animated feature, and it’s assertively theatrical in its presentation. Its greatest appeal resides in the cast and in the subtle camera, sets and wardrobe trickery that persuades us that seven fully-grown men are seven dwarves - these with names like Rumble, Tumble and Poot. It’s only 63 minutes long, and while I can’t say it’s especially memorable, Snow White herself (Doris Wiekow) is a delicate charmer who could pass for a teenage Edwige Fenech.
With FRAU HÖLLE, on the other hand, Holditz’s attention to blatantly artificial theatrical staging achieves a level of genius. A less familiar story than the other, this one concerns a widowed woman (Elfriede Florin) left with a lazy and thoroughly disagreeable daughter (Katharina Lind, who steals the film) whom she spoils and dotes upon, and a cheerful hard-working step-daughter (Karin Ugowski) whom she ignores. The latter falls down a well while attempting to clean a weaving spool and spends an indeterminate length of time in the service of the title character (Mathilde Daneggar) who rewards her by sending her back home bedecked in gold. This leads the jealous step-sibling to follow in her footsteps, but she cannot hide her essential nature and gets her just desserts.
The production design of Erich Krüllke and Werner Pieske (their first film!) takes a storybook approach, often giving us just enough to fill in sometimes enormous gaps with our own imagination. As with the other Holditz film, there are no real exteriors; the exteriors are created on soundstages, but in this case, no attempt is made to make anything look real. The trees might be customized coat racks, fields of flowers are meticulously made from colored paper cut-outs, clouds are cotton wadding, and snow falls are flaked with feathers. A fully appointed stove appears to have racks of convincingly shaded spoons and other cookware painted onto the wall behind. It’s the closest thing I’ve seen to storybook expressionism, and I was frequently astonished by how staging challenges were met, far exceeding my expectations. I was reminded at times of Cocteau’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946) and how it had the power to dazzle with simple in-camera tricks rather than extravagant special effects. At 57m, FRAU HÖLLE is even shorter than the other Holditz film sharing its disc, but I guarantee that its lessons about the essentials of filmmaking will stay with you for a long time.
Incidentally, it must be noted that no English dubs are provided. Each film is presented in German with English subtitles only, so this set is less intended for children than for adults who have never grown up and are proud of it.
Samm Deighan provides the commentary for SNOW WHITE, while Michael Brooke tackles FRAU HÖLLE. I’m tied up with my own commentary duties at the moment, but I’m looking forward to revisiting both of these films through the lens of their expertise soon.
Available from https://deafcrocodile.com/products/defa-fairy-tales-box-set-deluxe-limited-edition.
(C) 2026 Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.
