"Das Zaubermännchen" is a German fairytale movie from 1960, so this one has its 60th anniversary this year in fact. It is a DEFA production, which means it is an East German film and many people say that if there is any genre, or any activity even, that the GDR really succeeded with, then fairytale films fit the description. I would not be overly enthusiastic with this one here, but I kinda agree. At slightly over 70 minutes, it is definitely not the longest film out there, but that is alright as it firs the material and no need to stretch it to 1.5 hours at any cost. The director here is Christoph Engel and this is pretty surprising because otherwise he was an extremely prolific actor and never directoed another film before or after this one here. Or wrote another because he is also one of a massive writing team of four people that adapted the Brothers Grimm tale into a movie here. The most known from the quartet is maybe Günter Kaltofen, even if he did not have a really long life, but he worked on several other GDR fairytale films too that I came across. So I just mentioned that this is a Brothers Grimm movie and this is where things get interesting. In fact, the tale this is based on is the famous Rumpelstilzchen that has been turned into movies so many times. However, the change of name into "Zaubermännchen" happened for a reason here. It basically means "Little man with magic abilities" and makes the title character sound a lot more friendly. And this is no coincidence. Early on, everything is still pretty normal, but the at the end, there is a mssive change. Normally, Rumpelstilzchen is the one and only main antagonist in these films and I must say I wondered why many times. Sure he is not the most friendly fella out there, but he made a deal, even if it is a pretty cruel deal, and a deal is a deal. So I always found it difficult with this movie to really cheer for the girl to defeat Rumpelstilzchen by knowing his name and actually frequently he blows up even in the end.
Here things go very differently. Rumpelstilzchen takes his defeat with grace and makes a statement even about how the people love her for what she has become, so there is even a bit of character transformation to her and the king. And the real antagonists are called out immediately afterwards and there are quite a few. These are in fact the ones who had slightly capitalist tendencies in the way they ran their work/business and also in the ways how they treated others. Several punishment are announced for these. So this is where you can really see where this film is from. I am not sure I agree with this ending, but with my views on Rumpelstilzchen and how he rarely really deserves what happens to him, i found it really refreshing to see such a different take on the story when it comes to closure. Alright, other than that, it is all fairly solid I suppose. The female main character did not in me over this time, maybe for subjective reasons because I did not think she was that attractive. I will not deny that. sets and costumes are okay, but do not really stand out. One thing that surprised me is the inclusion of several Swiss actors in this film. Now that certainly came out of nowhere, but well, back in 1961 the Wall did not exist yet (only in people's heads perhaps, where some have it to this day), so travelling was probably easier. One thing I like here is that some of the cast members who were really young when this film was made are still alive today. That's pretty nice. Overall, I give this film a thumbs-up and positive recommendation. Go check it out. I think it is not one of DEFA's best or worst, but somewhere in the middle. It's closer to a weak watch than to a great watch for sure, but it's still an okay watch overall. I also feel somehow that I perhaps would not have enjoyed it as much if it was in black-and-white. Oh yeah, two final notes: The way one character talks to the audience directly very early on was interesting. It also made me think that they were sending the audience here more of a message than you would initially expect from a fairytale and the ending confirms this as I elaborated on earlier. And last note goes to the nice little animation pieces when the actors' names are shown on the screen early on. Yep those were the days when the credits came in at the beginning frequently, probably also something younger film audiences have not come across yet. One more reason to watch this one. Go for it!
Here things go very differently. Rumpelstilzchen takes his defeat with grace and makes a statement even about how the people love her for what she has become, so there is even a bit of character transformation to her and the king. And the real antagonists are called out immediately afterwards and there are quite a few. These are in fact the ones who had slightly capitalist tendencies in the way they ran their work/business and also in the ways how they treated others. Several punishment are announced for these. So this is where you can really see where this film is from. I am not sure I agree with this ending, but with my views on Rumpelstilzchen and how he rarely really deserves what happens to him, i found it really refreshing to see such a different take on the story when it comes to closure. Alright, other than that, it is all fairly solid I suppose. The female main character did not in me over this time, maybe for subjective reasons because I did not think she was that attractive. I will not deny that. sets and costumes are okay, but do not really stand out. One thing that surprised me is the inclusion of several Swiss actors in this film. Now that certainly came out of nowhere, but well, back in 1961 the Wall did not exist yet (only in people's heads perhaps, where some have it to this day), so travelling was probably easier. One thing I like here is that some of the cast members who were really young when this film was made are still alive today. That's pretty nice. Overall, I give this film a thumbs-up and positive recommendation. Go check it out. I think it is not one of DEFA's best or worst, but somewhere in the middle. It's closer to a weak watch than to a great watch for sure, but it's still an okay watch overall. I also feel somehow that I perhaps would not have enjoyed it as much if it was in black-and-white. Oh yeah, two final notes: The way one character talks to the audience directly very early on was interesting. It also made me think that they were sending the audience here more of a message than you would initially expect from a fairytale and the ending confirms this as I elaborated on earlier. And last note goes to the nice little animation pieces when the actors' names are shown on the screen early on. Yep those were the days when the credits came in at the beginning frequently, probably also something younger film audiences have not come across yet. One more reason to watch this one. Go for it!