Rent Into the Forest: Folktales at DEFA (1989)
3.6 of 5 from 45 ratings
6h 31min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Between 1950 and 1989, the East German studio DEFA produced a huge number of Märchenfilme, or adaptations of popular fairy and folktales. By turns macabre, heartwarming, odd, whimsical and occasionally downright frightening, these visually arresting and luridly colourful pictures drew on the works of authors such as Wilhelm Hauff, Hans Christian Andersen and, above all, the Brothers Grimm. Some of the finest - and darkest - DEFA folktales include The Devil from Mill Mountain, The Singing Ringing Tree, Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood and The Devil's Three Golden Hairs. In The Devil from Mill Mountain, a greedy miller attracts the ire of forest spirits when he and his accomplices disguise themselves as demons to burn down a rival mill. In The Singing Ringing Tree, a young prince must find a legendary tree to win the heart of an icy princess - and risks being transformed into a bear if she fails to fall in love with him. Rumpelstiltskin follows a young woman whose boastful father claims she can spin straw into gold, leading her to make an ill-advised pact with a magical imp. Then, the eponymous Little Red Riding Hood sets off to see her sick grandmother, relying on her friends the rabbit and the bear to help her evade the cunning fox and the big bad wolf. Finally, The Devil's Three Golden Hairs sees an unfortunate young man tasked with travelling into hell to retrieve three golden hairs from the Devil himself. DEFA's Märchenfilme were perhaps the most enduringly successful genre films produced in East Germany, remaining popular for as long as the German Democratic Republic existed - but they are criminally under-seen outside of the former Eastern Bloc. Filled with uncanny imagery and socialist messaging in equal measure, DEFA's folktale adaptations are both immeasurably important to Germany's film heritage and wildly entertaining examples of popular European cinema. - Actors:
- Eva Kotthaus, Hans-Peter Minetti, Willy A. Kleinau, Werner Peters, Gerhard Frei, Heinz Kammer, Johannes Arpe, Marianne Rudolph, Josef Stauder, Gertrud Paulun, Hans Klering, Lotte Loebinger, Werner Tronjeck, Kurt Ulrich, Georg Niemann, Trude Brentina, Brigitte Lindenberg, Alfred Maack, Aribert Grimmer, Wolf von Beneckendorff
- Directors:
- Herbert Ballmann
- Writers:
- Kurt Bortfeldt, Anneliese Probst
- Aka:
- Der Teufel vom Mühlenberg / Red Cap
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Children & Family, Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
- Countries:
- Germany
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 27/07/2026
- Run Time:
- 391 minutes
- Languages:
- English, German
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Various
- Colour:
- Colour and B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- New audio commentary on 'The Devil from Mill Mountain' by film historian Michael Brooke
- New audio commentary on 'Rumpelstiltskin' by Sam Goff, editorial director for Klassiki and host of The Klassiki Kino Club podcast
- Fairytales and Nightmares - new interview with writer, broadcaster and Fortean Times columnist Bob Fischer on the history of 'The Singing Ringing Tree'
- DEFA and the Devil - new video essay on the depiction of the Devil in folktales from the Brothers Grimm to DEFA by film and literature scholar Mary Going
- The Magic Scissors (Bruno J. Böttge, 1956) - short silhouette animation inspired by traditional folktales and produced by the DEFA Studio for Animation Film
- Sleeping Beauty Was a Beautiful Child (Katja Georgi, 1987) - short puppet animation adapted from Sleeping Beauty by the DEFA Studio for Animation Film
- The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats (Otto Sacher, 1990) - short cut-out animation adapted from the Brothers Grimm story by the DEFA Studio for Animation Film
- Disc 1:
- Disc 2:
- Disc 3: