So, I mentioned in my review of ‘The Singing Ringing Tree’ that I had been browsing CEX in Tonbridge a few years ago when I came across the ‘Tales From Europe’ boxset for £5 which contained ‘The Singing Ringing Tree’ and ‘The Tinderbox’. The boxset sat on my pile of shame for many years and I've only just got around to watching the films from this collection due to having poor WiFi and thus, limited access to Netflix and other streaming platforms.
This boxset is available for about £5.99, which is excellent value.
'The Tinderbox' is a retelling of the classic tale by Hans Christian Anderson, in which a soldier meets a witch whilst returning from war. She offers him the opportunity to become wealthy by climbing down a hollow tree trunk into the caverns below and retrieve some gold, alongside a tinderbox. The soldier gets the item but is betrayed by the witch, but he does escape and becomes fabulously wealthy. However, will he fulfill the prophecy and win the heart of a pure princess? It's a fairytale so what do you think?
Like 'The Singing Ringing Tree', with which it shares a lot of DNA, the sets in ‘The Tinderbox’ are beautifully realised with vibrant colours almost jumping off the screen, even after 50 years. The costumes are gorgeously detailed and considering that there are considerably more people in this production than ‘The Singing Ringing Tree’, must have been quite an undertaking. I'm unsure as to where it drew inspiration from for its locale but there are a lot of town scenes and they look great as there is a lot of care taken to capture the feel of the architecture of the period, which is 18th/ early 19th century Germanic I feel, but what do I know about historic architecture?
’The Tinderbox’ must have been quite an expensive production, however the special effects look laughable now, but what do you expect after such a long time? The three big dogs that help the soldier are just regular dogs superimposed upon the set and their eyes that are supposed to be as big as saucers don’t look the part as they used eye shadow and sparklers but the story is wonderful and engaging, as most fairy tales are, and the earnestness of the actors and actresses shines through.
The film has little dialogue and so even though it is spoken in German it is very easy to understand. The English subtitles are large and clear and easily readable. There is an english narrative option too but I prefer the German audio track with the english subtitles.
The film clock in at 1 hour 10 minutes and is well worth a visit as it is a charming tale, well told.
LINK- The Singing Ringing Tree: Cult TV Review
LINK- Jim Henson’s The Storyteller
LINK- The Secret Garden (BBC)- Cult TV Review
LINK- Dead of Night: Cult TV Review
LINK- Children of the Stones: Cult TV Series Review
LINK- The Stone Tapes: Cult TV Review
LINK- Tom’s Midnight Garden: Cult TV Review
LINK- Children of the Dogstar: Cult TV Series Review
LINK- Day of the Triffids (1981 BBC): Cult TV Series Review