Deaf Crocodile tucks us in for DEFA FAIRY TALES (review)

After World War II, West Germany embraced capitalist ideals and Hollywood-style cinema while Soviet-controlled East Germany took a Utopian approach to their cinema through DEFA studio using film to instill communist ideals including fairy tales whose moral lessons stressed the value of hard work and the corruption of greed with familiar-yet-unfamiliar tellings of SNOW WHITE and LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD along with the less-familiar stateside MOTHER HULDA in which a put-upon stepdaughter dives into a well to retrieve a lost spindle and finds herself high above in the clouds, THE DEVIL'S THREE GOLDEN HAIRS in which a young man travels to Hell to trick the devil in order to win the hand of a princess and save his death-ridden village, and SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED in which two sisters fight an evil mountain spirit to free the princes they love from a curse.

REVIEW LINK: Deaf Crocodile (U.S.) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

DEFA Fairy Tales Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One:
• Snow White:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Samm Deighan 
• Mother Hulda:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English and English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Michael Brooke 
• Disc Two:
• Little Red Riding Hood:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.36:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English and English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historians Shelagh Rowen-Lagg and Anne Golden 
• Disc Three:
• The Devil's Three Golden Hairs:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 Widescreen
• German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English and English SDH Subtitles 
• Disc Four:
• Snow White and Rose Red:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English and English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Samm Deighan 
• "Socialist Fantasies, the Bros. Grimm and DEFA Studios: Fairytale Filmmaking in East Germany" visual essay by film historian Evan Chester
• Interview with comics artist, film historian, and author Stephen R. Bissette by Deaf Crocodile's Dennis Bartok (94 minutes)

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