Eureka's Masters of Cinema look BENEATH THE TREES: FOLK TALES AT DEFA II (review)

While West Germany's film industry was competing with Hollywood and primarily Disney, East Germany was adapting folk tales and fairy tales with socialist ideals with adaptations of Hans Christian Andersen's THE TINDERBOX and THE ROBE (a zany take on "The Emperor's New Clothes" shot in 1961 but banned until 1991), the Brothers Grimm's SNOW WHITE, SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED, and THE FROG KING.

REVIEW LINK: Eureka Entertainment (U.K.) Region B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

BENEATH THE TREES: FOLKTALES AT DEFA Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One:
• The Tinderbox (1959):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by socialist cinema expert Ally Pitts, host of A Russian and Soviet Movie Podcast 
• 1964 U.K. Television English-Dubbed Version
• "An Enchanted Land" interview with German cinema expert Rachel Palfreyman
• Puppet Animations:
• "The Emperor’s New Clothes (Herbert K. Schulz, 1956)
• "The Fisherman and his Wife (Werner Krauße, 1975)
• "Beauty and the Beast (Katja Georgi, 1976) 
• Disc Two:
• Snow White (1961):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German LPCM 2.0 Mono 
• Optional English Subtitles 
• Snow White and Rose Red (1979):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles 
• "Mirror, Mirror" video essay by film and animation scholar Sam Summers 
• Disc Three:
• The Frog King (1988):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles 
• The Robe (1961/1991): 
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• German LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Michael Brooke 
• Limited collector's edition box set of 2,000 copies includes hardbound slipcase featuring new artwork by Carly A-F and a 60-page book featuring a new essay on the production design of DEFA’s folktales by Märchenfilme expert Corinna Alexandra Rader, new notes on each film in this set by DEFA historians Sebastian Heiduschke and Qinna Shen, plus the original Hans Christian Andersen and Brothers Grimm stories that inspired The Tinderbox, Snow White, Snow White and Rose Red, The Frog King and The Robe.