Mother Holly (1963) User Reviews (2)

Good behaviour for reward

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 24 April 2019]

The twenty fourth story from the first volume of Brothers Grimm's 'Kinder- und Hausmärchen', 'Frau Holle' may not be one of my favourite stories or fairy-tales, being one that was introduced to me when quite a bit older rather than being one of those growing-up-with stories. It is however a very interesting story from a thematic standpoint and teaches good and important lessons that are valuable and relevant today still. Do like it very much, especially for the titular character who is very memorable and iconic.

DEFA's 1963 version of 'Frau Holle' is one of a number of a fairy/folk tale adaptations made in East Germany, some better and more popular than others but they are worth the look and better done than most fairy/folk tale adaptations, regardless of their age. 'Frau Holle' is not one of the best of them, do prefer 'Heart of Stone', 'Three Wishes for Cinderella' and 'The Singing Ringing Tree' for examples, but it is still nicely done and follows the original closely and with respect.

It takes time to get going and there are times where it did feel on the stagy side, sometimes feeling more of a filmed stage version.

Although suitably spiteful, Katharina Lind overdoes it a little as Pechmarie.

However, it is a nice-looking, if very simple, adaptation of 'Frau Holle'. The production design is suitably rustic and colourful and didn't look simplistic, while it is beautifully shot in colour that never looked too drab or garishly gaudy. Budget limitations show at times but not in a way that looks amateurish. The music didn't feel at odds with what was going on and fitted while not always enhancing.

Writing doesn't become too cheesy or camp, while being fun enough to stop the treatment of the story from being taken too seriously. When it got going, the story had immense charm and was engaging, it was easy to follow without being too simple and nothing childish or too scary. It is a respectful as an adaptation as is the spirit, even if at times dramatically it could have had a little more kick in spots. Generally it didn't feel too long, with 'Frau Holle' not being as slight as other fairy-tales so there is more story in it, and scenes didn't feel padded out.

'Frau Holle's' characters are immensely engaging. Identified every step of the way with Goldmarie and Frau Holle herself is both benevolent and mysterious. Much of the acting serves the adaptation well, especially Karin Ugwoski as Goldmarie with Mathilde Danegger also the embodiment of Frau Holle. Elfriede Florin is an appropriately nasty step-mother and doesn't overplay too much.

Summing up, a worthwhile watch and a good way to introduce one to the story if one doesn't know it already. 7/10

The eternal tale of Pechmarie and Goldmarie

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 23 November 2016]

"Frau Holle" is a German fairy tale from the famous Brothers Grimm and here we have one of the more known film adaptations of this one. It is from 1963, so already 53 years old and it is a DEFA film, which means it is from the German Democratic Republic. Like many other of the country's fairy tale adaptations, this is relatively short, stays slightly under the 60 minute mark. The director is successful GDR filmmaker (also for more serious films) Gottfried Kolditz and he worked also on the script together with Günter Kaltofen, the GDR's most successful fairy tale film writer probably. The cast is predominantly female and includes also actresses that appeared in other GDR fairy tale films, such as Karin Ugowski, who is in her 70s today and still acting occasionally. About the story, I guess there is not too much to say. People who consider seeing this have certainly heard of the tale of Frau Holle with the hard-working girl and the lazy girl and the challenges they are posed by Frau Holle and of course the reward they are eventually getting. Even if you could see a political, communistic message in here that only the hard-working will be rewarded in the end, it is still a fairly unpolitical movie I guess and it is refreshing to see this from the GDR, a country that certainly does not have so many good films sadly and a big part of the country's résumé is also somewhat propaganda stuff that is not worth seeing. But the GDR's fairy tale films are pretty much top-notch and this was an entertaining watch as well. The story is close enough to the original, the acting is okay and it's definitely on the charming side and they did good in keeping it short and essential and keeping it from becoming bloated. If there is anything to criticize here, then this would maybe be the visual side. Frau Holle offers possibilities that many other fairy tale films do not offer in terms of making it a visually impressive watch (the cloud world, the pouring of gold etc.), but these have definitely not been fulfilled. It is underwhelming to that regard. But all in all, the good outweighs the bad and I recommend checking it out. Thumbs up.