The Singing Ringing Tree

The Singing Ringing Tree (German: Das singende, klingende Bäumchen) is a children's film made by East German studio DEFA in 1957 and shown in the form of a television series by the BBC. It is a story written by Anne Geelhaar based on a variation of "Hurleburlebutz" by the Brothers Grimm[1][2] , directed by Francesco Stefani.

For the musical sculpture in England of the same name, see Singing Ringing Tree (Panopticons).
The Singing Ringing Tree
Directed byFrancesco Stefani
Produced byAlexander Delete
Written byAnne Geelhaar
Francesco Stefani
StarringRichard Krüger
Eckart Dux
Christel Bodenstein
Music byHeinz-Friedel Heddenhausen
CinematographyKarl Plintzner
Release date
13 December 1957
Running time
73 mins
CountryEast Germany
LanguageGerman

Plot summary

The story concerns a beautiful but selfish and haughty princess who rejects the proposal of a wealthy prince.[3] She scorns the gifts he offers her, and says that she will marry him only if he brings her the mythical "singing ringing tree". The prince locates the tree in the territory of an evil dwarf, who offers to give him the enchanted tree, on the understanding that, if the princess still rejects him, he will be in the dwarf's power and will be turned into a bear. Because the tree will only sing and ring when the princess falls in love with the prince, she is disappointed in it and continues to reject the prince. The prince is forced to return to the dwarf's lair and is turned into a bear.

The princess sends her father to find the singing ringing tree for her, but he is met by the prince, in the guise of a bear, who gives him the tree on condition that the king returns with the first thing the king sees on his return. This turns out to be the princess, who is now delivered into the hands of the dwarf. The dwarf, seeing the princess's self-centred behaviour, casts a spell to make her ugly. The bear tells her that she will regain her beauty only if she changes her ways. Gradually she is won over by the bear and becomes beautiful again. Despite the dwarf's attempts to keep her and the prince apart, she eventually falls in love with him and the singing ringing tree finally lives up to its name.

Cast

In credits order.

  • Christel Bodenstein as the haughty princess
  • Charles Hans Vogt as the king
  • Eckart Dux as the handsome prince/bear
  • Richard Krüger as the dwarf
  • Dorothea Tiesing as the nurse
  • Günther Polensen as the captain of the guard
  • Fredy Barton as the minister
  • Egon Vogel as captain and master of ceremonies
  • Paul Knopf as the guardian
  • Paul Pfingst as Bauer
  • Friedrich Teitge as the gardener
  • Maria Besendahl (Anna-Maria Besendahl) as the herbalist

Production

The film was shot in colour entirely in the studio in Potsdam, Brandenburg, East Germany.[4] There was later confusion as to whether the actor who played the dwarf was named Richard Krüger and died in Strasbourg, or was Hermann Emmrich who died in 1995 and is buried in Prenzlau in north eastern Germany. It is now thought that they were one and the same person.[5]

Release

After its release in East Germany, it sold 5,901,141 tickets in the country of about 17 million.[6] The film was then purchased by the BBC and cut into three parts to create a mini-series which was first broadcast on black and white television from 19 November 1964 to 3 December 1964 as part of Tales from Europe, with an English-language voice-over track (not dubbed, however; the original soundtrack was simply faded up and down). It was repeated many times through to 1980. In 1988 it was released on VHS video in Germany and it is now available on a DVD. It is currently available on Amazon Prime.

UK reactions

The TV series, partly due to its foreignness as both fairy tale and for the unfamiliarity of its German production, was 'indelibly carved on the psyches'[7] as 'one of the most frightening things ever shown on children's television'.[8] The release of the DVD version in 2002 spurred renewed interest in it.[8][9] A Radio Times readers' poll in 2004 voted this programme the 20th spookiest TV show ever.

The Fast Show parody

A spoof of the series was created as a sketch in the last season of The Fast Show, entitled, The Singing Ringing Binging Plinging Tinging Plinking Plonking Boinging Tree.[7][8]

gollark: ++experimental_qa "James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher" Had John had had had had had James?
gollark: Denied.
gollark: Yes.
gollark: Sending money is impossible for those who do not know what the limit of an infinite geometric series is.
gollark: GTech™ Experimental Bank Cuboid 113-τ actually charges 3% fees on transactions, but those are transactions so they also have a 3% fee.

References
  1. The Singing Ringing Tree ✭ Das Singende Klingende Bäumchen ✭ Full Movie HD
  2. "Grimm, Jacob und Wilhelm, Märchen, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812-15), Erster Band, Anhang, Zum Hurleburlebutz. No. 66. - Zeno.org". Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  3. The Chestnut: The Singing Ringing Tree
  4. Film Encyclopedia (German language). Retrieved 31 December 2012
  5. Nord kurier DEFA star in Prenzlau (German language) Archived 9 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 December 2012
  6. List of the 50 highest-grossing DEFA films.
  7. John Guy Collick (30 April 2013). "The Singing Ringing Tree".
  8. Mark Hudson (30 March 2002). "Return of the teatime terror". Daily Telegraph.
  9. "The Singing Ringing Tree". BBC Radio 4 Arts and Drama. 28 December 2002.
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