Jack Zipes - The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-tale Films

The Enchanted Screen

Jack Zipes takes us beyond Disney and DreamWorks to the many films that draw on fairy-tale sorcery for their cinematic power. With fierce analytic energy, encyclopedic inclusiveness, and imaginative verve, he enlivens an expansive history that reaches back to Georges Mliss enchantments and ends with the complex grotesqueries of Pans Labyrinth and Little Otik.

Maria Tatar, Harvard University

The Enchanted Screen is a labor of love and a major work of scholarship, encyclopedic in reach and rich in sustained and detailed thinking. The unknown history of fairy-tale film is lucky to have found such a skilled and dedicated narrator.

Stephen Benson, University of East Anglia Norwich

The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films offers readers a long overdue, comprehensive look at the rich history of fairy tales and their influence on film, complete with the inclusion of an extensive filmography compiled by the author. With this book, Jack Zipes not only looks at the extensive, illustrious life of fairy tales and cinema, but he also reminds us that, decades before Walt Disney made his mark on the genre, fairy tales were central to the birth of cinema as a medium, as they offered cheap, copyright-free material that could easily engage audiences not only through their familiarity but also through their dazzling special effects.

Since the story of fairy tales on film stretches far beyond Disney, this book discusses a broad range of films silent, English and non-English, animated, live-action, puppetry, woodcut, montage (Jim Henson), cartoon, and digital. Zipes thus gives his readers an in-depth look into the special relationship between fairy tales and cinema, and guides us through this vast array of films by tracing the adaptations of major fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Snow White, Peter Pan, and many more, from their earliest cinematic appearances to today.

Full of insight into some of our most beloved films and stories, and boldly illustrated with numerous film stills, The Enchanted Screen is essential reading for film buffs and fans of the fairy tale alike.

Jack Zipes is Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota. An acclaimed translator and scholar of childrens literature and culture, his most recent books include Relentless Progress: The Reconfiguration of Childrens Literature, Fairy Tales, and Storytelling; The Collected Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales of Giuseppe Pitr; Why Fairy Tales Stick; Hans Christian Andersen: The Misunderstood Storyteller; Beautiful Angiola; and The Robber with the Witchs Head, all published by Routledge.

The Enchanted Screen

The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films

Jack Zipes

NEW YORK AND LONDON

First published 2011
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011.

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2011 Taylor & Francis

The right of Jack Zipes to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Zipes, Jack, 1937
The enchanted screen : the unknown history of fairy-tale films / Jack Zipes.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
Includes filmography.
1. Fairy tales in motion pictures. 2. Fairy talesFilm adaptations. I. Title.
PN1995.9.F34Z57 2011
791.43'6559dc22
2010042961

ISBN 0-203-92749-4 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN13: 9780415990622 (hbk)

ISBN13: 9780415990615 (pbk)

ISBN13: 9780203927496 (ebk)

It is rare to have great scholars who are also great friends, and so I want to dedicate this book to Cristina Bacchilega, Don Haase, and Marina Warner, who have supported my efforts over the years and kept the critical fairy-tale spirit alive in extraordinary ways.