Hansel and Gretel arrives on limited edition DVD and Blu-ray on April 22.
“Nibble, nibble, like a mouse; who is nibbling at my house?”
Who remembers Simon and the Witch on Children’s BBC? If you do, young Hansel, Hugh Pollard will look mighty familiar in Cannon’s adaptation of Engelbert Humperdinck’s operatic version of Hänsel und Gretel, which, strangely, apart from a few irritating songs, contains no opera whatsoever! However, back to the cast, as young Pollard isn’t the only familiar face, he is joined by a young Nicola Stapleton (aka Mandy Slater in EastEnders), the legendary Cloris Leachman as Griselda the Witch, the brilliant Emily Richard as the mum, and the fabulous David Warner as the dad. It’s a pretty impressive lineup for an ailing Cannon Film Group led by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, who released the dire Superman IV: The Quest for Peace the same year, all but putting the nail in the coffin of their film production arm.
During the 1980s, Cannon had maintained a healthy UK business, mainly due to their purchase of the Granada and ABC Cinema circuits, with films like Hansel and Gretel providing ready-made kids’ matinee treats without compromising to companies like Disney. It’s, therefore, sad that many will remember this Cannon movie from the Disney Channel, where it ended up following Cannon’s demise.
Like all of their “Cannon Movie Tales” series, Hansel and Gretel was shot back-to-back in Israel with another “Movie Tale”, Sleeping Beauty, starring Rebecca De Mornay and John Savage. As with all of Cannon’s conveyor belt movies, Hansel and Gretel clearly had a rushed shooting schedule and a shoestring budget. But it also had a great cast, and like all their “Movie Tales,” including Puss in Boots starring Christopher Walken and Jason Connery, it’s the cast that makes this sweet treat work.
Now, Capelight Pictures and Altitude are bringing this kid’s classic back to our screens with a new digitally restored special limited edition 2-disc mediabook on DVD and Blu-ray. While it may look dated now, this colourful Cannon Group story directed by Len Talan carries a truckload of charm and is undoubtedly one of the best “Cannon Movie Tales” out there. So take a bite of this sweet 80s nugget; you know you want to.
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