Hansel and Gretel, the Silly Symphony and Before

"Babes in the Woods"
IMDB

"Two Dutch children stumble on a clearing in the woods where gnomes are going about their business. The gnomes are friendly to the children...."

I found this, after one of my kids asked about a cartoon we'd seen. She remembered it as a Hansel and Gretel adaptation, where the witch gets covered by something like chocolate and hardens. She thought it was a Disney cartoon, but I wasn't convinced.

I remembered the cartoon, too, and started a search: which led me to "Babes in the Woods." Wouldn't you know it, it's a Disney Silly Symphony. To make sure we were really looking at what we both remembered, we viewed "Babes in the Woods" on YouTube.

"Babes in the Woods (1932)"
Walt Disney Silly Symphony (1932)

YouTube video (July 7, 2008)
video (7:42)

No question about it: this was the 'hardened witch' cartoon.

I'd forgotten about the gnomish air corps: with geese and pumpkins.

Fun? I think so. But some people find stories like this scary.

I can see the point: thrown out of their home, lost in the woods, threatened by a cannibalistic nut, and forced to commit a particularly messy sort of murder in self-defense. Quite a kiddie story.

Project Gutenberg has an e-book copy of "Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm" (in English, thankfully), and TVTropes.com has a pretty good writeup about Hansel and Gretel.

I may have some very interesting dreams tonight.