The Singing Ringing Tree UK TV Colour ?

[LanceM]

Hello All,

I was looking around you-tube when I saw this odd looking clip. The description it gave states this was originally shown in the UK in the 1960's, but was in Black and White. Here is what appears to be color footage of The Singing Ringing Tree. This footage is accompanied by a song from the Associates of the same name, that was unreleased and accompanies the footage throughout. Was hoping people here might find this interesting to see. Since I remember some discussion about this title a while back, enjoy:

youtube.com/watch?v=JRHb2CRMBAg

Lance.

[hartley967]

Yes its a lovely film,

There has been some controversy over the fact that it might have been originally an East German communist propaganda film with hidden messages, as it had been on the shelf forgotten a long time by the time the BBC got it
but I doubt if children remember it for that?

This was on the BBC's children's show 'Tales From Europe' .These were films the BBC bought in from Europe and then maybe cut into a series? They were dubbed into English very crudely , but this gave them their own charm.
Best remembered are
Robinson Crusoe
The Flashing Blade
The White Horses

[Daniel O'Brien]

hartley967 said:

Yes its a lovely film,

There has been some controversy over the fact that it might have been originally an East German communist propaganda film with hidden messages, as it had been on the shelf forgotten a long time by the time the BBC got it
but I doubt if children remember it for that?

This was on the BBC's children's show 'Tales From Europe' .These were films the BBC bought in from Europe and then maybe cut into a series? They were dubbed into English very crudely , but this gave them their own charm.
Best remembered are
Robinson Crusoe
The Flashing Blade
The White Horses

'The Singing Ringing Tree' was a colour feature film that the BBC divided into episodes to make an ersatz serial, with an English narrator talking over the German dialogue. The original 1960s BBC broadcast would have been in b/w but it was certainly reshown in colour more than once.

'Robinson Crusoe', 'White Horses' and 'The Flashing Blade' were all European co-productions made as TV serials, the first two in b/w. I disagree that the English dubbing for 'Flashing Blade' was crude. It's no worse than the dubbing for many feature films made around the same time (1967). I've seen the last episode in its original French version and I have to say I thought the BBC dub was better, especially in the use of music. Of course, that may be childhood nostalgia at work. As a rule, I'm against dubbing foreign language TV and films (with the exception of 'Monkey!', maybe).