The Grimm brothers Wilhelm and Jacob, known for their literary works in the nineteenth century, have their lives dramatized. Wilhelm fights to write something entertaining amongst the sea of dry, non-fiction books they write and he sets about collecting oral-tradition fairy tales to put into print. Their life story is countered with reenactments of three of their stories including "The Dancing Princess," "The Cobbler and the Elves" and "The Singing Bone."
Laurence Harvey
as Wilhelm Grimm / Cobbler (segment "The Cobbler and the Elves")
Karlheinz Böhm
as Jacob Grimm
Claire Bloom
as Dorothea Grimm
Walter Slezak
as Stossel
Barbara Eden
as Greta Heinrich
Oskar Homolka
as The Duke ('The Dream')
Arnold Stang
as Rumpelstiltskin
Martita Hunt
as Anna Richter
Betty Garde
as Miss Bettenhausen
Bryan Russell
as Friedrich Grimm
Ian Wolfe
as Gruber
Tammy Marihugh
as Pauline Grimm
