The Story of Little Mook

An English dubbed version of the 1953 East German film Die Geschichte von Kleinen Muck directed by Wolfgang Staudte, best known for his neo-realistic anti-Nazi film The Murderers Are Among Us (1946), The Story of Little Mook is one of only a few titles available from the prolific Staudte, who died at the age of 78 in 1984, bringing to a close a career that spanned nearly 50 years and included over 70 works for film and television. One of the most successful children's films of the era, Little Mook chronicles the adventures of a little hunchback boy in an Arabian Nights-like setting, who sets off to find the Merchant of Luck. Along the way he encounters a strange woman from whom he steals magic slippers and a magic walking stick; the former helping him to run incredibly fast, while the latter works like a divining rod (but instead of finding water, it locates gold). Little Mook becomes the royal runner for the Sultan, thereby incurring the jealous rage of royal bad guys who set out to get rid of him. Over the course of the story, Mook saves a peasant girl's life, frees a slave, averts a war, gets even with the royal bad guys, and helps the princess marry her one true love. Technically, the dubbing isn't too distracting and the visual quality is very good considering this title's age (I expected to see some color distortion--faded colors, pink and green tints--but couldn't find any evidence of deterioration). I'm not sure whether contemporary children accustomed to today's computer-generated special effects-laden films will be enthralled by this, but I would still recommend it both as a good children's film and for its historical significance in cinema. Other titles available in the Old World Fairy Tales series include: The Devil's Three Golden Hairs, The Golden Goose and The Singing, Ringing Tree. Aud: C, P. (L. Stevens)