The Disney Channel aired a surreal version of the classic fairy tale Hansel and Gretel on Halloween in 1983. The 35-minute live-action short, directed by then-unknown filmmaker Tim Burton, featured Japanese actors in the parts of the siblings who are hunted by a cannibal witch deep in the forest and lured to a house made of cake and candy.
The film's near avant-garde sets reveal the beginnings of a style that would later become popular in Burton's Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, here more spare. Burton made the movie while employed as an animator at Disney for a mere $116,000. The short practically vanished from the face of the Earth — at least until this week when some kind soul posted it to YouTube.
Travel back in time to Burton's early years, before the 3D and the disastrous, Depp-filled insanity of his Alice in Wonderland.
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