Tim Burton's Early (and Creepy) Vision of 'Hansel and Gretel'

On Halloween night 1983, the Disney Channel aired a bizarro live-action version of Hansel and Gretel that featured nightmare-inducing creations, creepy sets, and a climatic kung-fu brawl between the titular kids and the evil witch. The film never aired again, but its young director —a 25-year-old animator named Tim Burton — would go on to become one of the biggest filmmakers in Hollywood, thanks to such films like Beetlejuice (1988), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and Alice in Wonderland (2010).

Around the time Hansel aired, however, Burton was just another low-level employee at Disney, where he’d soon be dismissed — in part because his dark sensibilities clashed with the studio’s brightly colored worldview. Not surprisingly, Hansel — which followed his first film, the 1982 animated short Vincent — slid into obscurity and was presumed lost. But a copy was uncovered and presented at a 2009 Museum of Modern Art career retrospective of the director, and now, it's finally found its way online.

The film — shot on 16 millimeter and produced for $116,000 — is strange even for a Burton film (and that's saying something). But fans will easily recognize some of the trademarks of the director’s later work, most noticeably in its cartoon-y visuals and (in this case, literally) candy-colored palette. It’s a rare and exciting early glimpse of one of the most beloved modern-day directors — though don’t expect Burton himself to cue it up anytime soon: "The reason they don’t have a copy is because I tried to burn them all myself," he said of the creepy clip in 2009. "Those things were never meant to be seen."