Rumpelstiltskin (1987)

Cannon Movie Tales version of the Rumpelstiltskin story. I enjoy quite a few of these movies, despite their low budgets and high cheese factor, but this one is not good. Amy Irving plays the woman who, when forced to spin straw into gold, turns to the magical dwarf Rumpelstiltskin for help. In her thirties by this point, Irving is too old for a part that seems to be written with a woman in her late teens or early twenties in mind. This movie is a family affair for Irving. Her brother David wrote and directed it (his first of three Cannon Movie Tales films) and her mother, Priscilla Pointer, plays the nasty Queen. Even her stepfather, Robert Symonds, gets in on the act and plays her father here. Billy Barty plays the title character and clearly is having a good time, which goes a long way towards making this work as much as it does. His constant rhyming gets old quickly, though. Clive Revill plays the gold-hungry King and appears to be having quite a good time himself. John Moulder-Brown, with his ridiculous wig and all-kinds-of-wrong mustache, is the weakest part of the cast. As with all these Cannon fairy tale films, they take a short story and stretch it to the breaking point. This has some truly putrid songs that will test your will to live. The production values are not good and the film looks drab and cheap at all times. The cheapness is never more evident than the gold straw that is obviously just Christmas tinsel. It's really a stinker and I wouldn't recommend you start with this one if you are wanting to try out the Cannon Movie Tales series.

Billy Barty is Rumplestilskin. good enough for me. any movie that showcases Barty's acting talent is watchable for that alone. this also happens to be a Cannon Farietale family musical, and i'm partial to those, so that makes for double enjoyment here.this also has Amy Irving. cool. she was in 'Carrie' and 'The Fury'. cool. i love those horror flicks. she's good in this movie and does a decent job of singing and is often pretty funny too. can't say Irving is one of my favorite actresses or anything, but i've always liked her and been aware of her even though i don't seem to know anything about her. she's always seemed a likable enough presence in film.the songs here are nice although i doubt they'll stop any show sometime soon. but i guess if forgettable tripe like 'The Fantastiks' can go on to become one of the longest running musical plays in theater history, than i suppose the music here will more than suffice. compare this musical score with say 'Stop the World' or the musical version of 'Lost Horizon' and you might rethink the music score here as fresh and breezy in contrast with that muck.i liked this. i like Cannon Farie Tale musicals and i like fairy tale films in general. as long as they are the authentic thing and not just a bunch of revisionist hogwash. that's what is so often good about the Cannon Farie Tales, they don't attempt to rewrite the Fairy tales and usually present them as straight forward as possible.personally, i liked Shelley Duvall's 'Rumplestilskin' better. probably because i think that Herve Villechaize is a more interesting actor than Barty. with due respect to Barty of course. i just don't think that Barty's career had the same cutting edge to it that Villechaize's did.it's pretty easy to recommend Cannon Farie Tales to families. they are wholesome and unoffensive and pretty good for kids in terms of quality and intellect. they are definitely smarter property than what is usually sold to kids and families. with the recent trend and interest in fairy tales, Cannon also offers the more genuine thing without a bunch of big studio marketing rewrite.

Liza-19's comments were absoulutly beautiful.I feel the same way about stupid little cartons,Cannon Movie Tales,and Faerie Tale Theatre's from when I was a child.I did not see this as a child.I swear that I saw something like this on TV when I was a kid though.I dont know what station it was on but I may have only caught the ending.I dont remember where I watched it.How Strange!This was interesting.It is definatly not the best Cannon Movie Tale.This film can be rather boring at times,but it is good because of great acting,sets,songs etc. I loved the movie!It has good production values.This was the first Cannon Movie Tale.I would call it THE TEST MOVIE TALE.It was the one that tested whether or not they made more of the Movie Tales.They liked this one so they made others.This one is something that is age appropriate for everyone.There is nothing that is frightening or scary.Youre child would have to be really easily scared to get scared in this one.

After years and years of searching, I am so proud to say, I do finally own a copy of this wonderful fairy tale. As a child of the 1980s, this was my absolute favorite and I rented it time and time again from my town library, in fact I rented it so many times that the tape wore out... um... Honestly, I have no idea who did that!I can't help but love this movie! I saw it for the first time when I was six years old and have been an Amy Irving fan ever since. As it turns out, her entire family was involved in this production. Her mom, Priscilla Pointer plays the queen (which she must have had a blast doing) her brother David Irving is the director (a very nice guy, I'm so lucky to have spoken with him personally) and her stepfather Robert Symonds plays the miller to perfection.Long before I knew the Irving connection I loved this movie. I grew up watching all the Faerie Tale Theatres and the Cannon Movie Tales but this was my all-time favorite. I grew up singing "Queen of the Castle" and "Miller's Daughter" and nothing, no matter how great a cinematic achievement will ever compete with this in my mind.I suppose those movies that were special to us when we were children will always be perfect in our minds despite their flaws. But, I don't care. Rumpelstiltskin has no flaws. It's a lovely story. Wonderfully acted, beautifully sung, and lovingly directed. I spent years and years searching for this film, enquiring at every movie store and every rental place I ever came across. I cannot begin to say how much this movie meant to me.Now I am actually a film student myself. Although this is a children's film and I'm in my twenties, this is one movie that I'll watch my entire life. Thank you, Amy, David, Priscilla, and Robert for inspiring me so much! I grew up watching this movie, and as a film student I know that no matter how many times I see "Casablanca" or "Lawrence of Arabia" or even "Mulholland Dr" it's the movies that I watched when I was a child that will always hold a permanent place in my heart. So what if I did have a thing for John Moulder-Brown? So what if I saw every Amy Irving movie as a direct result of this? Say all you want about Citizen Kane, it's the movies like these that you watch devotedly when you're six years old that can get you hooked for life. How can you thank someone for giving you the love of movies and inspiring you in your future career? It is a children's film, but one that I will watch until I'm ninety.