Rumpelstiltskin

"Rumpelstiltskin" is another Cannon Movie Tale that does a fine job with it's classic material. Few film versions of "Rumpelstiltskin" have been made, so it's lucky they did right by the story. Amy Irving as Katie, the miller's daughter is lovely, and sings well, too. Billy Barty is a suitably creepy Rumpelstiltskin. The true stars, however, are Clive Revill as the greedy King,and Priscilla Pointer (Amy Irving's real-life mother) as the snobbish Queen. Both give intentionally hammy performances which are delightful to watch. The supporting cast includes John Moulder Brown as the Prince, Director David Irving's wife Susan Berlin as the cook's wife (star Amy Irving is his sister) and Robert Symonds, husband of Pointer, and Irving's stepfather as the Miller. Good songs, good period atmosphere, good movie.

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.

Amy Irving has always been an underrated actress in my book. She gets a nice leading role here and even gets to showcase her lovely singing voice, but the film itself lacks spark. The songs themselves aren't half bad and some are even semi-memorable, but the script and direction are pedestrian at best and I can't imagine children (who this film is aimed for) would find it terribly exciting or entertaining.

Billy Barty is also very good as the titular character as well.

While not the best of the Cannon Movie Tale films (Hansel and Gretel), it's not the weakest either (The Emperor's New Clothes). Instead it sits comfortably in the middle, and serves as a pretty good start.

Rumpelstiltskin is less than perfect (none of the Cannon Movie Tale films are, with the flaws varying in number and size for each). The Cannon Movie Tale films all had low budgets, which while rarely showing in the photography nearly always showed in the costumes for example. This is true for Rumpelstiltskin too, while nicely photographed the production is rather dimly lit, the sets are flat in colour and are the sort that were constructed on the lowest amount a shoe-string budget can get and the costumes (apart from an appropriate one and some effectively grotesque make-up for Rumpelstiltskin) are shoddy.

Like The Emperor's New Clothes and to a lesser extent The Frog Prince, Rumpelstiltskin also suffers from a story which, while great and nicely done in its own right, feels even when padded too short to suit a feature length film, some of the first half especially drags and has scenes going on longer than they need to. And while most of the songs are enjoyable, though not the strongest set from a Cannon Movie Tale production, one does miss big-time and that is, despite Clive Revill's enthusiasm and fine voice, the embarrassingly weird and not particularly necessary (seeing as it adds very little to what we already know about the King, and it seemed only to be there for convenience) I'm Greedy. John Moulder-Brown is very charming as the Prince, but doesn't have an awful lot to do and the character is not developed all that much.

The rest of the songs, a nice mix of bright and breezy and nostalgic pathos, do work nicely, with Queen of the Castle and Miller's Daughter being the highlights, and the incidental score is whimsical and characterful. The script is wonderfully witty in places, especially with the King and Rumpelstiltskin, and balances the serious parts of the story well without being too dark or heavy. The story is very padded, is not always successfully executed and there are liberties, but the whole basic story, characters and events are present and correct, and with an easy balance of the fun, the emotional, the charming and the creepy on the most part. The characters help make the film engaging and it's competently directed and staged throughout.

Of all the performances from a uniformly solid cast, Billy Barty steals the show as a truly grotesquely creepy and very entertainingly performed Rumpelstiltskin while Clive Revill matches him closely in a riotous turn as the hilariously pompous King. Priscilla Pointer is wonderfully snobbish, Robert Symonds plays the miller nobly and Amy Irving beguiles and affects as the heroine of the story (she acquits herself very well as a singer too), and shares an easy-going chemistry with Barty and Moulder-Brown in particular. Overall, a pretty good start for Cannon Movie Tales. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox

Not really *LOL* but I do like her opening song. The rest kind've stink, and only Billy Barty is really good in it... but he's good in everything! Definately for children. They'll love it! If you have children, and you aren't sure whether the story is too scary for them or not, just sit with them in your arms and let them bury their face in your shoulder. They'll never need you to sit with them again!