I vestiti nuovi dell'Imperatore

These Cannon fairy tale movies have to be some of the weirdest movies I've ever seen. If you can get past that, they aren't too bad. I have also have seen the "Red Riding Hood movie", with Craig T. Nelson, which is similar in style and a little bit better. The movies are being shown on a locally hosted movie show in Cleveland called "The Big Chuck and Little John Show". They are very reminiscent of the kinds of low budget, semi-musical, family movies of the 1960s.

As for The Emperor's new clothes, The story is pretty basic. A couple of con men, con the vain emperor into believing that they have woven a set of clothes from threads made of diamonds. Of course the emperor has to provide lots of diamonds for the threads. The story holds true to the original tale. No one wants to look stupid by saying that they can't see the clothes, and when everyone around the emperor says what the emperor wants to hear, he believes it himself and makes a fool of himself. Kind of reminds you of some of our own leaders, doesn't it? In this story the emperor becomes a wiser man. We can only hope our own leaders learn the same lessons.

In the mix is also a love story between a princess, one of the tailors, and an evil aristocrat. I wouldn't pay to see this one, but I was entertained by its strangeness.

This Cannon Movie Tale is the worst of the lot, and is positive proof that a five minute fable does not a full-length film make. Poor Sid Caesar as the vain emperor, is made to look so stupid, it's hard to watch him. As the sly tailor, Robert Morse hasn't an ounce of charm. Neither does his hapless nephew (Jason Carter) The "songs" are dreadful and only slow what there is of the plot down. The direction is practically nonexistent, and the supporting characters add very little. Lysette Anthony is pretty as the emperor's daughter, but her voice has obviously been dubbed for some reason, a fate shared by many of the minor players. And the film crawls at a snails pace. Hans Christian Andersen must have been turning somersaults in his grave when this appeared. It can honestly be said, at least of this movie tale, it's no surprise that it went straight to video oblivion.

Upon the first viewing, I found this tale to be at least less annoying than other Cannon Movie Tales. After many more, I think it's one of the best. Some of the songs are pretty bad, especially the love song, but two things stand out that make the movie, even the singing, worthwhile. One is the art direction. Like the other Cannon Movie Tales, this is a beautifully decorated period piece; every piece of cloth and jewel (both of which have major parts in this movie's plot) look fresh and new, and contrast with the plain clothes of the peasants. Even during the love song I find myself studying the dress and hair of the princess, wonderfully done. The other thing is the comic timing. A lot of the movie is cheesy, but the emperor's vanity (and his making fun of himself in the end), the suspicious guard, the guard chasing Nicholas, and the stupid prince, were all quite funny and seem to be ridiculous quite on purpose. And the sequence during the song Weave-O makes up for the songs that weren't so good.

I have been a collector of the Cannon Movie Tales for years, and this one was a disappointment. The songs were ok, but far from impressive. The actors are okay, but rather boring. And there is really little to talk about. See the other movies in this series though. The Frog Prince, Rumpelstiltskin, and Beauty and the Beast are far, far superior. Skip this one, it isn't worth the trouble.

A shame really because some of them like Hansel and Gretel and Beauty and the Beast are very good, and most of them are well above decent though with some limitations. Sadly Cannon's version of The Emperor's New Clothes is not among their best work and is lacking in many areas, that the original story has never been one of my personal favourites in the first place may have a little to do with it but this does nothing to improve it.

The Emperor's New Clothes has a few things that make it bearable viewing. The costumes are splendidly over-the-top and colourful, with Cannon Movie Tales the costumes are often where the low budget is the most obvious but they're not as tacky as they could have been here. The photography is rustic and very nicely done, and the incidental score is characterful and typically whimsical.

However, the low budget does show, with some drab and recycled set designs and some scenes being lit in a dim, faded way. Of the Cannon Movie Tales, The Emperor's New Clothes despite having some good talent is one of the worst-acted, with Sid Caesar mumbling his way through the film like a zombie and on the other side of the spectrum Clive Revill mugging embarrassingly. Robert Morse despite having one of the best singing voices of the cast is charmless here and also does his fair share of mugging. Jason Carter and Lysette Anthony are attractive but bland and overwrought lovers. The songs are pretty poorly written and some of the most forgettable of any of Cannon Movie Tales' films, the love duet Is This a Love Song faring the worst.

Regarding the writing, it is never very funny or interesting, the satiric edge of the story is completely lost and favoured by knockabout slapstick that gets very juvenile and tedious and a dull, cheesily written and overwroughtly acted romantic subplot. A few of the Cannon Movie Tales films were disadvantaged by trying to pad out short stories not really suited for feature length, and The Emperor's New Clothes is the worst case, with the storytelling being dull, muddled and somewhat bloated from trying to cram in a substantial amount of material that added little and wasn't engaging enough. The ending is also rushed and too convenient, and both the pace and direction are as flat as a lead balloon.

In conclusion, has a few good points but is by quite some way Cannon Movie Tales' weakest. 3/10 Bethany Cox