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.
Review of Rumpelstiltskin
