Search - Rumpelstiltskin (1987) (Ws Dub Sub) on DVD

The First Cannon Movie Tale

Heidi Anne Heiner | SurLaLune Fairy Tales.com | 06/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rumpelstiltskin was released in 1987 and starred Billy Barty as Rumpelstiltskin and Amy Irving as Katie, the miller's daughter. It's the well-known tale from Grimms expanded and made into a musical.



Here's the movie's description available from Sony Pictures: "Happily ever after has never been so golden! Amy Irving (Tuck Everlasting) stars as a miller's daughter who must learn magic from a troll to perform a miracle in this dazzling musical adaptation of the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Billy Barty (Willow), the "dean of the screen's little people" (Los Angeles Times), co-stars as the mischievous troll whose name is the kingdom's best-kept secret! After Katie's (Irving) father boasts to the king that she can turn grain into gold, she finds herself thrown in a dungeon with orders to spin straw into gold...or else! A crafty troll (Barty) agrees to help her perform the seemingly impossible feat - and land the king's handsome son - but his assistance comes at a price. Unless she can figure out his unusual name, she must hand over her firstborn child!"





The Cannon Movie Tale series of nine films has become nearly as popular among fairy tale enthusiasts and family film fans as Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre. Some would argue that this series is even more popular. Either way, these musicals are suitable for the entire family and feature well-known actors from the 1980s."

A great movie - IT OUGHT TO BE RE-RELEASED!!!!!!

Katianna Breynnor | USA | 10/27/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I loved this movie since I was a kid. It took me, if you can believe it, 5 years to track down a copy, and even now it's not available from where I found it. Amy Irving is delightful and, surprisingly, can sing very well. Clive Revill is a riot as the king and for once the prince really is charming. The script has taken quite a few liberties with the story, but it's so cute I really didn't care-- Anyway, this was my favorite movie when I was a kid and I still love watching it."

Rumpelstiltskin

Constance B. Ricken | 10/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This fairy tale has beautiful sets and scenery, vivid costumes, great music, a charming story, good acting, the incomparable Amy Irving both acting and singing, and nice special effects.

I watched it with my great nieces, who are products of the robot/cartoon age, and they sat enraptured, except when they weren't laughing at the dwarf or asking me what a tax collector is. The King and Queen are hilarious. This is one for your collection; you have to see it."

"I NEED A MIRACLE"

DEWEY MEE | ELLENSBURG, WA, | 08/07/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

""I Need A Miracle", sings the beautiful miller's daughter Katie (Amy Irving)-- and she needs that miracle quickly!

Because of her father's foolish boasts, she must spin straw into gold, or die! Enter Billy Barty as the mischievious title character/elf who seizes the opportunity to exploit Katie's plight for his own ends.

"RUMPELSTILITSKIN" was the first of the popular Cannon Movie Tales series of live-action fairy tale films.

Directed and written by David Irving from the Brothers Grimm story , this film is very much a family affair. David directs his mother Priscilla Pointer and sister Amy. Priscilla Pointer plays Queen Grizelda, who seemed very evil to me. Grizelda would sooner see Katie killed than have her son Prince Henry (John Moulder- Brown) marry the poor girl. Clive Revill is the ridiculously pompous and greedy King Mezzer.

It is wonderful to see Amy Irving ("CARRIE", "YENTL", "CROSSING DELANCY") in a starring role that gives her so much screen time. It is also nice to have Billy Barty as the title elf, who really is not as generous as he seems. He really wants to steal someone and use them as a slave and cook so he can have fun all day. As King Meezer's greed increases, the price of the elf's help grows higher and higher. He always speaks in rhymes and alternately giggles and screams as he works his magic. Rumpelstiltskin is a very spooky and scary little elf, indeed.

The songs by Max Robert, including "Straw Into Gold," "I Need A Miracle", "I'm Greedy," and "One Little Name," are serviceable to the plot but not particularly memorable. I wish the character of Prince Henry had been more developed in the screenplay. John Moulder-Brown has very little to do except hang around and hope Katie won't be killed by his father and mother so that he can marry her. Katie receives invaluable assistance from a talking raven and a supposedly mute servant girl named Emily. Henry should have been a more active Prince and participant on her behalf."