TheLittleSongbird 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

johnstonjames 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.

cmoore0013 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.

maxvaughn First time I saw this as a child I adored. It was played on TV a few times during the 80's (I remember because once it was cancelled by a football game and I've never cared for that sport since). Billy Barty was so awesome and the prince wasn't bad despite his funny haircut. True, the songs weren't the greatest, but they weren't horrible either.