Rumpelstiltskin was part of the Cannon Movie Tales series, a US$50 million project initiated by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus to adapt sixteen fairy tales into live action.[3][4] The film featured Billy Barty in his only lead role (as the title character),[5] and also starred Amy Irving (as Katie, the miller's daughter)[3] and Clive Revill as the villainous King Mezzer. Amy Irving's brother, David Irving (not the British author of the same name), scripted and directed;[3] their mother, actress Priscilla Pointer, portrayed the Queen.[3]
Cannon Films screened Rumpelstiltskin as the opening night attraction of its "family film festival" at 1987's Cannes Film Festival.[2] It was the first Cannon Movie Tale released in the U.S.;[1] though originally scheduled for November 21, 1986,[4] it premiered in April 1987.[1] The film was not well-received critically; Richard Harrington of The Washington Post said, "[A]ll Cannon has done...is to make a short story long. And long and longer."[1] In his Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin gave it two stars out of four and commented, "[This] threadbare musical adaptation...[is] likely to bore even the small fry."[6]
