The Corner Penthouse

Although I grew up in the 1980s, and was a prime candidate to have seen the Cannon Movie Tales series at that time, I never knew it existed until a few months ago when I found the Rumpelstiltskin DVD in Dollar Tree as part of their line of re-authored movie-only no-menu MGM DVDs. All of these MGM DVDs bear a UPC number that starts with "8 28706 54" and are manufactured exclusively(?) for Dollar Tree by Deuce Entertainment LLC. Since they have no menus, subtitles (and extra audio tracks) have to be activated manually. Generally, these budget MGM DVDs contain the same or better film transfer as the previously-released "full featured" MGM DVD of the same title, only without the menu and special features. As an example, the previous DVDs of Breakin' (1984) and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984) are 4:3 fullscreen, but on these new DVDs, they are both 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. Unfortunately, for Rumpelstiltskin, the transfer is a downgrade. The old DVD presented the film in 4:3 open matte fullscreen. The budget DVD is still 4:3, only now it is letterboxed! The picture at the top and bottom has been covered with black mattes/bars, so you see less picture than on the fullscreen DVD - plus blackness on all sides when viewed on a modern HDTV.

Anyway, this article isn't a review of the Dollar Tree MGM DVDs. This DVD introduced me to the Cannon Movie Tales series, and prompted me to find out more about them. Read on as I share my research...

Cannon Movie Tales is a series of live-action musical films created in the 1980s by the Cannon Group producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. Filmed principally on location in Israel, these stories are generally fairy tales based on material by either the Brothers Grimm or Charles Perrault, among others. Major stars, from both the United States and the United Kingdom, play the leading roles, in which they are joined by a mostly all-Israeli cast. Cannon initiated the project as its answer to Disney's fairy tale offerings. Although the series was originally conceived to have sixteen films, production stopped at nine when Rumpelstiltskin flopped at the box office, and the remaining films were sent directly to video. Despite their commercial failure, the Movie Tales garnered a cult following after the Disney Channel began airing them as part of their "Storybook Cinema" programming block in 1988.

There doesn't seem to be any 100% confirmed release dates for all nine films, so the list below is ordered based on the release dates given at the IMDB, even though it's probably not accurate. Even though the list below may not be the correct order, it is complete. Trailers for all films are embedded below. Click on a film title to go to its IMDB page. Viewing and home video information follows the list.


The Frog Prince (1986)
• STARS: Aileen Quinn, John Paragon, Helen Hunt, Clive Revill.
• SYNOPSIS: When a princess encounters a prince trapped in the body of a frog, she goes on a daring adventure to finally set him free.
• NOTES: Little Orphan Annie from the 1982 film meets Jambi the Genie from Pee-Wee's Playhouse. If you've ever wondered what Jambi looks like out of make-up, you'll see him as the handsome Prince Freely at the end of this film. Released in the U.K. in 1986 (same as the copyright date at the end of the film), but not released in the U.S. until 1988. This is why some sources date this film to 1986, and others date it to 1988.


Rumpelstiltskin (1987)
• STARS: Amy Irving, Billy Barty, Clive Revill, Priscilla Pointer.
• SYNOPSIS: A miller's daughter must learn magic from a crafty troll and spin straw into gold.
• NOTES: The trailer says that this is the first film in the series, which tells me that it was the first film to be released in the United States.


Beauty and the Beast (1987)
• STARS: Rebecca De Mornay, John Savage.
• SYNOPSIS: A hideous monster falls in love with a beautiful young woman whose true love is the only thing that can truly reveal his pure soul.


The Emperor's New Clothes (1987)
• STARS: Sid Caesar, Robert Morse, Clive Revill, Lysette Anthony.
• SYNOPSIS: Only a little girl can tell the mortifying truth to an Emperor fooled by con-artists who sold him a special diamond robe they claimed was invisible.


Sleeping Beauty (1987)
• STARS: Morgan Fairchild, Kenny Baker, Tahnee Welch, Jane Wiedlin.
• SYNOPSIS: When a beautiful young princess is cursed by an angry fairy to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die, good fairies temper the curse so the girl will sleep until kissed by a handsome prince.
• NOTES: Kenny Baker is the little guy inside the R2-D2 costume, and Jane Wiedlin was the cute member of the 1980s rock group The Go-Gos (and the voice of a Hex Girl in the Scooby-Doo franchise).



Snow White (1987)
• STARS: Diana Rigg, Billy Barty, Sarah Patterson, Nicola Stapleton.
• SYNOPSIS: A maiden whose beauty makes a mean Queen want her killed is shielded by seven dwarves.


Puss in Boots (1988)
• STARS: Christopher Walken, Jason Connery, Carmela Marner.
• SYNOPSIS: A cat becomes a sharp gentleman and sets out to restore his master's name and wealth after he gives Puss a pair of magic boots.
• NOTES: These boots were made for Walken. Oh, and yes, Jason is the son of the first James Bond, Sean Connery.


Hansel and Gretel (1988)
• STARS: Cloris Leachman, David Warner, Nicola Stapleton.
• SYNOPSIS: Two poor yet feisty children get left in a forest and find a witch’s gingerbread house that they must escape from - or she will gobble them for dinner!


Red Riding Hood (1989)
• STARS: Isabella Rossellini, Craig T. Nelson, Amelia Shankley.
• SYNOPSIS: The story of a young girl in a land of magic and wonder. While her father is away at war, the land is ruled by his evil twin brother and by the brother's mysterious henchman, a creature who can take the form of either a man or a wolf.

The entire film series (except Sleeping Beauty) can be officially streamed, for free, on Tubi at these urls (copy and paste them into your browser):
https://tubitv.com/movies/594630/the-frog-prince
https://tubitv.com/movies/514073/rumpelstiltskin
https://tubitv.com/movies/514225/beauty-and-the-beast
https://tubitv.com/movies/514362/the-emperor-s-new-clothes
https://tubitv.com/movies/579345/snow-white
https://tubitv.com/movies/514260/puss-in-boots
https://tubitv.com/movies/514262/hansel-and-gretel
https://tubitv.com/movies/595049/red-riding-hood

Of the nine films, only eight have been released on DVD by MGM in the United States: Rumpelstiltskin (1987), Beauty and the Beast (1987), The Emperor's New Clothes (1987), Sleeping Beauty (1987), Snow White (1987), Puss in Boots (1988), Hansel and Gretel (1988), and Red Riding Hood (1989). The Frog Prince has only been officially released on VHS.

Although there is no "Complete Collection" DVD box set, the eight individual DVD releases have been collected (as five dual-sided discs) in the "MGM Movie Collection: 10 Kids Movies" DVD set (one of several sets with this generic title), which also includes the unrelated fantasy films Jack the Giant Killer (1962) and The Magic Sword (1962). The dual-sided discs are the same as the 10 individually-released single-sided discs. Most of the films are presented in 4:3 open matte fullscreen, which is great because you see more picture at the top and bottom. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Jack the Giant Killer are in 4:3 letterbox; matted for the first two, so you lose picture at the top and bottom. This is not good, as there will be blackness on all sides when viewed on today's HDTV's. The Magic Sword is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen, which is fantastic. The only special feature for each of the 10 films is the film's theatrical trailer.

I have no idea why MGM never released The Frog Prince on DVD since they have the film digitized. It's right there on Tubi in high quality at 640x480, so it's readily available for authoring to DVD. If you want the complete collection on DVD, your only option is to go the unofficial route for The Frog Prince. You can purchase one of a few different bootleg DVDs out there, but a better option is to burn your own DVD-R disc. You see, the official video that Tubi is streaming can be downloaded quite easily. I grabbed it, downloaded a trailer from YouTube, and put together my own DVD-R, with a menu for all to use.

What I did was buy the MGM 10-Film set, put it in a 6-disc clear DVD case (Sleeve City only sells black), and then added my The Frog Prince DVD-R to it. Now I have the complete collection (with two unrelated films) in a nice and tidy case that is the same size as all of the normal DVD cases my collection is in.