Rumpelstilzchen

Plot synopsis:
In order to make himself appear superior, a miller lies to the king, telling him that his daughter can spin straw into gold. (Some versions make the miller's daughter blonde and describe the "straw-into-gold" claim as a careless boast the miller makes about the way his daughter's straw-like blond hair takes on a gold-like lustre when sunshine strikes it.) The king calls for the girl, shuts her in a tower room filled with straw and a spinning wheel, and demands she spin the straw into gold by morning or he will cut off her head (other versions have the king threatening to lock her up in a dungeon forever). When she has given up all hope, an imp-like creature appears in the room and spins the straw into gold in return for her necklace (since he only comes to people seeking a deal/trade). When next morning the king takes the girl to a larger room filled with straw to repeat the feat, the imp spins in return for the girl's ring. On the third day, when the girl has been taken to an even larger room filled with straw and told by the king that he will marry her if she can fill this room with gold or execute her if she cannot, the girl has nothing left with which to pay the strange creature. He extracts from her a promise that she will give him her firstborn child and so he spins the straw into gold a final time. (In some versions, the imp appears and begins to turn the straw into gold, paying no heed to the girl's protests that she has nothing to pay him with; when he finishes the task, he states that the price is her first child, and the horrified girl objects because she never agreed to this arrangement.)
The king keeps his promise to marry the miller's daughter. But when their first child is born, the imp returns to claim his payment: "Now give me what you promised." She offers him all the wealth she has to keep the child but the imp has no interest in her riches. He finally consents to give up his claim to the child if she can guess his name within three days. Her many guesses fail, but before the final night, she wanders into the woods (some versions she sent a servant in the woods instead of going herself to keep the king's suspicions at bay) searching for him and comes across his remote mountain cottage and watches, unseen, as he hops about his fire and sings. In his song's lyrics, "tonight tonight, my plans I make, tomorrow tomorrow, the baby I take. The queen will never win the game, for Rumpelstiltskin is my name'", he reveals his name. Some versions have the imp limiting the number of daily guesses to three and hence the total number of guesses allowed to a maximum of nine.
When the imp comes to the queen on the third day, after first feigning ignorance, she reveals his name, Rumpelstiltskin, and he loses his temper and their bargain. (Versions vary about whether he accuses the devil or witches of having revealed his name to the queen.) In the 1812 edition of the Brothers Grimm tales, Rumpelstiltskin then "ran away angrily, and never came back". The ending was revised in an 1857 edition to a more gruesome ending wherein Rumpelstiltskin "in his rage drove his right foot so far into the ground that it sank in up to his waist; then in a passion he seized the left foot with both hands and tore himself in two". Other versions have Rumpelstiltskin driving his right foot so far into the ground that he creates a chasm and falls into it, never to be seen again. In the oral version originally collected by the Brothers Grimm, Rumpelstiltskin flies out of the window on a cooking ladle.

Tags: fantasy

Review:
Spooky!. This is not a good film, but it does have a certain ephemeral charm.  I remember seeing it at a matinee in the late 60s or early 70s, and the title character really scared me!  Don't knock yourself out looking for this film unless, like me, you like oddities, and not even particularly good ones at that.. ORDINARY AND LIFELESS. Very ordinary, lifeless and below-average directed adaptation of the fairy tale with Rumpelstilzchen himself as an annoying dwarf, an uncaring cast and a very poor song. Very inadequate in the execution of the simplest of special effects, as if the makers did not care (was it too low budgeted?). Judging from the result one would not expect that professionals like director Fredersdorf (specialist in children's films) were involved in making this film.. Saw this at theater as a kid I think. I remember seeing a Rumpelstiltskin movie as a kid in the 60's or 70's at the theater also and thought it was pretty good. I even went back and saw it again because it was so good. I couldn't find any info on the internet or anywhere else though about it. Then I found this one and read that it was re-released in the US in theaters in 1965 and again in 1974. I bought it on Ebay hoping it was the same one I saw as a kid but like the previous reviewers said it is not a very good movie. It seemed like the one I saw at the theater was well produced with a higher budget and better effects. Is there another Rumpelstiltskin movie or is this the one and things just seem like they're better when you're a kid.