Sleeping Beauty (1987)

Director:

David Irving

Writer:

Michael Berz (writer)

Release Date:

12 June 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Fantasy | Musical

Tagline:

An enchanting classical treat!

Plot:

Feature-length, live-action, musical version of the classic fairy tale.

Plot Keywords:

Kingdom | Fairy | Curse | King | Queen

Cast

Tahnee Welch	...	Princess Rosebud
Kenny Baker	...	Elf
Morgan Fairchild	...	Queen
David Holliday	...	King
Nicholas Clay	...	Prince
Sylvia Miles	...	Red Fairy
Shaike Ophir	...	Master Elf (as Shai K. Ophir)
Jane Wiedlin	...	White Fairy
Orna Porat	...	Nana
Julian Chagrin	...	Advisor
Ya'ackov Ben-Sira	...	1st Counsellor (as Yankele Ben Sira)
Danny Segev	...	2nd Counsellor
Igor Borisov	...	Cook
Joseph Bee	...	3rd Counsellor
Jonathan Phillips	...	Count (as Johnny Phillips)

Also Known As:

Cannon Movie Tales: Sleeping Beauty (USA) (series title)
Sleeping Beauty: A Cannon Film (USA) (closing credits title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:G (Quebec) | West Germany:o.Al. | Italy:T | Australia:G | UK:U | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Israel

Company:

Golan-Globus Productions

Trivia:

To save money, the Cannon Movie Tale films were shot two-at-a-time. Sleeping Beauty was shot simultaneously with Hansel and Gretel (1987). This wasn't the best of situations in that often the two crews would be competing for the limited equipment, costumes, and sets.

Quotes:

White Fairy: Elf? Elf, time to sleep.
Elf: Oh, no. I don't want to go to sleep. I'll stay here and guard the princess.
White Fairy: All right. Keep your eyes open. I'm counting on you.

Soundtrack:

The Queen's Lament

Visually Appealing, Dramatically Dull.

Cannon Movie Tales are film adaptations of classic stories which were made in the late 1980s. Because the first, "Rumpelstiltskin" received mostly mediocre reviews (though it wasn't bad) the rest were never released theatrically, debuting on video instead. "Sleeping Beauty" is one of the lesser ones. It was directed by David Irving , who also directed "Rumpelstiltskin" and the worst one, "The Emperor's New Clothes". The script meanders all over the place, introducing two "Elves"(who stop the story dead in it's tracks every time they appear) and a silly subplot involving the lack of available spindles which only serves to introduce a tacky and irrelevant "production number" which is, by far, the worst of all the songs. The acting, by Morgan Fairchild (the Queen) and Tahnee (daughter of Raquel) Welch, is bland to the point of somnambulence. Only Sylvia Miles, as the Evil Fairy makes much of an impression, and she has only a few scenes. Most of the singing voices are dubbed, including Fairchild and Welch, who can't possibly have had a worse singing voice than the off-key substitute (Linda Lopresti) used for her songs, (or CAN she?) The sets and costumes evoke the proper mood,which, unfortunately, the script and direction consistently undermine. Producer Menahem Golen reportedly loved fairy tales, so how could he let them get away with this? It is watchable, but what a disappointment.