The Emperor's New Clothes (1987) User Reviews (9)

Wow, what a weird movie!

[NED-10 · 5/10 · 20 November 2004]

These Cannon fairy tale movies have to be some of the weirdest movies I've ever seen. If you can get past that, they aren't too bad. I have also have seen the "Red Riding Hood movie", with Craig T. Nelson, which is similar in style and a little bit better. The movies are being shown on a locally hosted movie show in Cleveland called "The Big Chuck and Little John Show". They are very reminiscent of the kinds of low budget, semi-musical, family movies of the 1960s.

As for The Emperor's new clothes, The story is pretty basic. A couple of con men, con the vain emperor into believing that they have woven a set of clothes from threads made of diamonds. Of course the emperor has to provide lots of diamonds for the threads. The story holds true to the original tale. No one wants to look stupid by saying that they can't see the clothes, and when everyone around the emperor says what the emperor wants to hear, he believes it himself and makes a fool of himself. Kind of reminds you of some of our own leaders, doesn't it? In this story the emperor becomes a wiser man. We can only hope our own leaders learn the same lessons.

In the mix is also a love story between a princess, one of the tailors, and an evil aristocrat. I wouldn't pay to see this one, but I was entertained by its strangeness.

Ok, but far from the best Cannon Movie Tale

[Liza-19 · 6/10 · 23 October 2001]

I have been a collector of the Cannon Movie Tales for years, and this one was a disappointment. The songs were ok, but far from impressive. The actors are okay, but rather boring. And there is really little to talk about. See the other movies in this series though. The Frog Prince, Rumpelstiltskin, and Beauty and the Beast are far, far superior. Skip this one, it isn't worth the trouble.

The Emperor has NO clothes

[phillindholm · 1/10 · 12 August 2005]

This Cannon Movie Tale is the worst of the lot, and is positive proof that a five minute fable does not a full-length film make. Poor Sid Caesar as the vain emperor, is made to look so stupid, it's hard to watch him. As the sly tailor, Robert Morse hasn't an ounce of charm. Neither does his hapless nephew (Jason Carter) The "songs" are dreadful and only slow what there is of the plot down. The direction is practically nonexistent, and the supporting characters add very little. Lysette Anthony is pretty as the emperor's daughter, but her voice has obviously been dubbed for some reason, a fate shared by many of the minor players. And the film crawls at a snails pace. Hans Christian Andersen must have been turning somersaults in his grave when this appeared. It can honestly be said, at least of this movie tale, it's no surprise that it went straight to video oblivion.

I need more clothes!

[HollywoodMich · 9 December 2001]

I love the Cannon Movie Tales; and I just bought this one. And even though some people don't like it. It isn't half bad! I enjoyed watching it very much. The songs arent to catchy sadly like The Frog Prince/Snow White are but still very fun to listen too. The Plot is excellent the costumes are fantastic. The sets are beautiful! It's very good along with other movie tales!

Just watchable for Kids under 8

[watchtiger1 · 3/10 · 23 April 2011]

I give this a 3 because kids can watch this movie without having to worry about it being offensive.

While agree it is tough to stretch a five to ten minute fairy tale into a 90 minute production the Cannon/Gollan-Globus group did it.

They did so by adding all too forgettable musical numbers.

Like all the "Cannon Fairy Tales"(CFT) this one is showing its age from many generations of video to video tape transfer. Colors are muddled if not blurry (this was watched on a Sony 1080p HD TV)and even old black and white shows like Mr. Ed look great)it reminds me getting a copy of a video from a friend after they copied a tape of a broadcast TV show they watched.

This CFT is not scary at all unlike CTF's Princess and the Frog, the frog would easily scare a young child. The hair the nobility has is a laugh.

Sid Ceasar is the Emperor, and unfortunately with a bad script even he could not save this show. It was common in CFT films to have one major or well known U.S. Actor in it. Like CFT's Hansel & Grettle the major actor was Cloris Leachman as the witch. While these major actors throw themselves into the part these films lacked a good script and other people that could actually perform or act.

Many of these films share sets part of Cannon/Gollan-Globus cost saving plans. Many of them are shot in Isreal or other lower cost countries outside of the US.

If this is on TV and you need something to occupy younger children, you couldn't go wrong with it but they may get board with it as well.

My least favourite Cannon Movie Tale by quite some way

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 29 July 2015]

A shame really because some of them like Hansel and Gretel and Beauty and the Beast are very good, and most of them are well above decent though with some limitations. Sadly Cannon's version of The Emperor's New Clothes is not among their best work and is lacking in many areas, that the original story has never been one of my personal favourites in the first place may have a little to do with it but this does nothing to improve it.

The Emperor's New Clothes has a few things that make it bearable viewing. The costumes are splendidly over-the-top and colourful, with Cannon Movie Tales the costumes are often where the low budget is the most obvious but they're not as tacky as they could have been here. The photography is rustic and very nicely done, and the incidental score is characterful and typically whimsical.

However, the low budget does show, with some drab and recycled set designs and some scenes being lit in a dim, faded way. Of the Cannon Movie Tales, The Emperor's New Clothes despite having some good talent is one of the worst-acted, with Sid Caesar mumbling his way through the film like a zombie and on the other side of the spectrum Clive Revill mugging embarrassingly. Robert Morse despite having one of the best singing voices of the cast is charmless here and also does his fair share of mugging. Jason Carter and Lysette Anthony are attractive but bland and overwrought lovers. The songs are pretty poorly written and some of the most forgettable of any of Cannon Movie Tales' films, the love duet Is This a Love Song faring the worst.

Regarding the writing, it is never very funny or interesting, the satiric edge of the story is completely lost and favoured by knockabout slapstick that gets very juvenile and tedious and a dull, cheesily written and overwroughtly acted romantic subplot. A few of the Cannon Movie Tales films were disadvantaged by trying to pad out short stories not really suited for feature length, and The Emperor's New Clothes is the worst case, with the storytelling being dull, muddled and somewhat bloated from trying to cram in a substantial amount of material that added little and wasn't engaging enough. The ending is also rushed and too convenient, and both the pace and direction are as flat as a lead balloon.

In conclusion, has a few good points but is by quite some way Cannon Movie Tales' weakest. 3/10 Bethany Cox

More Cannon for kids

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 25 March 2022]

Directed and written by David Irving, this is the third Cannon Movie Tale I've seen with Clive Revill in it. It also has Sid Caesar as the Emperor, Robert Morse as the tailor who attempts to make his clothes and Lysette Anthony (Lyssa from Krull) as Princess Gilda.

With these Cannon takes on fairy tales, you get long takes on what should be five minute before bed tales, but hey, the costumes look great and there's always lots of singing. They're meant for young viewers, but so was Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre and that appealed to young and old alike. Then again, the reason for this series seems to be bringing work to Israel.

Obviously, everyone knows this story, but there's an additional romance Gilda and the tailor's son (Jason Carter). You should also keep an eye out for Cannon's reliable supporting actor Yehuda Efroni, who started working with Golan and Globus all the way back when he was in Operation Thunderbolt and The Uranium Conspiracy. No matter where in the world a Cannon movie was made, Yehuda showed up.

Underrated

[the_shadow_guard · 10/10 · 17 January 2004]

Upon the first viewing, I found this tale to be at least less annoying than other Cannon Movie Tales. After many more, I think it's one of the best. Some of the songs are pretty bad, especially the love song, but two things stand out that make the movie, even the singing, worthwhile. One is the art direction. Like the other Cannon Movie Tales, this is a beautifully decorated period piece; every piece of cloth and jewel (both of which have major parts in this movie's plot) look fresh and new, and contrast with the plain clothes of the peasants. Even during the love song I find myself studying the dress and hair of the princess, wonderfully done. The other thing is the comic timing. A lot of the movie is cheesy, but the emperor's vanity (and his making fun of himself in the end), the suspicious guard, the guard chasing Nicholas, and the stupid prince, were all quite funny and seem to be ridiculous quite on purpose. And the sequence during the song Weave-O makes up for the songs that weren't so good.

The Wonderful World Of Cannon MovieTales

[johnstonjames · 8/10 · 18 April 2012]

again. i'm always surprised at how well Cannon MovieTales pulls this off. low budget and with little resource, but strangely lavish just the same. and a very complete musical. Cannon MovieTales achieves this by using the same sets and costumes over again for re-use, and they commission music from little recognized composer and musical arranger Stephen Lawrence. more than likely the budget for these films goes to paying the salaries of the numerous name celebrity actors they acquire for their productions.

very few young people, at the time this was produced, realized the notability of having a musical at that time that featured veteran talents like Sid Ceasar and Robert Morse singing. Ceasar was a comedy legend and Morse was in 'The Loved One' and originated the Broadway role in 'Suceed in Business' that Daniel Radcliffe is now winning acclaim for currently.

Stephen Lawrence's songs are not always the most memorable showtunes written or composed, but they are more ambitious than you would expect for these projects, and more than satisfactorily answer the call of duty.

these films also always seem rather lavish for their modest budgets, but anyone who becomes familiar with Cannon MovieTales, knows they compensate by re-using sets and costumes. it's very effective cost cutting. and even though you can see the Date and Palm trees of Israel in the landscapes (these movies are produced there), they effectively convey the European fairy stories they are made to depict.

this was a nice production and they provided Ceasar and Morse with a ample amount of song tunes to warble. it was also cute to see Jason Carter here from Jim Henson's 'Storyteller' and the 'Jackanory' children's series.

i really enjoy Cannon Movietale's fairy tale tellings. despite their limitations, they create a wonderful world that is faithful to the source, creates a theatrical "movie-like" feeling, and provides a musical version of the age old stories.