AllMovie

Although Thomas Ince was better known for the Westerns he produced, his films covered a wealth of other subjects, too -- the same year he was making William S. Hart pictures, he also produced George Beban's The Italian, and this charming fairy tale. Elizabeth Burbridge plays Polly, the miller's daughter coveted by the magical dwarf Rumpelstiltskin (Clyde Tracy). When the miller (J. Barney Sherry) sends him away, Rumpelstiltskin gets revenge by telling the King (Louis Morrison) that Polly can spin gold from straw. The King sends for Polly, sets her in a straw-filled room and orders her to turn it into gold, otherwise she, her father and the dwarf will all be put to death. Rumpelstiltskin offers to do the job for her, providing she give him her first born girl. She agrees, but later when she marries the Prince (Kenneth Browne), she doesn't want to give up the child. Rumpelstiltskin steals the baby, but the Good Fairy (Margaret Thompson) returns her to them. The King has spent his fortune looking for his son, who escaped from him to marry Polly, and he now wants to find the girl to make more straw into gold. The Prince and Polly tell the King it was Rumpelstiltskin's doing, so he sets the dwarf to spinning gold for the rest of his life.