Cinderella (1950)

Directors:

Clyde Geronimi
Wilfred Jackson

Writers:

Charles Perrault (original classic fairytale)
Bill Peet (story) ...

Release Date:

4 March 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Fantasy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

The greatest love story ever told. (1957 reissue)

Plot:

When Cinderella's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, she gets some unexpected help from the lovable mice Gus and Jaq, and from her Fairy Godmother.

Plot Keywords:

Cinderella | Ball | Fairy Godmother | Fairy Tale | Midnight

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Ilene Woods	...	Cinderella (voice)
Eleanor Audley	...	Lady Tremaine (voice)
Verna Felton	...	Fairy Godmother (voice)
Rhoda Williams	...	Drizella (voice)
James MacDonald	...	Bruno / Gus / Jaques (voice) (as James Macdonald)
Luis Van Rooten	...	King / Grand Duke (voice)
Don Barclay	...	Doorman (voice)

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Canada:F (Ontario) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Brazil:Livre | South Korea:All | USA:Approved (PCA #14083) (original rating) | Canada:G (video rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1973) | Sweden:Btl | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/6 | UK:U

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

Lucifer was modeled after animator Ward Kimball's cat. Animators were having trouble coming up with a good design for that cat, but once Walt Disney saw Kimball's furry calico, he declared, "There's your Lucifer."

Goofs:

Continuity: After Lucifer sees Gus is under the teacup on the right tray in Cinderella's hand, he runs up to the top of the stairs to get him when she passes by, but Cinderella drops off the right tray to Drizella's room first, then the left one to Anastasia's room. Anastasia runs out of her room screaming, showing that Gus was in her teacup (the left tray) when it should have been Drizella running out, or Gus should have been on the left tray.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: Once upon a time in a faraway land there was a tiny kingdom, peaceful, prosperous, and rich in romance and tradition. Here in a stately chateau there lived a widowed gentleman and his little daughter, Cinderella. Although he was a kind and devoted father...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Moonlighting: Next Stop Murder (#1.5)" (1985)

Soundtrack:

So This Is Love

A success, on the whole

People criticise Disney's animated features of the 1950s for being overly glossy, set in landscapes that are much too pristine. That criticism is just. And yet it can't be the whole story, because the two least glossy - "Alice in Wonderland" and "Peter Pan" - are also the weakest. "Cinderella", on the other hand, set in a world in which the very dirt sparkles, is clearly the best.

It DOES look good. The backgrounds are subtle and consistent; the colours are pure without being too bright. The animation varies a bit. I'll swear that some of the humans are rotoscoped - but then, the rotoscoped humans (including Cinderella herself) aren't full-blooded characters in the script, so this approach works well enough. It's really the animals that make the movie. I think the studio had never quite used animals in this way before, as totems rather than sidekicks. The mice, for instance, are the creatures who draw us into the story; but they are really representatives or allies of the more colourless Cinderella. The cat, Lucifer, is a kind of witch's familiar to the Wicked Stepmother. (The cat is brilliantly conceived and animated - one of the best feline creations of all time. The supervising animator was Ward Kimball and he modelled it on his own cat. I wonder how he put up with the animal.) This approach allows the animals to steal the show without drawing our attention from the main story. Their actions are of maximum interest only in the light of the main story.

Among the supporting cast the notable humans are the King and the Grand Duke. The King is a one note character - he wants grandchildren and appears to have no other desires at all - but the note is struck in a pleasing fashion. The Grand Duke is a put-upon character who deserves to be lifted out of his sphere as much as Cinderella does. (Although he, of course, is richer.)

"Cinderella" is Disney's return to features after an eight-year hiatus, and neither with it nor with any subsequent movie would he recapture the raw brilliance of his early years. Moreover he made things hard for himself by picking "Cinderella". She's a passive heroine and there's not much anyone can do about that. (Maybe I'm wrong on this score - I haven't seen the recent "Ever After".) Nonetheless it is remarkable how successful Disney was in bringing this unpromising story to life, without cutting across the grain of its spirit.