Review: Cinderella (1950)

The story of poor young Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods), treated as a servant by her nasty stepmother (voiced by Eleanor Audley), and dismissed by her thoroughly rotten, ugly stepsisters. Her only friends are a group of mice, who are forever being menaced by a cat named Lucifer (or as I call him, Grumpy Cheshire Cat). The King (hoping to find a wife for his charming son) is throwing a ball and every available young woman is invited to attend, and Cinderella is most excited to go. However, her stepmother and stepsisters do all they can to prevent this from happening. But with help from the mice and one fairy godmother (voiced by Verna Felton) later, and Cinderella looks set to attend the ball. You know the rest, folks.

 

Lovely 1950 Disney animated movie from directors Clyde Geronimi (“Peter Pan”, “Lady and the Tramp”), Wilfred Jackson (“Fantasia”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Peter Pan”) & Hamilton Luske (“Pinocchio”, “Fantasia”, “Peter Pan”), that is a bit too slight to be considered one of the great Disney efforts like “Pinocchio”, “Peter Pan”, or “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. The best thing here is the animation, the interiors are particularly unforgettable, though I’m not sure Cinderella looks and sounds quite young enough. She seems about 27-35, when I think she’s meant to be somewhere between 16-21, and it’s pretty noticeable. The ugly stepsisters, meanwhile I prefer to call the ’42 year-old stepsisters’ because they’re not ugly, just middle-aged. Watch the film and tell me I’m wrong.

 

It’s a nice film, but it’s such a shame that our young lovers only meet at the 50 minute mark of a 70 odd minute film that really doesn’t have a whole lot of story, really for it to take so damn long to really kick in. The first section of the film, although cute, is full of extraneous animal characters, and also rather choppy. Still, I found it an easy watch, and it’s all very charming.

 

There’s a really good use of shadow throughout, and if the Stepmother’s look wasn’t based on Bette Davis, I’d be shocked. She’s a dead-ringer for her. Although the title song is pretty wretched, ‘Bippity Boppity Boo’ (or ‘Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo’ as it is sometimes spelled) is an infectious song, and the other songs are fine too. The ugly stepsisters’ comically bad singing is particularly priceless. Absolutely not a film for people who hate “Alvin and the Chipmunks” or other squeaky-voiced animated animal characters, this one’s full of them.

 

Terrifically designed, very sweet, but a bit underdone on plot. However, I’m a guy, so perhaps I’m not the chief audience for this. It’s not really a ‘guy’ film. The screenplay is by Kenneth Anderson (“Pinocchio”, “The Jungle Book”), Homer Brightman (“The Three Caballeros”, “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad”), Winston Hibler (“Peter Pan”), William Peet, Erdman Penner (“Fantasia”, “Pinocchio”), Harry Reeves (“The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad”), Joe Rinaldi (“Lady and the Tramp”, “Peter Pan”), and Ted Sears (“Pinocchio”, “Alice in Wonderland”).

 

Rating: B-