CINDERELLA (1950) Retro Movie Review (THE DAWN OF THE SILVER AGE)

[@ryandt2623]

Lady Tremaine is actually number 2 on my list of favorite Disney Animation villains. Like you said, Cinderella was a story that was told many times, and thus there have been many versions of The Evil Stepmother. In this version, she's mainly depicted as being cruel and abusive towards Cinderella, and she attempts to knock any happiness she may still have. She's probably the most frightening Disney animated villain, and a lot of that comes from her glare. Whenever she gives that look, it's extremely troubling, and we fear for Cinderella's safety. While her daughters are evil and over-the-top, Lady Tremaine takes a different approach in how she torments Cinderella, with her manipulation. As you pointed out, she was voiced by the same actress who voiced Maleficent: "Eleanor Audley", and she definitely deserves credit for making Lady Tremaine's insults feel that much sharper. Whenever it seems like Cinderella's about to find happiness, Tremaine tears that down. She's so hateful and horrible, and she does that largely through ordinary abusive actions, which makes you all the more angry and upset with her. As I've said before, she's my 2nd favorite Disney Animation villain overall. Whose number 1? Well... you'll have to read the comments on your review of Little Mermaid to know the answer to that.

[@ryandt2623]

I think it's safe to say that the 40's was the toughest decade for Walt's career. Not only did it start off with two of his biggest movies becoming bombs, but it was followed by some major events that forever changed the company, in a way that left them worse than before. For one, the 1941 strike that soured Disney's relationship with his animators. And then WWII lead the government to temporarily take over the studio and have them only make content related to the military. This cost Walt half of his crew, and most of his spirit for animation. So much so that after the war was over, all he could do was was make package films while looking for other ways to gain more revenue like... making live action films. It was at that point that Disney realized that if he wanted to take his position back as the leader of the animation industry, he'd have to make another Snow White. And not just another animated movie base off of a fairytale, but rather... he had to risk everything on this one movie to get back on top. And this was that movie. The Cinderella story was a story that Disney always had a personal connection with. And this was far from the first time he wanted to adapt it into animation. In fact, back in 1922, one of his first laugh-o-gram cartoons was a modern retelling of Cinderella. Through the 30's and early 40's, he made several attempts to make an even bigger Cinderella cartoon. It started off as a Silly Symphonies short, but in 1938, he ultimately decided that a movie would be more suitable to tell the story. Over the years, several story men tried and failed to come up with a Cinderella story that Disney would approve of and by 1945, the production had to be on halt. But the concept of a Cinderella movie still loomed over the studio, as they tried to keep themselves afloat by making package films. It wasn't until 1947, after the release of Fun & Fancy Free, when Disney decided that something had to be done to get rid of the company's financial problems faster and decided to take a gamble on continuing to make animated movies. There were a few that were in development, but Walt had the most confidence in Cinderella, due to it being the strongest contender of becoming his next Snow White. Now that things were getting serous on making the movie, it was time to bring in the right people for the job, and seriously input plot elements discussed a year prior. Including a cat and mouse subplot where a group of mice aid Cinderella while also avoiding getting eaten by the Stepmother's cat. However, Walt had little to no involvement with the production for the movie because he wanted to distance himself from animated movies as much as possible, due to the trauma that was brought on by the 1941 strike. Thus, he became more interested in making live action films like: "Treasure Island", and playing with his miniature trains. The director of the Legend of Sleepy Hallow segment from The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad: "Clyde Geronmi", directed the movie, alongside Hamilton Luske, and the two of them would occasionally contact Disney for notes. But other than that, the two of them were pretty much left to their own devices to make sure the details were good enough for the final movie. As for the animation itself, Disney enlisted 9 of his most skilled animators to become the supervising animators of the departments that would continue Disney's animation legacy for years to come. While, at the time, they were in their 30's, Walt decided to name them after what President Franklin Roosevelt called the justices of the Supreme Court: "The 9 Old Men" Those 9 Old Men included: "Eric Larson", "Frank Thomas", "John Lounsberry", "Les Clark", "Marc Davis", "Milt Khal", "Ollie Johnston", "Wolfgang Reitherman", and "Ward Kimbell". When animating the film, to try and save money, live action references became more important to the production. While the use of live action references were common when making the past animated Disney films, this time the animators had to become more dependent on them to follow the timing. So much so that they had to do some rotoscoping by tracing the references frame by frame. The animators hated this process as they found it too restrictive. The only time the references weren't needed was for animating the animals like Jaq & Gus, which is why there might've been some jealousy towards the animators that got those characters like: "Kimbell", "Lounsberry", and "Reitherman". But among all the animations that were created for the studio, Disney himself stated that his personal favorite piece of animation was Cinderella's dress transformation when The Fairy Godmother turns Cinderella's torn up dress, into a beautiful gown. When it came to the music, Walt tried to get his own team to make songs for the movie, and even considered using a deleted song from Snow White. But ultimately... none of them got into the movie because they didn't fit the criteria of Disney's new plan. What he wanted was for the songs to become hits of their own. So for the very first time, he hired songwriters outside of the studio, and brought on board: "Al Hoffman", and "Jerry Livingston". The reason why Disney picked them was because of their 1947 hit: "Chi-Baba Chi-Baba (My Bambino Go to Sleep), which Walt felt a song of that style would be perfect for The Fairy Godmother scene. Livingston also brought along with him singer: "Ilene Woods", to make demos for the music. But as she sang, there was an unmistakable sweetness in her voice, so after hearing the demos, Disney contacted Ilene to become the voice of Cinderella. But getting outside help for the songs was not the musical first for Walt with this film. It was also the first time the score was composed after the animation was done. The 2 year production was obviously different from before as the animation team became less dependent on Walt's input. But they knew that everything was on the line to ensure the film's success. Especially when it had a nearly $3,000,000 budget. They knew that if the film failed, than the studios would be entirely over. The film premiered on February 15th, 1950. Disney was hoping for it to be his next Snow White, and... it was. Critics loved the movie and said that Disney's classic fairytale charm was back. And it was a huge success at the box office, making $8,000,000. The songs also became successes of their own with the album reaching #1 on the Billboard Pop Charts. Cinderella was also the first movie in which Disney licensed their own music under their own label: "The Walt Disney Music Company" So the revenue earned from the Cinderella album also went directly to Disney. It also received a good amount of nominations. It got 3 Oscar nominations for Best Sound, Best Score, and Best Original Song for the song: "Bibbid Bobbodi Boo", and it landed at #9 on the AFI's top 10 animated films and has once again, been accepted by the National Film Board Registry, and is being preserved, for all-time. No matter how hard his heart was grieving, Disney kept on believing that he could still enchant the world with his magic. And thanks to Cinderella's great success, Walt could finally move forward to grow his company.

[@zappictures1346]

Regarding Disneyland castles - Cinderella was 1950 and Sleeping Beauty is 1959, but Sleeping Beauty was announced in 1950 and the voices were recorded by 1953. Also the original release date was 1955, the year Disneyland opened, so the reason it's a Sleeping Beauty Castle makes sense. The original director, Wilfred Jackson, had a heart attack and was replaced... and then THAT director was replaced and that is why it was delayed until 1959. I wouldn't be surprised if the delay was also due in part to the massive amount of work it took to launch Disneyland and how the studio was almost bankrupt as a result. One last thing - Cinderell's Castle is a prominent part of the Storybook ride, but I'm not sure when if it was there from the beginning. I agree with your review, Cinderella is one of the last Disney movies I would rewatch today.

[@walthersorsa4847]

I respect your opinon on Cinderella, but i have soft spot for this movie. Maybe because i felt a lot of sympathty for Cindrella and lets just say that she was my chilhood crush. There i said it and im proud damn it. Its very personal so i dont wanna go fully detail. I actually like nice more than minions. They atleast where more loyal and helpful sidekicks than minions. I think that 2015 live action version is fine, but its nothing that amazing. Good review Alex and take care and stay safe 👍.

[@arielanderic]

I remember enjoying this movie when I was in early elementary school but then I outgrew this movie by around 4th or 5th grade. I rewatched this movie in college about 8-9 years ago & I got bored then I gave this movie one more chance on DisneyPlus last year & I still got bored. I’ve criticized certain Disney movies for being childish but then people will tell me Disney movies are just for children but that is not true because Disney movies are for all ages. This movie is definitely geared towards the 10 + under crowd. When I ask people my age (I’m 27) what their favorite Disney movie is, I never hear Cinderella being mentioned.

[@jewlztreasch6617]

One Cinderella movie you should also see is Ever After from 1998, starring Drew Barrymore. I haven't seen it myself, but I hear it's really good.

[@keirjarvie6998]

I’m glad I’m not the only one that didn’t think Cinderella was anything special.

[@arielanderic]

Yeah I think it’s boring. I think Sleeping Beauty is a far better film. Many people see Cinderella as a better movie than Sleeping Beauty, I personally disagree but in the end we are all entitled to our own opinions. If everyone had the same opinion, life would be boring.

[@aracelifred2172]

amazing love it

[@Musicradio77Network]

This movie blows the 2021 version with Camila Cabello out of the ballpark. This is still the true animated “Cinderella” that we all know and loved for generations. The 2015 live action remake is still the best one than this one, but the new 2021 remake with Camila Cabello on Amazon Prime, terrible.

[@tedgruver7618]

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!

[@EpictasticJoshua]

Not one of my favorites but still fine. I do like the 2015 one.

[@MattMuir2000]

Honestly the live action remake does a FAR better job, and the same can even be said of Cinderella III: A Twist In Time

[@rhpaqo9711]

Yeah like Cinderella being saved by sheer dumb luck. At least the 1950's Cinderella tried to escape after being locked in her room.

[@maxschroeder9051]

This one is okay I just watched the 2015 version remake last weekend, that was better than the animated one. It actually is still on Hulu last I remember for a few more days

[@jewlztreasch6617]

Did you know about another Cinderella adaptation called 'Ever After'? I haven't seen it myself, but I hear it's one of the best ones.

[@maxschroeder9051]

@@jewlztreasch6617 No I haven’t is it Disney or different company?

[@jewlztreasch6617]

@@maxschroeder9051 different company. It stars Drew Barrymore in the main lead.