#775) Cinderella (1950)

The Plot: Once upon a time, a lovely young woman named Cinderella (voice by Ilene Woods) is mistreated by her evil stepmother and obnoxious stepsisters (voice by Eleanor Audley, Rhoda Williams, and Lucille Bliss), and forced to wait on them hand and foot. One day the King (voice by Luis van Rooten) announces a royal ball as a homecoming for the Prince (voice by William Edward Phipps), and invites every eligible maiden in the kingdom. Although Cinderella’s animal friends make her a dress for the occasion, it is destroyed by her stepsisters, and Cinderella is left at home the night of the ball. Fortunately, Cinderella has a Fairy Godmother (voice by Verna Felton) who uses her magic to give Cinderella a beautiful gown with slippers made of glass for some reason. Cinderella goes to the ball and falls for the Prince, but at the stroke of midnight…you see where I’m going with this.

Why It Matters: The NFR really loves “Cinderella”, calling it “the definitive version of this classic story”, praising its “[s]parkling songs, high-production value, and bright voice performances”.

But Does It Really?: Oh of course. While not a personal favorite (it didn’t make the VHS rotation too often growing up), “Cinderella” is one of Disney’s undisputed classics. 75 years on, there’s things I could nitpick about – and I will – but ultimately “Cinderella” succeeds as an animated fairy tale and family entertainment. The animation is beautiful, the characters are fun, the songs are catchy, what’s not to love? The only surprising part is that it took the NFR 30 years to get “Cinderella” on the list.

Everybody Gets One: Ilene Woods came to prominence during World War II when she sang with Paul Whiteman and the Army Air Forces Orchestra. In 1944, she briefly had her own radio program on the Blue Network, which shortly thereafter became ABC. In 1948, as a favor to her friends Mack David and Jerry Livingston, Woods recorded three songs the two had written for “Cinderella” as a demo for Walt Disney. Upon hearing the demo recordings, Walt immediately hired Woods as the voice of Cinderella over 300 other women who had auditioned. Although her career peaked with this performance (and she would subsequently sue Disney over the film’s video release), Woods always spoke highly of her time working on “Cinderella”.

Seriously, Oscars?: One of the biggest hits of 1950, “Cinderella” received three Oscar nominations (Song, Sound Recording, and Scoring of a Musical Picture), but went home empty handed. The film did, however, provide one of the ceremony’s highlights, when its nominated song “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” was performed by comedy duo Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

• I have several questions about Cinderella’s bird and mice friends. Is she their god? I was also going to question why she makes clothing for all of them, but if I were in a toxic home environment and forced to do labor, I would probably have some weird hobbies too.

• Unsurprisingly, the story of “Cinderella” is quite short, so this movie needs to pad out the runtime. Like many a Disney film before and after, the extra time is spent focusing on the more entertaining side characters. There’s some fun moments in the literal cat-and-mouse scenes between Jaq, Gus, and Lucifer, but it’s definitely to the detriment of the story. Other adaptations more wisely spend this time fleshing out Cinderella’s character and/or her relationship with the Prince.
• On a related note, the problem with any version of Cinderella is that she’s too passive a lead: things happen to her, as opposed to her making things happen. At the very least, this film’s characterization of Cinderella (animated by Marc Davis and Eric Larson) is pleasant and likable enough that you are relieved when things finally start to work out for her. 
• In one early scene, Cinderella is able to calmly reason with Lucifer the cat. This is done to remind you that this film is pure fantasy. Side note: Lucifer’s mewing is provided by voiceover legend June Foray in one of her three NFR appearances, one of which might surprise you.
• I’m enjoying this film’s lighting effects. So much of Cinderella’s dreary existence is conveyed through darkness and shadows, with the occasional light seeping through. I suspect this was the influence of Disney artist Mary Blair, credited here as part of the film’s “Color and Styling” team. Blair’s visual style, especially in this stage of her career, often included images of darkness with bright elements peppered in for contrast.
• While not as theatrical as later Disney villains, the Stepmother is a worthy adversary to Cinderella, with her cold, menacing presence and equally chilling voice courtesy of Eleanor Audley. Balancing things out are the comic, but no less threatening, antics of Cinderella’s stepsisters, one of whom sounds like she’s from the Bronx.

• Sure it’s nice of the animals to make a dress for Cinderella, (and their work song is quite peppy), but I don’t know if I would wear anything made by disease-ridden rodents. If Cinderella’s going to wear that dress, she should have it sterilized as a precaution.

• I got chills during “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”, a magic sequence in every sense of the word. My one quibble, turning the mice into horses and then turning the actual horse into a person seems like unnecessary extra work for the Fairy Godmother. And for the record: The jury is still out over whether Charles Perrault intentionally made Cinderella’s slippers glass or if the description got lost in translation. 

• It was not until this viewing that I realized the Fairy Godmother only appears in one scene. She’s the Beatrice Straight of the Disney canon!
• This movie really doesn’t care about the Prince. He doesn’t show up until 48 minutes into the movie, gets one song and minimal dialogue before disappearing again until his silent return in the finale. He doesn’t even have a name! The one thing this Prince has going for him is that his singing voice is Mike Douglas, a radio singer about a decade away from hosting his popular daytime talk show.
• “So This is Love” is an underrated favorite in the catalog of Disney love songs, plus it’s another inner monologue song! We haven’t had one of those in a while.

• Why are the guards who chase after Cinderella’s carriage so terrifying? They’re set up like the Central Park Rangers in “Elf”.
• I believe this is one of only two NFR films with the “Goofy Holler”, Disney’s answer to the Wilhelm. The other is “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. 

• The film’s biggest laugh-out-loud moment for me comes when it acknowledges the fairy tale’s most infamous plot hole. When the King is informed that the glass slipper could fit any number of women, his response, in regards to the Prince, is, “That’s his problem.” Love it.
• This movie’s third act packs in a lot of tension with Cinderella locked in her room and the mice trying to retrieve the key, even if it further sidelines our heroine in her own movie. I also appreciated the little twist at the end involving the glass slipper before we head off to happily ever after. 

• But of course, Disney will run any major IP of theirs into their perpetual synergy machine, and “Cinderella” is no exception. The film received two direct-to-video sequels in the 2000s, with “Cinderella III: A Twist in Time” routinely considered the best of the direct-to-video sequels, which really isn’t that high a mark.

• When Disney started churning out live-action remakes of its animated films in the early 2010s, “Cinderella” was one of the first proverbial canaries in that coal mine. Directed by Kenneth Branagh and jumpstarting Lily James’ career, 2015’s “Cinderella” is a respectful updating of the Disney original, never stooping to the kind of pandering fan service that would plague later remakes.

• Characters from “Cinderella” have made many appearances in Disney media over the years, most notably Cinderella’s cameo in “Ralph Breaks the Internet”, in which she receives something she’s never had before: Ears.

• Despite Disney’s version of “Cinderella” being declared the definitive film adaptation of the story, I still hold firm that distinction goes to “Ever After” with Drew Barrymore. And no, that is not a joke.