Year Released:1950
Michael's Movie Grade: A-
History
Cinderella was one of the most important films for Disney. This film remarked the return to a feature length animated story as apposed to a package film. This would be one of the greatest risks Disney would ever take. If Cinderella did not do well at the box office, than the studio would have gone bankrupt, and the Disney company would not exist today. The amount of money used to make Cinderella was staggeringly more than any of the package films or their previous two mostly live action films. Especially considering the financial failure of Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi, this is a risk no other Hollywood studio would have made.
The choice for the source material was a simple one. Cinderella was in fact Walt's favorite fairy tale. In fact this 1950 version was not the first time Walt Disney had worked on a film version of Cinderella. In 1922 Walt directed a short cartoon version of Cinderella entitled Cinderella. There is very few similarities between the two films however.
Cinderella plays another important role in Disney history, it was the first film that all of Disney's Nine Old Men worked on, Disney's Nine Old Men were Ward Kimball, John Lounsbery, Marc Davis, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnson, Les Clark, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reithman, and Milt Kahl. These were who Walt Disney personally considered the best Disney animators, and men who he felt he could put his complete trust in. Though they had all been at Disney for a while, and all have done some very important work, Cinderella marks the first time they had a worked on the same film. This is mainly due to often times multiple features would be worked on at once, so different animators were assigned different characters. As with earlier Disney feature length animated stories supervising animators would be cast by character. For instance in this film, Marc Davis and Eric Larson would be the supervising animators for Cinderella herself, Ward Kimball and John Lounsbery would be the supervising animators for the mice, along with Lucifer the cat and Bruno the dog, Milt Kahl would be in charge of the Fairy Godmother, the prince, the king and the duke, Frank Thomas would be in charge of the evil stepmother, Ollie Johnson for the ugly stepsisters, and so forth. The directing team for Cinderella was made up of Disney regulars Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson, and Clyde Geronimi, who would return as the directors for Disney's next animated feature, Alice in Wonderland.
Though it had been used in earlier animated Disney films, Cinderella used much more live action reference then Disney has ever used before in an animated film. It is estimated 90% of the movie was first shot in live action before the animation begun. This was done to not only get the animation done quicker, but also cheaper, because the animators would not need to animate as many different drafts of one scene.
Like in Snow White the studio could not find a way to make the prince that interesting, because of this his part in the film was shortened, and a few scenes that revolved around him were cut from the final film.
Cinderella was just the hit Disney needed at this time, a big one. It caused a sensation and audiences had renewed the excitement they felt for Snow White. No Disney film had made as much money since Snow White, 13 years earlier. Disney was now back in the game of making animated feature length stories, something of course the studio still does to this day.
Review
Cinderella is simply a very lovely film. It is full of great film making, and great animation, but most of all it is very charming, and a great feel good movie.
The animation in the film is simply top notch. I have a particular fondness for Ward Kimball and John Lounsburry's work on Lucifer the cat. His facial expressions are simply hilarious, and bring an energy and likability to a character that could have easily been bland and one note. The scene where he is looking for Gus under the tea cups, features some of the funniest animation to ever be in a Disney film.
The film making in Cinderella is simply fantastic. The scene where Cinderella sings Sing Sweet Nightingale features some very impressive filmmaking and it ranks among one of the greatest scenes in Disney history. The scene where Cinderella is locked in her room, brings us echos of Hitchcock, and does so brilliantly. As well the dress tearing scene marks not only one of Disney's most emotional moments, but is brilliantly staged. I could go on but this film is full of brilliant little touches that enhance the movie a lot.
However this film has some faults as well. With apologies to voices artists James McDonald, Clint McCauley, Helen Seibert, June Sullivan, and Lucille Williams, the mice's voices can be annoying at times, and their song number is not that great. Also though an improvement over the prince in Snow White, the prince is still a bland character. However with how great the rest of the film is it is easy to forgive these minor faults.
Overall this is simply a very lovely film, that is full of charm and beauty.
Film Credits
Directors: Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi
Based off the original story by Charles Perrault.
Written By: Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Homer Brightman, Ken Anderson, Erdman Penner, Winston Hibler, Harry Reeves, Joe Rinaldi
Voices: Ilene Woods (Cinderella), Eleanor Audley (Lady Tremaine), Verna Felton (Fairy Godmother), Luis Van Rooten (King, Grand Duke), James Macdonald (Gus, Jaq, Bruno), June Foray (Lucifer), William Phipps (Prince Charming), Mike Douglas (Prince Charming (Singing Voice)), Don Barclay (Doorman), Rhoda Williams (Drizella, Tremaine), Lucille Bliss (Anastasia Tremaine), Lucille Williams (Perla), Clint McCauley (Mice), Betty Lou Gerson (Narrator), Helen Seibert (Mouse), June Sullivan (Mouse)
Producer: Walt Disney
Production Supervisor: Ben Sharpsteen
Editor: Donald Halliday
Music: Paul J. Smith, Oliver Wallace
Songwriters: Mack David, Jerry Livingston, Al Hoffman
Assistant Directors: Mike Holoboff, Larry Lansburgh, Ted Sebern
Sound Department: Robert O. Cook, C.O. Slyfield, Harold J. Steck
Effects Animators: George Rowley, Josh Meador, Jack Boyd
Special Effects: Ub Iwerks
Color Styling: Mary Blair, Claude Coats, John Hench, Don DaGradi
Layout Artists: Mac Stewart, Tom Codrick, Lance Nolley, Don Griffith, A. Kendall O'Connor, Hugh Hennesy, Charles Philippi, Thor Putnam
Background Artists: Brice Mack, Ralph Hulett, Dick Anthony, Art Riley, Ray Huffine, Merle Cox, Thelma Witmer
Supervising Animator: Eric Larson, Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, Ward Kimball, Ollie Johnston, Marc Davis, Les Clark, Norm Ferguson
Assistant Animator: Iwao Takamoto
Animators: Don Lusk, Hugh Fraser, Fred Moore, Judge Witaker, Marvin Woodward, George Nicholas, Phil Duncan, Hal King, Harvey Toombs, Cliff Nordberg, Hal Ambro, Ken O'Brien, Edwin Aardal, Blaine Gibson, Jerry Hathcock, Dan MacManus, John McManus
Resources Used
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042332/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon-characters/28-Cinderella
The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin
-Michael J. Ruhland
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