Disney's Cinderella

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Biography

Cinderella is a 1950 American Animation|animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale " Cinderella|Cendrillon " by Charles Perrault . Twelfth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics|Walt Disney Animated Classics series , the film had a limited release on February 15, 1950 by RKO Radio Pictures . Directing credits go to Clyde Geronimi , Hamilton Luske and Wilfred Jackson . Songs were written by Mack David , Jerry Livingston , and Al Hoffman . Songs in the film include " A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes ", " Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo ", "So This Is Love", "Sing Sweet Nightingale", "The Work Song", and "Cinderella".

Plot

Cinderella (Disney character)|Cinderella is the much-loved only child of a widowed Aristocracy|aristocrat . After deciding that his beloved daughter needs a mother's care, Cinderella's father marries Lady Tremaine , a proud woman with two daughters from her first marriage, List of Disney's Cinderella characters#Drizella Tremaine|Drizella and Anastasia Tremaine|Anastasia . Plain and socially awkward, these stepsisters are bitterly envious of the beautiful and charming Cinderella. After the death of Cinderella's father, Lady Tremaine and her daughters take over the estate, and begin to abuse and mistreat Cinderella out of jealousy, and even allow their cat, Lucifer, to torment her. Despite being forced into servitude in her own home, Cinderella becomes a kind woman and befriends the animals living in the barn and many of the mice and birds who live in and around the chateau.

At the royal palace, the King is distressed that his son does not intend to marry. Determined to see grandchildren, the King and the Duke organize a ball for List of Disney's Cinderella characters#Prince Charming|Prince Charming in an effort to enable his son to marry, with every eligible maiden in the kingdom requested to attend. When the invitation to the ball arrives, Cinderella asks her stepmother if she can attend, since she too is an eligible maiden. Lady Tremaine agrees, provided Cinderella finishes her chores. Her animal friend, led by List of Disney's Cinderella characters#Jaq and Gus|Jaq and Gus , fix a gown that belonged to Cinderella's mother. When Cinderella wears her dress just before departing, Lady Tremaine complements Cinderella's gown, subtly pointing out the beads and sash. Angered by the apparent theft of the discarded items, the stepsisters destroy the gown, forcing Cinderella to remain behind while her stepfamily leaves for the royal ball.

At the point of giving up her dreams, Cinderella's List of Disney's Cinderella characters#Fairy Godmother|Fairy Godmother appears and bestows upon Cinderella a blue dress with glass slippers, and transforms a pumpkin and various animals into a carriage with horses, a coachman and a footman. Cinderella departs for the ball after the godmother warns her that the spell will break at the stroke of midnight, meaning that her dress and everything else will change back to the way they were. At the ball, the Prince rejects every girl, until he sees Cinderella. The two fall in love and dance alone throughout the castle grounds until the clock starts to chime midnight. Cinderella flees to her coach and away from the castle, inadvertently dropping one of her glass slippers. After the Duke tells the King of the disaster, they plan to find Cinderella with the slipper they recovered during her exit.

The next morning, the King proclaims that the Grand Duke will visit every house in the kingdom to find the girl who fits the glass slipper, so that she can be married to the Prince. When this news reaches Cinderella's household, her stepmother and stepsisters prepare for the Grand Duke's arrival. Cinderella, overhearing the news, begins dreamily humming the song from the palace ball the previous night. Upon realizing that Cinderella is the girl who danced with the Prince, Lady Tremaine locks Cinderella up to her attic bedroom.

When the Grand Duke arrives, the mice steal the key to Cinderella's room, but before they can deliver it they are ambushed by Lucifer. The animals alert Bruno, Cinderella's bloodhound , who scares Lucifer out of the house. As the Duke prepares to leave after the stepsisters unsuccessfully try on the slipper, Cinderella appears and requests to try it on. Knowing that the slipper will fit, Lady Tremaine trips the footman, causing him to drop the slipper, which shatters into hundreds of pieces. The Duke laments over the broken slipper, but Cinderella then produces the other glass slipper, much to her stepmother's horror. Delighted at this indisputable proof of the maiden's identity, the Duke slides the slipper onto her foot, which fits perfectly. Soon after, Cinderella and the Prince celebrate their wedding, surrounded by confetti tossed by the King, the Grand Duke and the mice.

Cast

Betty Lou Gerson as Narrator

Ilene Woods as Cinderella (Disney character)|Cinderella

Eleanor Audley as Lady Tremaine

Luis Van Rooten as List of Disney's Cinderella characters#Other characters|Grand Duke and the King

Jimmy MacDonald (sound effects artist)|Jimmy MacDonald as Gus and Jaq|Jaq, Gus , and Bruno

William Phipps (actor)|William Phipps ( Mike Douglas , singing) as List of Disney's Cinderella characters#Prince Charming|Prince Charming

Lucille Bliss as Anastasia Tremaine

Rhoda Williams as Drizella Tremaine

Verna Felton as List of Disney's Cinderella characters#Fairy Godmother|Fairy Godmother

Don Barclay as Footman

June Foray as Lucifer (Disney)|Lucifer

Production

Made on the cusp between the classic "golden age" Disney animations of the 1930s and 1940s and the less critically acclaimed productions of the 1950s, Cinderella is representative of both eras.

Cinderella was the first full-bodied feature produced by the studio since Bambi (1942 film)|Bambi in 1942; World War II and low box office returns had forced Walt Disney to produce a series of inexpensive package films such as Make Mine Music and Fun and Fancy Free for the 1940s. Live action reference was used extensively to keep animation costs down. According to Laryn Dowel , one of the directing animators of the film, roughly 90% of the film was done in live action model before animation, using basic sets as references for actors and animators alike.

Both Helene Stanley (Cinderella's live action model) and Ilene Woods (Cinderella's voice actor, selected from 400 other candidates) heavily influenced Cinderella's styling and mannerisms. Actress Helene Stanley was the live-action model for the title role and would be so again for Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)|Sleeping Beauty and Anita Radcliff in One Hundred and One Dalmatians . Mike Douglas was the Prince's singing voice while William Phipps acted the part.

In earlier drafts of the screenplay, the Prince originally played a larger role and had more character development than what he ultimately received in the final version of the film. In one abandoned opening, the Prince was shown hunting a deer, but at the end of the sequence, it was to be revealed that the Prince and the deer were actually friends playing a game. In an abandoned alternate ending, after the Duke discovered Cinderella's identity, she was shown being brought to the castle to be reintroduced to the Prince, who is surprised to learn that Cinderella was actually a modest servant girl instead of the princess he thought she was, but the Prince's feelings for her were too strong to be bothered by this and he embraced her; the Fairy Godmother was to reappear and restore Cinderella's ball gown for the closing shot. Walt Disney himself reportedly cut the alternate ending because he felt it was overlong and did not give the audience its "pay off", but the scene would later be incorporated in the video game, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep .

Other deleted material included an abandoned song that was tentatively titled the "Cinderella Worksong", which was part of a fantasy sequence that was set to take place after Lady Tremaine told Cinderella that she could only attend the ball if she finished her chores and found a suitable dress. In this abandoned sequence, Cinderella imagined herself multiplying into an army of maids in order to deal with her massive workload, all the while pondering what the ball itself would be like; the sequence was cut, but the title was applied to the song the mice sing when they work on Cinderella's dress. Additionally, there was a scene that took place after the ball in which Cinderella was seen returning to her home and eavesdropped on her step family, who were ranting about the mystery girl at the ball, and Cinderella was shown to be amused by this because they were talking about her without realizing it. Walt Disney reportedly cut the scene because he thought it made Cinderella look "spiteful" and felt the audience would lose sympathy for her.

For the first time, Walt turned to Tin Pan Alley song writers to write the songs. The music of Tin Pan Alley would later become a recurring theme in Disney animation. Cinderella was the first Disney film to have its songs published and copyrighted by the newly created Walt Disney Music Company. Before movie soundtracks became marketable, movie songs had little residual value to the film studio that owned them and were often sold off to established music companies for sheet music publication.

" Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo " became a hit single four times, with notable versions by Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters . Ilene Woods beat exactly 309 girls for the part of Cinderella, after some demo recordings of her singing a few of the film's songs were presented to Walt Disney. However, she had no idea she was auditioning for the part until Disney contacted her; she initially made the recordings for a few friends who sent them to Disney without her knowledge. Reportedly, Disney thought Woods had the right "fairy tale" tone to her voice.

Interestingly, almost 30 years before he made "Cinderella" into a feature-length animated film, Walt Disney already made a short film of it as the last of the Laugh-O-Gram Studio|Laugh-O-Gram series, as a Roaring 20's version. This short is included as an extra on the Cinderella Platinum Edition DVD.

Music

"Cinderella" - The Jud Conlon Chorus, Marni Nixon

" A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes " - Cinderella

"Oh, Sing Sweet Nightingale" - Drizella, Cinderella

"The Work Song" - The Mice

" Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo " - The Fairy Godmother

"So This Is Love" - Cinderella, Prince Charming

"So This Is Love (reprise)" - Cinderella

" A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes|A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes (reprise) " - The Jud Conlon Chorus

On Classic Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic , this includes "The Work Song" and " A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes " on Classic Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic#Disc one|the first disc , " Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo " and "So This Is Love" on Classic Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic#Disc two|the second , and "Oh, Sing Sweet Nightingale" on Classic Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic#Disc four|the fourth . On '' Disney's Greatest Hits '', " Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo " is included on Disney's Greatest Hits#Volume 1|the first volume and " A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes " on Disney's Greatest Hits#Volume 2|the second .

Release

The film was originally released in theaters on March 4, 1950, followed by theatrical re-releases in 1957, 1965, 1973, 1981, and 1987. http://www.learnaboutmovieposters.com/posters/db/release.asp? rid=146

Home media

It was released on VHS video and laserdisc in 1988 as part of the Walt Disney Classics collection, becoming the first video to feature the "Sorcerer Mickey" Classics logo before the film. This release also had a promotion with a free lithograph reproduction for those who pre-ordered the video before its release date. In 1995, the film received a Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection video issue with a 1950s Buena Vista logo added. Disney then restored and remastered the movie for its October 4, 2005 release as the sixth installment of the Walt Disney Platinum Editions series. According to Studio Briefing , Disney sold 3.2 million copies in its first week and earned over $64 million in sales. The Platinum Edition DVD of the original movie along with its sequels went on Moratorium (entertainment)|moratorium on January 31, 2008. In the United Kingdom and Ireland , a "Royal Edition" of Cinderella was released on DVD on April 4, 2011. This release had a unique limited edition number on every slip case and an exclusive art card. Disney will release a Walt_Disney_Platinum_and_Diamond_Editions#Diamond_Editions|Diamond Edition in October 2, 2012 in a 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy Combo, a 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo and in a 6-disc "Jewelry Box Set" that includes the first film alongside its two sequels. A 1-disc DVD edition will be released on November 20, 2012.

Reception

The profits from the film's release, with the additional profits from record sales, music publishing, publications and other merchandise gave Disney the cash flow to finance a slate of productions (animated and live action), establish his own distribution company, enter television production and begin building Disneyland during the decade.

Walt Disney had not had a huge hit since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . The production of this film was regarded as a major gamble on his part. At a cost of nearly $3 million, Disney insiders claimed that if Cinderella failed at the box office, then the Disney studio would have closed (given that the studio was already heavily in debt). The film was a huge box office success and allowed Disney to carry on producing films throughout the 1950s.

Awards

The film received three Academy Award nominations for Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound ( C. O. Slyfield ), Original Music Score and Best Song for " Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo ". At the 1st Berlin International Film Festival it won the Golden Bear|Golden Bear (Music Film) award and the Big Bronze Plate award.

In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its " AFI's 10 Top 10|10 Top 10 "— the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Cinderella was acknowledged as the 9th greatest film in the animation genre.

American Film Institute recognition:

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies - Nominated

AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions - Nominated

AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains :

* Lady Tremaine (Stepmother) - Nominated Villain

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs :

* Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo - Nominated

* A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes - Nominated

AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals - Nominated

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - Nominated

AFI's 10 Top 10 - #9 Animated film

Sequels and other media

A direct-to-video sequel Cinderella II: Dreams Come True was released on February 26, 2002.

A second direct-to-video sequel Cinderella III: A Twist in Time was released on February 6, 2007.

Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother have appeared as guests in '' Disney's House of Mouse .

Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother appear in the video game Kingdom Hearts and a world based on the film, Castle of Dreams , appears in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep . All the main characters sans Gus, Major and the King appear.

A scaled-down Musical theatre|stage musical version of the film known as ''Disney's Cinderella KIDS'' is frequently performed by schools and children's theaters.

Copyright Citations

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