The one that started it all, again....

Rating: 9/10 (14 August 2010)

The year of 1950 gave us three, perhaps four, great American movie classics. Mankiewicz's 'All About Eve,' Wilder's 'Sunset Boulevard,' and, yes, Disney's 'Cinderella.' There is also Huston's excellent, gritty 'Asphault Jungle,' a landmark in American Film Noir, but it cannot reach the cataclysmic heights attained by these three upon their individual releases. And while the remarkably similar, and yet strikingly different, former two films have received their accolades time and again from critics, there seems to be a hesitance to give this classic its dues. After all, its a "children's picture." What many don't seem to understand, however, is this film's significance. They don't seem to realize that although 'Snow White' "started it all" in 1937, without 'Cinderella,' the American public would not have 'The Little Mermaid,' 'Aladdin,' 'Anastasia,' 'The Lion King,' 'Monsters Inc.' or any other animated blockbuster cherished today made after 1950. Walt Disney, at the end of his financial rope, took one of his biggest gambles in producing this project "about a girl in trouble," and it paid off, making it "cool," once again, to go to see a feature length animated film. He was, in turn, able to produce the subsequent animated classics of the 1950s and 60s, and, perhaps, his live action ones as well.
Most remarkable is the way every aspect of this film seems to flow together without interruption or flaw. This is a film that combines the romantic, almost neoclassic technique to be found in 'Snow White' with the more picaresque, bubbly quality of 'Pinnocio.' The Nine Old Men, each with his own distinct style of animation, were able to find a healthy medium so that their characters, different in appearance and mannerisms as they were, could all coexist on the same plane. To watch the Siskel and Ebert review of this film, in which both men have differing views on why this film is great, Ebert preferring the cartoon antics of The King & Duke, the Mice, the Stepsisters, and Lucifer, and Siskel partial to the magnificent realist approach taken to stepmother Lady Tremaine's design, is a testament to the film's versatility.
Music, both song and instrumental, is as crucial to this film as it was to 'Bambi,' 'Dumbo,' or, even, 'Fantasia.' Instrumentally, it heightens the film's drama (ex. the dress tearing scene characterizing the sister's hate and Cinderella's confused heartbreak) and suspense (ex. the retrieving of the key from the stepmother's pocket). In terms of song, the team took risks and endeavors not attempted before, most famously with the 'Sing Sweet Nightingale' number, with the blending of Illene Wood's voices. More importantly, I find it an injustice that neither 'A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes,' nor 'Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo' were selected by the Academy to win the Oscar, surely either of these are more timeless than the song that was selected.
The film's main point of criticism has always been its heroine. Soft and genteel, she is regularly dismissed as uninteresting and of not asset to the film. However, although Cinderella sports remarkably American qualities and values for a humble, French servant girl, she exhibits a sort of intelligence, perseverence, and creativity not to be found in Snow White, or, later on, Aurora. Cinderella's gutsy persona, that she was a rebel, was a source of pride for Walt Disney during and after the film's production. In the film's lead, we see the fabric that would lead to the creation of future model heroines; inquisitive Ariel, learned & feisty Belle, and heroic Mulan. If anything, it is the Prince Charming character who is objectified, and Disney's Golden Age can only sport Prince Phillip, and perhaps the Tramp or Bambi, as an interesting leading man.
'Cinderella,' as a whole, has much to offer, not just as an animated film but as quality entertainment, just as timeless and worthwhile as 'All About Eve' or 'Sunset Boulevard.'