Product: The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella [VHS] (1977)
Rating: 4.0
With the best Fairy Godmother ever
I remember seeing this when I was young, but couldn't remember the name of it. I was delighted when I found it again. While some of the songs in this are not the best work ever in a musical, ("Proticoligorically Correct" comes to mind, which in my opinion drags the movie down a bit), the acting of the cast in the rest of the film more than makes up for it. The showstopping song and dance of "Position and Positioning" is particularly fine, and does bring back memories of the rooftop dancing from "Mary Poppins," which was also the work of the creative team on this film.Even those actors who don't have any lines to speak of add to the fun, including the Queen mother of "the other bride," whose facial expressions while her husband and the King of Euphrania discuss the problem of their disobedient children make me laugh every time I see it.The leads do a wonderful job in this, particularly Richard Chamberlin, who portrays a very kind and thoughtful prince. As with many veteran actors, you can almost see what he is thinking when he is onscreen. (Veteran, indeed; I still find it hard to believe that he was 40 when he played this role!) The fact that we actually get to know the prince is one of the things that make this retelling of the tale superior to others. He has at least as much screen time as does Gemma Craven, and it adds to the richness of the story.Gemma Craven, as the main character, does a fine job, managing to stay just this side of sappy. Often with the Cinderella story, I feel the urge to slap the girl silly, most often because the actress in the role is sort of "parroting" goodness. Ms. Craven's performance leaves you believing that Cinderella is simply a noble being, willing even to sacrifice her own happiness for the good of the people in her homeland, and trying to ensure that the man she loves will not be miserable when he finds she has done so. You can't help being delighted for her when things turn out right in the end.The best performance by far, though, in this movie is that of Annette Crosby as the Fairy Godmother. Rather than the sugary-sweet version that we are served up in the other versions of the Cinderella story, Ms. Crosby's performance is delightfully tart and very funny. This version also finally explains the reason for the "leave before the stroke of midnight" stricture, which has always been an irritating point in the classic fable. *Why* does Cinderella have to leave before midnight? The explanation in this version at least makes sense.For fans of the Cinderella myth, this is a good version to choose.