Product: The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella [VHS] (1977)
Rating: 5.0
An Opulent and Ethereal Retelling
With this tuneful 1976 repackaging of the tale of Cinderella, viewers are rewarded with a meticulously created world of an 18th century European Kingdom that is like a photographic version of a Rococco painting, but bathed in soft white light, courtesy of cinematographer, Tony Imi.The setting is more than faintly reminiscent of that other notable 18th century version of "Cinderella", "The Glass Slipper" (1955) starring Leslie Caron.Whereas Caron's Cinderella was a tempermental and highly disagreeable outcaste, Gemma Craven's Cinderella is soft, a bit firm, but not expressing too much open hostility when her newly widowed stepmother(Margaret Lockwood), having dismissed all the household servants, makes her the sole servant of the household while indulging her own daughters, Palatine and Isobella(Sherrie Hewson and Rosalind Ayres).Meanwhile, over at the palace, Edward, the Prince of Euphrania( a handsome charismatic Richard Chamberlin) expresses displeasure with life in his guilded cage, as he bitterly confronts his father, the King ( Sir Michael Hordern)about a recently rejected candidate for an arranged marriage. He enjoys the company of of his companion, John (Christopher Gable), who is attracted to a lady-in-waiting named Caroline(Polly Williams, bearing a strong resemblance to Britain's Princess Anne), a woman above him in rank. In due time, the Prince will ease the way for the couple to be together, while still pining for true romance of his own.As the paths of the Prince and his beloved-to-be slowly begin to diverge, we are treated to a lively number with Edward and John cavorting in the Royal Crypt, while outside the palace, the orphaned Cinderlla places flowers on the rod-iron-cross-topped graves of her parents, over which tall grasses softly wave, as she reminds herself that once she was loved, to keep up her morale.As the decison from the palace to have a royal bride-finding ball is handed down, Julian Orchard's foppish Rupert, the Duke of Montague is the comic relief who is desperate for a bride, and will eventually help bring the story to a favorable conclusion.As Cinderella continues with her relentless round of daily tasks amid the ingratitude of her stepfamily, a mysterious woman(Annette Crosbie) wanders into her life, complete with a small four-legged companion.The young girl suddenly finds her tasks to be much easier, and eventually, she arranges for Cinderella to attend the ball as Princess Incognita.As is well known, Cinderella and the Prince meet,but the young girl forgets to leave before the stroke of midnight. The Prince is angry at his Chamberlain (Sir Kenneth More) when he mistakenly believes he frightened Cinderella away as they were in the garden together.But a lost glass slipper is soon put on display for all citizens to see after an unsuccessful attempt to find the shoe's owner by having every eligible maiden in the Kingdom try it on yields no results.When the bride-to-be is eventually found, the discovery that the Prince must make a betrothal to a foreign-born Princess to seal an alliance and protect the small country from a possible war, results in Cinderella's being sent away--an odd take on the traditional story.In a scene based on Frangonard's painting "Happy Accidents on the Swing", The Fairy Godmother confronts her charge once more, goading her back into battle and expressing her dismay about her disobedience ("...All the same, you young girls.--Never do as you're told! Men are much easier!").Gradually, we get our fairytale ending amid the lavish scenery.Lally Bowers as the Queen, the incomparable Dame Edith Evans as the Dowager Queen, round out the delightful cast who graciously bow and curtsey to their invisible audience at the end.I recall thinking this to have been one of the strangest productions of the Cinderella story I had ever seen upon my first viewing of it in the early 80s. But it has since grown on me considerably. Besides, in which other version of the tale can we enjoy a scene of statesmen and their King singing about protocol while marching atop a table?And so, speaking The King's Euphranian, I will say that thirty-five years after its release, "The Slipper and the Rose" still holds the power to entrance!