The Glass Slipper
Tags: fantasy

Plot synopsis:
Ella, who is sometimes teased as "Cinderella", is a lonely and misunderstood young woman who lives in a European principality. An orphan who has become an almost-servant to her stepmother the Widow Sonder and stepsisters Birdina and Serafina, she is shunned by the townspeople because of her anti-social behavior and constant boasting that she will live in the palace one day (as a gypsy told her late mother three years prior to Ella's birth).
Prince Charles is the son of the Duke who rules the principality. The Prince has been studying at the University of Paris for many years, and the Duke is delighted that he has returned, which will be celebrated by three days of festivities and a ball on the final day. Now that Charles is back, he starts to recall old memories he had of growing up there, including a small girl with unbearably sad eyes whom he saw crying when he was just a boy.
After getting into a spat with her stepfamily over the Prince's appearance, Ella runs away to her favorite place, which is a small secluded pool on the Palace grounds. There she meets an eccentric old woman named Mrs. Toquet who becomes her first friend.
The next day she returns to the spot, hoping to meet Mrs. Toquet, but instead finds Charles and his friend Kovin. Ella asks them where they are from and they tell her that they come from the Palace, with Kovin saying that Charles is the son of the Chief Cook in the Palace. Charles then recognises Ella's eyes as those belonging to the girl he saw years ago. Ella thinks that he is making fun of her and pushes him into the pool. Charles is intrigued by Ella and has Kovin talk to the people of the principality to find out everything he can about her.
That same day, Cousin Loulou visits the Sonder home. Ella is supposed to be all cleaned up to receive their guest, but her stepfamily is scandalized when they discover that she is barefoot. Ella remembers that she left her shoes at the pond, so she runs off to collect them, only to find Charles waiting for her with the shoes. Ella apologizes for pushing him into the water and he apologizes for hurting her feelings. They talk, and Charles gives her an invitation to the Ball, to which Ella replies that she cannot dance. Charles says that she should learn to dance since she's going to live in the Palace some day, and offers a dancing lesson. After a waltz Charles steals a kiss, and Ella runs away.
After the Widow Sonder, Birdina and Serafina leave for the ball, Mrs. Toquet arrives, bringing with her a ball gown and pair of glass slippers she says that she has borrowed for Ella's use. She has also somehow arranged for a coach to take Ella to the palace. Mrs. Toquet tells Ella she has to leave the Palace by midnight.
At the Palace Ball, Ella is besieged by young men wanting to dance with her, but she refuses to speak to anyone, focusing all her attention on trying to reach the Palace kitchens to find Charles. When Charles learns of her presence, he waltzes with her and persuades her to look up at him. Ella is stunned to find that her friend is the Prince.
The other guests, not knowing who the newcomer is, note her exotic colouring and surmise that she is a foreign lady of noble birth, perhaps Egyptian because of her short hair. When the clock strikes midnight, Ella runs away, leaving one of her glass slippers behind, which is then picked up by Charles. While fleeing the palace, Ella's coach overturns; in the confused aftermath, the dazed Ella sees not a wrecked coach, but a pumpkin crawling with several mice. She loses consciousness and wakes the next morning in her stepmother's house, in her everyday clothes.
Prince Charles informs his father that he has met the woman he wants to marry. Kovin, picking up on what he's overheard at the party, hurriedly "explains" that Ella is a princess of Egypt.
By the next morning, everyone has heard that the Prince has chosen an Egyptian Princess to be his bride. When Ella hears this news, she is devastated. Ella decides to run away, first stopping at her favorite place to see Mrs. Toquet, to whom she bids farewell. Ella throws herself down to the ground sobbing, until she hears a familiar voice. She looks up and sees the Prince. He holds her lost glass slipper, which he declares will fit the foot of the princess he intends to marry.
After glancing briefly at the crowd of people who have just arrived, including Ella's stepmother and stepsisters, the Prince and Ella adjourn to the Palace to be married.
Unlike most versions of this tale, it appears that Mrs. Toquet was able to send Ella to the ball because she was a shrewd old woman with connections. However, in a brief concluding scene, Mrs. Toquet walks calmly away from the village and vanishes into thin air. The narrator affirms that she was Ella's fairy godmother all along.

Review: I remember seeing this enchanting film for the first time when I was 10 or so and I've been fascinated with Leslie Caron's characterization of `Cinder' Ella ever since.
Cinderella's massive pink and frilly `borrowed' ball gown is exquisitely detailed with crystals and roses, and the glass slippers are pure magic!
As a dancer I find the ballet dream sequences quite impressive and exciting to watch, but my one main problem with this film would have be casting Michael Wilding as a ballet dancer in the Princess Tehara dream sequence.
it tooks me years to find it again, when i FINALY found it i ran out and bought it(2 months on back order!!) this is such a sweet light hearted cinderella tale of a girl named Ella who always told everyone she would grow up to live in the palace...
a fairy godmother who is accentric  and amusing with word games what holds a good message, there are some key moments what always make me laugh every time i watch it...
she is a very beautiful woman with great skill and always reminds me a bit of Audrey Hepburn(maybe it's just me)...whenever i'm down this movie always makes me smile i can never get bored of it!...
if you love light hearted romance comedies or the classics this movie is worth watching!.
One of the things I liked was the fact that they dispense with much of the conventional magic known from the original fairy tale: the fairy godmother is given a name and personality- and portrayed as something of a neighborhood kook who loves funny words and steals for a living.
Leslie Caron, a positively beautiful dancer in her early years, is made to look less pretty than she really is, and the film throws a symbolic moral at the viewer by making the stepsisters conventionally beautiful, but still harboring nasty personalities.
I didn't care for the Petit fantasy ballets (they just seem to interrupt the action instead of advancing it), but loved the fact that the prince and Ella meet in the glen before seeing each other at the ball- creating something of a real love story.
It is a shame that Leslie Caron did not continue to dance on film after this year, as all of her subsequent films were 'Gigi' and then straight dramas.
Leslie Caron is cast as Ella, a girl almost destroyed by the death of her mother and the lack of understanding shown her by her insensitive stepmother (Elsa Lanchester) and haughty stepsisters ("Gunsmoke's" Amanda Blake, and Lisa Daniels.) The local villagers are likewise indifferent to her, and (as narrator Walter Pigeon dryly observes), her spirit is in danger of being broken as a result.
Although the prince (a mature Michael Wilding) leaves a bit to be desired in the ''Charming''department, he is perfectly all right otherwise.
The ballet sequences do tend to slow the film down, but Miss Caron did begin her career as a dancer, and she has a grace few others could match.
MGM probably hoped for another "Lili" by casting Leslie Caron as the lead in a live-action version of Cinderella.
Leslie Caron makes an irresistably appealing "Ella" and Estelle Winwood is a glorious fairy-godmother but Michael Wilding does tend to be a rather bland Prince Charming.
Granted, Leslie Caron is NOT Cinderella, but I did like Michael Wilding (even though he seemed a bit old for the part), and Estelle Winwood was fantastic.
It is a great film taking a new twist on the Cinderella story incorporating ballet in it, which is great to watch.
Though Michael Wilding is quite a disappointment as Cinderella's prince, but can be overlooked.
Leslie Caron is cast well and plays the tortured Cinderella well.
Yet another retelling of "Cinderella"...but this time it's Leslie Caron and MGM.
Leslie Caron was the perfect choice to play Cinderella, a scruffy, rebellious girl living with her step-mother and step-sisters, "not quite a servant and not quite a member of the family".
Caron reunites here with much of the team from her best movie "Lili", and if the results are not quite as memorable it may be because the story has been exhausted.
The MGM production is modest, but the cast is all quite colorful and the musical direction and balletic fantasy sequences are very good.
Okay, I admit I have long had a soft spot for Michael Wilding--had a terrific crush on him when I was young and was delighted to see him in this film playing the Prince.
But, boy, he had charm!When I first saw this film I thought it was a bit simplistic, but I was won over by Leslie Caron, a favorite of mine.
Leslie Caron is completely enchanting as Ella.
Estelle Winwood is charming as Ella's eccentric "fairy godmother."  Walter Pidgeon's uncredited narration is pithy and wise.
True, Michael Wilding is indeed a bit bland as Prince Charming/Charles (though not really all that bad) and this is one of Kennan Wynn's weakest appearences (except for his reaction when he sees Ella at the ball), but all in all these are tiny flaws in one underrated gem of a film..
Seeing Leslie Caron in love scenes with the Price (though she thought the character played by Michael Wilding was just a cook) was delightful.
In many ways, this sequence was so long and overdone it reminded me of the big dance scene from "An American in Paris"--which you either love or you hate (guess which applies to me!).
As for the acting, Caron is her usual wonderful self and she made the film a delight.
While I loved the film (it really melted my heart), it should have been tightened up by either eliminating or trimming all the fantasy dance sequences, as they tended to make the plot grind to a halt..
Leslie Caron, (Ella) played the role as a girl who became a servant in her own home and was treated poorly by her mother and two sisters.
When Prince Charles, (Michael Wilding) arrives in town after many years going to college, he eventually meets up with Ella who he remembers when she was a very little girl.
There is plenty of dancing and Ella performs a great ballet performance along with Prince Charles.
Estelle Winwood, (Mrs. Toquet) played the role as a fairy god mother and gave a great supporting role.
Leslie Caron deservedly became an international star at a young age for very similar performances in other movies yet the Glass Slipper did not provide a vehicle which matched her talents.
Michael Wilding (the Prince) has little to do during a number of the dance numbers other than to stand smiling at (Cinder)Ella.
So curious that it had been this pairing who had been responsible just two years earlier for Leslie Caron's magical and charming film: Lili..
for adorable performance of Leslie Caron, reminding, so much, by Audrey Hepburn ( Iknow, I am far to be original ).
In an European town, the folks eagerly await the return of the Duke's favorite son, Prince Charles (Michael Wilding).
On the other hand, everybody dislikes Ella (Leslie Caron).
With help from Toquet, she goes to the ball expecting to meet the son of the cook.With Leslie Caron as the star, there should be more dancing right from the start.
Wasn't entirely about Michael Wilding as the Prince, the character is a little bland to begin with but Wilding plays the role rather charmlessly and seemed somewhat too mature.
Was also mixed on the ballet sequences, they are exquisitely designed, beautifully and cleverly choreographed and danced with grace but had a tendency to go on for a little too long and to slow the film down.Otherwise, The Glass Slipper is a lovely film and for me one of the better versions of Cinderella.
The music has a good amount of whimsy which is a good match for the story, also managing to be perfectly pleasant and hummable (Take My Love is quite sweet).The script has some clever touches that should be done more, like what is done with the Fairy Godmother, Ella and the Prince's pre-ball encounter, the villagers' treatment of Ella and the idea to have the stepsisters beautiful on the outside, and has far more depth that one would think.
Although I do wish there was more done with the transformation scene, one of the best bits of the story, The Glass Slipper manages to the magical and enchanting spirit of the story while having a bit of freshness (something that I loved about the recent adaptation), which is amazing considering how often this story has been done on film and how potentially narratively sketchy the story can be.
It may be a bit staid and measured for some, but for me it was not a problem, only in the ballet sequences did the film feel a tad draggy.Wilding aside, the performances are great, with particular mention going to Leslie Caron's very charming Ella, still looking beautiful even in rags and covered in soot (there is a certain brattiness at times with Caron, which is unusual for Cinderella, but considering Ella's predicament it is somewhat realistic) and Estelle Winwood's splendidly daffy and affecting Fairy Godmother.
While the stepmother has been more strongly written elsewhere (like the quite creepy characterisation in the Disney version), Elsa Lanchester is genuinely beastly in the role, and the stepsisters of Amanda Blake and Lisa Daniels show strong comic timing and real nastiness.
Barry Jones is amusing as the King, and it was nice to see Keenan Wynn so subtle.All in all, The Glass Slipper is a lovely, if not flawless, adaptation of a justifiably popular and oft-filmed fairy tale, standing out as one of the better versions too.
not only for charming Leslie Carol role, not only for choreographic moments - too long for contemporary sensitivity - but for the translation of fairy tale soul.
for the not real young Charming Prince, for a remarkable cast and a fine humor, for the mixture of emotion and joy , for the image of Cinderella, little more complex, for the extraordinary inspiration inspiration to remember old motifs in a delicate, precise manner.
I admit - it is the Leslie Caron film despite my admiration for performance of Estelle Winwood .but in same measure, more important, it is a lovely story.
The bulk of that charm is supplied by Leslie Caron, who you have to fall in love with within the first 15 seconds she's on screen, but there's also a lot of charm from Estelle Winwood and the movie itself is so genial and pleasant and yes, charming, that you can't help but enjoy it.Of course, everyone knows the story of Cinderella, and this alternate version sometimes uses that to its advantage, but at times the differences between this story and the original are just kind of annoying, replacing a simple, very ingenious fairy tale with something that is a bit more Hollywood-contrived, but as I say, this movie is so charming it gets away with it..
And though the story of Cinderella is a french tale, and the story is set in France, Caron is mixed in with English and American actors, and sometimes has difficulty getting the words out.
My friends and I watched this movie in class for music, thinking it was just a boring movie but when we actually saw it, we loved it!
I think this movie is very funny with Ella's eccentric fairy godmother and the twists and turns of Cinderella and the dancing in it was superb!
Although I have no comments on the movie filming, I don't think the prince in was that good.
This slow, talky, and inept version of Cinderella seems to be written and directed by people who never SAW a movie, let alone made one.Caron is charming but wasted, along with Elsa Lanchester, some other good players, and the lavish sets and costumes.
Ballet scenes are interesting, but you'll be hacking at your wrists with broken glass before you get to them.Forty excruciating minutes pass before you find out the movie has music and dancing.
There is so little live sound, you wonder at times if this is a silent film with bad narration added.Writer Helen Deutsch seems unaware that audiences may have encountered the Cinderella story before, so she draws out each scene to maximum length, with phony sub-Freudian psychologizing and clumsy attempts at "humor".Ella's poor social skills, we are frequently reminded, are the result of an inferiority complex caused by societal rejection.
What did a lovely fairy tale ever do to Deutsch that she should treat it this way?This is one of the most amateurish major films ever made in Hollywood.
Although I respect the dancing skill of LESLIE CARON, her acting in this film has got to be one of her weakest performances.
And don't ask about Michael Wilding as Prince Charming.
A nice Cinderella story with Leslie Caron..
One of my favorite newer versions is the Drew Barrymore movie, 'Everafter.' In the 'Glass Slipper', a 23-year-old Leslie Caron, with short cropped hair as pretty as ever, is Ella.
Her co-star is Michael Wilding as Prince Charles.
It is interesting that the current British Prince is also Charles.The story is stock, a fairy godmother helps Ella get to the ball, to have the Prince fall in love with her, and where she drops one glass slipper.
The movie ends as Ella is intending to run away, but the Prince finds her in a field, fits the glass slipper on her, and they ride on horses towards the castle, to "live happily ever after." Nice movie, saw it on TCM..
I taped this off of TCM because it had Leslie Caron in it-and because it was classic movie musical.I use the term "musical" loosely because there is only one song and 3 elongated ballet/dream sequences.
But the movie has few things to recommend it, not the script, not the leading lady (Leslie Caron's inflection is awkward).
I fell in love with this movie for it's quaint narration, a fresh look at the Cinderella character (really breaks away from Disney's sweet and innocent portrayal),costumes, and for Michael Wilding.
This film is based around the retelling of the classic fairytale 'Cinderella', with Leslie Caron taking on the title role and Michael Wilding playing the pronce.
The acting is stilted at times and there are some dis-jointed ballet sequences that could have easily been removed from the final cut - mainly a showcase for Caron's dancing skills and little to do with the overall plot.
I think my main complaint is the mis-casting of Caron as Ella - I never quite empathise with her enough as the ill-treated and lonely young girl and from then on care little about the overall outcome of the story..
A stronger director than Charles Walters might have gotten a little bit more out of Michael Wilding, who is somewhat bland as Ella's Prince.
But the lovely Leslie is a delight and Estelle Winwood was justly praised by every reviewer when this one was released for her gem of a performance.
***This comment may contain spoilers.*** One of the best versions of "Cinderella" that has ever been filmed.
Leslie Caron gives a splendid performance as Ella.
Michael Wilding also does a good job as Prince Charming.
The supporting cast gives good performances also, including Keenan Wynn as the prince's valet, and Amanda Blake and Lisa Daniels as the wicked stepsisters.
Superb direction by Charles Walters (LILI, also starring Caron), and includes two fantasy ballet scenes!
Charming Leslie Caron Movie but missing something?.
Here she has a cinder-smudged face and is impish, as always, with two fantasy ballet sequences; as Leslie Caron was a great ballerina, after all.
It involves a great cooking sequence with a chorus line of ballerinas, and ends with Leslie dancing (on wire) and flying off the top of a huge wedding cake.
A good supporting cast: Estelle Winwood as the funny absent-minded Mrs.Toquet (fairy godmother.) Elsa Lancaster as the mean stepmother.
Missing scenes that should have filmed: Ella as a 6-year-old, running into the Prince for the first time.
Worth watching just to see the captivating Leslie Caron dancing "on toe" once again.
Actress Estelle Winwood embodies "Cinder" Ella's fairy godmother Mrs. Toquet as an apparent victim of early-onset Alzheimer's Disease.
Since Ella is by disposition suicidal ("I wish I were dead" is her favorite expression), it does not look like her "Prince Charles" is in for a happy union..
During the 50s when one needed a waif one either called for Audrey Hepburn or Leslie Caron for a film.
In The Glass Slipper Caron gets to play Cinderella with a slightly old Michael Wilding as her Prince.In this version it is mentioned that the prince has been away at college for so many years few in the realm would recognize him.
A prince closer to Caron's age should have been cast.
But like his fellow Britisher David Niven, Michael Wilding has charm in abundance and carries the part off somewhat.In this version the two meet earlier by a stream and Wilding says he's the cook in the palace of Duke Barry Jones where a great ball is to be held and he invites her.
Caron's own natural beauty shines through all the dirt she's covered with doing all the work in her household while the stepmother and stepsisters frolic and play.A slightly dotty Estelle Winwood is the fairy godmother and she's a treat.
All in all the Cinderella story is a timeless tale and The Glass Slipper is in that tradition.
Watch several Cinderella movies and TV shows.
Wasn't he married to Elizabeth Taylor?Lovely music and costuming in this movie.
It appeared to me that they were taking the express in this film.Leslie Caron, as Cinderella, comes off as an embittered waif.
The latter three hardly say anything.The real life of the film is the performance of veteran pro Estelle Winwood, who portrays the fairy godmother with a delightful touch.