Cinderella (1950 film)

***Cinderella*** is a 1950 American animatit muisical fantasie film producit bi Walt Disney an oreeginally released bi RKO Radio Pictures. Based on the fairy tale *[[Cinderella|Cendrillon]]* bi Charles Perrault, it is the twelft Disney animatit featur film. Directin credits gang tae Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, and Wilfred Jackson. Sangs wur written bi Mack David, Jerry Livingston, an Al Hoffman. Sangs in the film include "Cinderella", "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes", "Sing Sweet Nightingale", "The Work Song", "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo", an "So This is Love". It featurs the vyces o Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Rhoda Williams, James MacDonald, Luis van Rooten, Don Barclay, Mike Douglas, an Lucille Bliss.

At the time, Walt Disney Productions haed suffered frae losin connections tae the European film markets due tae the outbreak o Warld War II, endurin some box office bombs lik *[[Pinocchio (1940 film)|Pinocchio]]*, *[[Fantasia (1940 film)|Fantasia]]*, an *[[Bambi]]*, all o which wad later acome mair successfu wi several re-releases in theaters an on home video. At the time, houiver, the studio wis ower $4 million in debt an wis on the verge o bankruptcy. Walt Disney an his animators turned back tae feature film production in 1948 efter producin a string o package films wi the idea o adapting Charles Perrault's *Cendrillon* intae a motion picture. It is the first Disney film in which all of Disney's Nine Old Men worked thegither as directing animators. Efter two years in production, *Cinderella* wis released on Februar 15, 1950. It became the greatest critical an commercial hit for the studio syne *[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]* (1937) an helped reverse the studio's fortunes. It is considered one o the best American animated films ever made, as selected bi the American Film Institute. It received three Academy Award nominations, includin Best Music, Original Song for "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo". Decades later, it wis followed bi two direct-to-video sequels—*[[Cinderella II: Dreams Come True]]* an *[[Cinderella III: A Twist in Time]]—*and a 2015 live-action remake directed bi Kenneth Branagh.

## Plot
Cinderella lives an unhappy life, haein lost baith parents at a young age and bein forced to work as a scullery maid for her cruel stepmither, Lady Tremaine, jealous of Cinderella's beauty, an stepsisters Drizella and Anastasia, in the dilapidated château thay live in. Despite this, Cinderella is a kynd and gentle young woman and is friends wi mice and birds that live in and aroond the château. Meanwhile, at the royal palace, the Keeng is frustrated that his son, the Prince, is still unmarried. He and the Grand Duke organize a ball in an effort to find a suitable wife for the Prince, requesting every eligible maiden attend. Upon receiving notice o the ball, Tremaine agrees to let Cinderella go if she finishes her chores and can find a suitable dress to wear.

Cinderella finds a gown that belongs to her mither and decides to refashion it for the ball, but her step faimily impedes this by giein her extra chores. Cinderella's ainimal friends, includin Jaq and Gus, refashion it for her, completing the design wi a necklace and sash discarded by Drizella and Anastasia, respectively. When Cinderella comes downstairs wearing the dress, the stepsisters are angered when thay realize Cinderella is wearing thair accessories and angrily tear the dress to shreds afore leaving for the ball wi thair mither. A heartbroken Cinderella runs oot intae the gairden in tears, whaur her Fairy Godmother appears afore her. Insisting that Cinderella go tae the ball, the Fairy Godmither magically transforms a pumpkin intae a carriage, the mice intae horse, Cinderella's horse, Major, intae a coachman, an dug, Bruno, intae a footman, afore turning Cinderella's ruined dress intae a white ball gown and her shoes intae gless slippers. As Cinderella leaves for the ball, the Fairy Godmither warns her the spell will break at the stroke of midnicht.

At the ball, the Prince rejects every girl until he sees Cinderella, who agrees to dance wi him. The two faw in luve and go oot for a stroll thegither in the castle gardens. As thay are about to kiss, Cinderella hears the clock stairt to chime midnicht and flees. As she leaves the castle, ane o her slippers faws off. The palace guards gie chase as Cinderella flees in the coach afore the spell breaks on the last stroke of midnicht. Cinderella, her pets, an the mice hide in a wooded aurie as the guards pass.

The Grand Duke informs the Keeng that Cinderella, who remains anonymous, haes escaped, an that the Prince wishes to mairy her. The lost gless slipper is the anly piece of evidence. The Keeng issues a royal proclamation ordering every maiden in the kingdom to try on the slipper for size in an effort to find the girl. After this news reaches Cinderella's household, Tremaine realizes her stepdochter is that girl when hearing her humming the waltz played at the ball and locks her in her attic bedroom. Later, the Duke arrives at the château, an Jaq and Gus steal the key frae Tremaine's dress pocket and tak it up tae the attic as Anastasia and Drizella unsuccessfully try on the slipper. Tremaine's cat Lucifer ambushes the mice, but Bruno chases him oot o the hoose, allouin the mice to free Cinderella. As the Duke is about to leave, Cinderella appears and asks to try on the slipper. Knowing it will fit, Lady Tremaine trips the footman as he brings the Duke the slipper, causin it to shatter on the floor. Much to her horror, Cinderella presents the Duke wi the ither slipper, which fits perfectly. The film ends wi a nou-mairit Prince and Cinderella at thair wedding, sharin a kiss as thay leave.

## Cast

## Animators
* Marc Davis, Eric Larson, and Les Clark war the supervising animators of Cinderella
* Frank Thomas wis the supervising animator of Lady Tremaine
* Milt Kahl wis the supervising animator of Fairy Godmither and Prince Chairmin
* Ollie Johnston wis the supervising animator of Drizella Tremaine and Anastasia Tremaine
* Ward Kimball and John Lounsbery war the supervising animators of Jaq and Gus 
* Ward Kimball, John Lounsbery, an Norman Ferguson  war the supervising animators of Bruno
* Ward Kimball, Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery, an Norman Ferguson war the supervising animators of Lucifer   
* Milt Kahl and Norman Ferguson war the supervising animators of The Keeng  
* Frank Thomas, Milt Kahl, an Norman Ferguson war the supervising animators of The Grand Duke

## Production
Made on the cusp atween the classic "golden age" Disney animations o the 1930s and 1940s and the less critically acclaimed productions o the 1950s, *Cinderella* is representative of baith eras.

*Cinderella* wis the first full-bodied feature produced bi the studio syne *[[Bambi]]* in 1942; World War II and law box office returns haed forced Walt Disney to produce a series of inexpensive package films sic as *[[Make Mine Music]]* and *[[Fun and Fancy Free]]* for the 1940s. Live action reference wis uised extensively to keep animation costs doun. Accordin to Laryn Dowel, one o the directing animators o the film, roughly 90% o the film wis done in live action model afore animation, uisin basic sets as references for actors and animators alike.

Helene Stanley (Cinderella's live action model), Karen Overby and Ilene Woods (Cinderella's vyce actress, selected frae 400 ither candidates) heavily influenced Cinderella's styling and mannerisms. Stanley wis  the live-action model for Anastasia Tremaine as well. She wad be sae again for Princess Aurora in *[[Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)|Sleeping Beauty]]* and Anita Radcliffe in *[[One Hundred and One Dalmatians]]*. Animators modeled Prince Chairmin on actor Jeffrey Stone, who an aa providit some additional vyces for the film. Mike Douglas wis the Prince's singing vyce while William Phipps recorded the prince's dialogue (or speakin vyce).

In earlier drafts o the screenplay, the Prince oreeginally played a lairger role and haed mair character development than what he ultimately received in the final version o the film. In one abandoned openin, the Prince wis shawn huntin a deer, but at the end o the sequence, it wis tae be revealed that the Prince and the deer war actually friends playin a gemme. In an abandoned alternate endin, efter the Duke discovered Cinderella's identity, she wis shawn bein brocht tae the castle tae be reintroduced tae the Prince, who is surprised to learn that Cinderella wis actually a modest servant girl instead o the princess he thocht she wis, but the Prince's feelings for her war too strong tae be bothered by this and he embraced her; the Fairy Godmither wis to reappear and restore Cinderella's ball gown for the closin shot. Walt Disney himsel reportedly cut the alternate endin acause he felt it wis overlong and did nae gie the audience its "pay off", but the scene wad later be incorporated in the video gemme, *[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep]]*.

Ither deleted material included an abandoned song that wis tentatively titled the "Cinderella Work Song", which wis pairt o a fantasy sequence that wis set to tak place efter Lady Tremaine tells Cinderella that she can go tae the ball if she finishes all of her chores and haes a nice dress to wear. In this abandoned sequence, Cinderella imagines hersel bein cloned intae an airmy to divide up the work while pondering what the ball itself will be lik. The sequence wis cut, but the title wis applee'd tae the song the mice sing when thay work on Cinderella's dress. Additionally, thare wis a scene that teuk place efter the ball in which Cinderella wis seen returning to her home and eavesdropped on her stepfaimily, who war rantin about the meestery girl at the ball, an Cinderella wis shawn tae be amused by this acause thay war talking about her wioot realizing it. Walt Disney reportedly cut the scene acause he thocht it made Cinderella leuk "spiteful" and felt the audience wad lose sympathy for her.

For the first time, Walt turned to Tin Pan Alley songwriters to write the songs. The music of Tin Pan Alley wad later acome a recurring theme in Disney animation.  *Cinderella* wis the first Disney film to hae its songs published and copyrighted bi the newly creatit Walt Disney Music Company. Afore movie soundtracks became marketable, movie songs haed little residual value tae the film studio that owned them and war eften sauld off to established music companies for sheet music publication.

The song "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" became a hit single on four occasions, includin a civer version recorded by Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters. Woods beat exactly 309 girls for the pairt of Cinderella efter some demo recordings of her singing a few o the film's songs war presented to Walt Disney. Houiver, she haed no idea she wis audeetionin for the pairt until Disney contacted her; she initially made the recordings for a few friends who sent them to Disney wioot her knowledge. Reportedly, Disney thocht Woods haed the right "fairy tale" tone to her vyce.

Interestingly, awmaist 30 years afore he made "Cinderella" intae a feature-lenth animated film, Walt Disney already made a short film of it as the last o the Laugh-O-Gram series, as a Roaring 20's version. This short is included as an extra on the *Cinderella* Platinum Edition DVD.

During production, Walt Disney pioneered the uise of overdubbed vocals for the song "Sing Sweet Nightingale", afore it haed been uised by artists in studio recordings sic as the Beatles. When Ilene Woods haed completit the days recording of "Sing Sweet Nightingale", Walt listened and asked her if she coud sing harmony wi hersel. She wis apprehensive about the idea as it wis unheard of; tho she ended up singing the dooble recording, includin seicont and third pairt harmonies. Ilene Woods reveals the innovation in an interview.

The claes an aa received considerable attention. A scholar haes demonstrated that Salvador Dalí, wi whom Disney worked on the short Destino a few months afore stairtin Cinderella, inspired the dress that Cinderella's stepsisters tear apart and that the magic new gown worn by Cinderella at the ball references French haute couture and, mair precisely, the style of Christian Dior, who traveled throu the U.S. in 1947.

### 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 Godmither
* "So This Is Love" – Cinderella, Prince Chairmin
* "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 the first disc, "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" and "So This Is Love" on the seicont, and "Oh, Sing Sweet Nightingale" on the fowert. On *Disney's Greatest Hits*, "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" is included on the first volume and "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" on the seicont volume.

### Soundtrack

The soundtrack for *Cinderella* wis re-released by Walt Disney Records on CD on Februar 4, 1997, an included a bonus demo. On October 4, 2005, Disney released a special edition o the soundtrack album of *Cinderella*, for the *Platinum Edition* DVD release, which includes several demo songs cut frae the final film, a new song, an a civer version of "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes". The soundtrack wis released again on October 2, 2012, an consisted of several lost chords and new recordings of them. A Walmart exclusive leemitit edition "Music Box Set" consisting o the soundtrack wioot the lost chords or bonus demos, the *Song and Story: Cinderella* CD and a bonus DVD of *[[Tangled#Tangled Ever After|Tangled Ever After]]* wis released on the same day.

 

## Release
The film wis oreeginally released in theaters on Februar 15, 1950, in Boston, Massachusetts, followed by theatrical re-releases in 1957, 1965, 1973, 1981, an 1987. *Cinderella* an aa played a leemitit engagement in select Cinemark Theatres frae Februar 16–18, 2013.

### Home media
It wis released on VHS video and laserdisc in 1988 as pairt o the Walt Disney Classics collection. The release haed a promotion wi a free lithograph reproduction for those who pre-ordered the video afore its release date. In 1995, the film received a Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection video issue, it went back to moratorium in 1996 but later got a DVD release in 1997. Disney then restored and remastered the movie for its October 4, 2005, release as the saxt installment o the Walt Disney Platinum Editions series. Accordin to Studio Briefing, Disney sauld 3.2 million copies in its first week and earned ower $64 million in sales. The Platinum Edition DVD o the oreeginal movie alang wi its sequels went on moratorium on Januar 31, 2008. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a "Royal Edition" of *Cinderella* wis released on DVD on Apryle 4, 2011, to celebrate the UK Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. This release haed a unique leemitit edition nummer on every slipcase and an exclusive airt card. Disney released a Diamond Edition on October 2, 2012, in a 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy Combo, a 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo an in a 6-disc "Jewelry Box Set" that includes the first film alongside its two sequels. A 1-disc DVD edition wis released on November 20, 2012. The Diamond Edition release went back intae the Disney Vault on Januar 31, 2017.

### Reception
*Cinderella* currently haes a score of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. The overview o the film is, "The rich colors, sweet songs, adorable mice and endearing (if suffering) heroine make *Cinderella* a nostalgically lovely charmer".

The profits frae the film's release, wi the additional profits frae record sales, music publishing, publications and ither merchandise gae Disney the cash flow to finance a slate of productions (animated and live action), establish his ain distribution company, enter telly production and begin building Disneyland during the decade.

Disney haed nae haed a major hit syne *[[Dumbo]]*. The production of this film wis regarded as a major gamble on his pairt. At a cost of nearly $3 million, Disney insiders claimed that if *Cinderella* failed at the box office, then the Disney studio wad hae closed (gien that the studio wis already heavily in debt). The film wis a box office success and allowed Disney to cairy on producin films throughout the 1950s. It wis the 5t maist popular movie at the British box office in 1951.

### Awards
The film received three Academy Award nominations for Best Sound (C. O. Slyfield) lost to *[[All About Eve]]*, Best Music, Scoring o a Musical Picture (Oliver Wallace and Paul J. Smith) lost to *[[Annie Get Your Gun (film)|Annie Get Your Gun]]* and Best Music, Original Song for "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" (Mack David, Jerry Livingston, and Al Hoffman) lost to *[[Captain Carey, U.S.A.]]*. At the 1st Berlin International Film Festival it won the Golden Bear (Music Film) award and the Big Bronze Plate award.

In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "10 Top 10"— the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—efter polling ower 1,500 fowk frae the creative community. *Cinderella* wis acknowledged as the 9t 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 (Stepmither) – 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]]* wis released on Februar 26, 2002.
* A seicont direct-to-video sequel *[[Cinderella III: A Twist in Time]]* wis released on Februar 6, 2007.
* Cinderella and the Fairy Godmither hae appeared as guests in *[[Disney's House of Mouse]]*.
* Cinderella and the Fairy Godmither appear in the video gemme *[[Kingdom Hearts]]* and a world based on the film, **Castle of Dreams**, appears in *[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep]]*. All the main characters except Gus, Bruno and the Keeng appear.
* A scaled-doun stage musical version o the film kent as *Disney's Cinderella KIDS* is frequently performed by schools and childer's theaters.
* A live-action adaptation o the film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, directed by Kenneth Branagh wis released in 2015; starring Lily James, Richard Madden, Cate Blanchett, and Helena Bonham Carter.

## References

## Freemit airtins
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