Disney Cinderella

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CINDERELLA

This sub-project is part of the larger Classic Disney Project. Please visit the main project page for details on the goals and objectives of this project.

CAST

• Ilene Woods, Cinderella (c)
• William Edward Phipps, Prince Charming (c)
• Mike Douglas, Prince Charming Singing Voice (c)
• Verna Felton, Fairy Godmother (c)
• Eleanor Audley, Lady Tremaine
• Lucille Bliss, Anastasia (c)
• Rhoda Williams, Drizella (c)
• Jimmy MacDonald, Jaq, Gus & Bruno
• June Foray, Lucifer (c)
• Luis VanRooten, The King & The Grand Duke (c)
• Betty Lou Gerson, Narrator (c)

(c) = Connected

Film Facts

Plot: Cinderella sees her world turn upside down when her beloved mother dies, and her father remarries another woman, the wicked Lady Tremaine. When her father dies too, she is left in Lady Tremaine's clutches to serve as her maid-of-all-work. When the King invites every eligible maiden in the kingdom to a fancy ball where his son, Prince Charming, will be able to choose his bride, Cinderella's hopes of attending are dashed when the dress she has made with the help of her mice and bird friends is destroyed by her jealous evil stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella. But when her Fairy Godmother appears, she is provided with a pumpkin coach, a beautiful white gown, and a pair of glass slippers. The Fairy Godmother warns, however, that all of these things will disappear at the final stroke of midnight, and everything will turn back to normal. When the Prince sees Cinderella, it is love at first sight. The two dance and wander until the clock suddenly strikes midnight, and Cinderella flees, leaving behind one of her glass slippers. With the slipper as his only clue, the undeterred Prince tracks Cinderella down, makes her his bride, and the two live happily ever after.

- Disney based his film on a classic folk tale that dates back to ancient times, but which was made popular in modern Europe by Frenchman Charles Perrault in his Cendrillon (1679). The story was also retold by the Grimm Brothers as Aschenputtel ("Cinderella")

- Cinderella was Disney's 12th animated feature film and the first fully-developed, feature-length film the studio released after wartime cutbacks had forced them to release several "anthology films." The film premiered in Boston on 15 Feb 1950, and was released throughout the United States on 4 Mar 1950.

- This was not the first Disney version of Cinderella. During his early years, producing the Laugh-O-Gram series (1921-1923), Walt Disney created several short films based on fairy tales. One of them was Cinderella (1922).

- Cinderella was the first film to be worked on by all nine of the legendary "Nine Old Men" of the Walt Disney animation department.

- Cinderella received three Academy Award nominations for Best Sound (C. O. Slyfield), Best Scoring of a Musical Picture (Oliver Wallace and Paul J. Smith) and Best Original Song for Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo (Mack David, Jerry Livingston, and Al Hoffman).

- The American Film Institute ranked Cinderella #9 on their list of the 10 greatest animated feature films of all time.

- Cinderella was the first Disney film to have its songs published and copyrighted by the newly created Walt Disney Music Company. Before that, movie songs provided little residual value to their film studios and were often sold off to music companies to be published as sheet music.