#12: Cinderella (1950)

Alright, so after slogging through all those package films, here we are back to business with the studio's feature-length 'Cinderella.' Disney was banking everything they had on this one; it was their most expensive film to date, and most analysts predicted if the film didn't perform, the whole studio would go under. But of course it was a rousing success, managing to keep Disney going well into the 50s, and is a beloved classic even to this day. But is that all just wonderful nostalgia? How will this one fare against the classics before it. Well, here we go then...
'Cinderella' is definitely one of Disney's simpler stories (not that many of them are THAT complex, anyway): Cinderella is a beautiful young girl who is under the oppressive heel of her stepmother, who is only concerned with her ugly and annoying daughters, and forces her to basically be slave to the castle. Meanwhile the king of all the land is beyond frustrated that his son isn't seeking out a suitable bride, so he arranges a ball to get him one, inviting all the ladies of the kingdom to come out. Of course the stepmother fucks Cinderella over once more and leaves her home, but luckily, her fairy godmother assists with a pumpkin... dance... glass slipper... oh forget it. You know all this...
I've got to say, I was not as enchanted with this one, and can really only point to its huge gaping problem: the running time. Now it's only seventy minutes, but since the story is so thin, boy oh boy do they pad it. The story doesn't kick in until the thirty minute mark (and we don't even see the stepmother until about twenty), so what's the hold-up? The mice, of course. You know these guys, a troupe of mice who serve as the only people (err... mice people) in Cindy's corner, two main ones being your standard fat oaf character and the fast-talking leader whose accent I can't quite pin. Oh, and they talk in squeaky voices. And not like Chipmunks squeaky, even HIGHER than that. They become a chore to listen to, ESPECIALLY when they do their working song. It's almost as if Ross Bagdasarian saw this movie and said, "I'll do that eight years from now, but not quite as annoying." But my main problem with that is that at a movie's start, we really should be spending as much time with our main character as possible; the more we see her on screen, the more we start to relate and root for her. But instead, her screen-time is literally cut in half by the mice trying to outwit the evil cat. It's inconsequential, and it slows the story down, so when later when they're a big part of the climax (which takes fooooooorreeeevvveerrrr), you're just waiting (im)patiently for the movie to end.
Even aside from the mice, the film seem so long. It takes quite a while for the godmother to show up (FORTY FIVE MINUTES!), and before that it's just scene after scene of Cinderella getting abused. I know that's the whole point of the story, but it's kind of a bummer to watch. Speaking of, let me talk visuals. I will say the movie looks great, its backgrounds and sets are lush, and there are a lot of great effects with the nighttime sky and the magic sparkles. But something struck me odd about some of the characters: Cinderella has very clear realistic movements (one of the many Disney characters drawn based on a real model's movements), her stepmother had a very static look that fell between too realistic and very creepy (but not in a good way), and her sisters were bombastic caricature-types. Now certainly different forms of design and animation can work (a real Snow White and cartoony dwarfs), but here it all seemed very strange. Combine that with the typical animated animals and it's like it was all just pick-and-choose.
I don't want to be too rough on this picture... even though I've bashed it up to this point. If there's one thing that saves it, it's good old fashioned Disney craziness. The prince's father is a maniac. He wants his son to get married IMMEDIATELY because he wants grandchildren, so he makes it the duke's mission to arrange the ball. During said ball when the prince meets Cinderella, the king orders the duke to monitor them and make sure nothing goes wrong, or else, and he does the throat-cutting motion. This isn't done playfully mind you, he's serious. If the girl gets away, the king WILL kill the duke. So later on when the king awakes he's on cloud nine about his son getting married, and when the duke eventually stammers out that the girl ran off, the king cries treason and CHASES THE DUKE AROUND WITH AN AXE. He is literally going to kill his servant over this. These scenes are so crazy, I say they almost save the film.

Verdict? The weakest one so far, bar none. There's just so much padding and lack of focus that it really doesn't feel much like Cinderella's story, and the character animation is not nearly as strong or cohesive as we've seen in the past. But I will say there's quite a good amount of artistry here, and there are absolutely far worse ways to spend seventy minutes. I say give it a watch, especially if you remember it fondly as a child. Prepare to have your nostalgia broken...

Oh, and Cinderella has no toes. Seriously, when you see her feet, the toes just aren't there. And she's not wearing any stockings or anything. So what, did the animators just forget? How very odd...
Where are they... WHERE ARE THEY?!