This is fairly well made for 1914, and it's been restored and presented in a higher quality than most films from that period, including some lovely color tinting. It'd be nice if other early silent films were made available in such quality as Mary Pickford's vehicles have been, but we'll take what we can get, I suppose. In addition, the well-known fairytale narrative makes this an ideal candidate from the early phase of feature-length films to see on DVD if you're not already an avid viewer of ancient cinema.
This is an early example of expert focus on filming and staging around the star. Pickford is filmed in the best lighting; her face is nearly always center stage, even if it means blocking or not showing frontal views of others; and there are a good number of close-ups mostly for her. That's for the best, by the way, as not much else here seems as appealing or talented, including Owen Moore, Pickford's real-life husband at the time, as Prince Charming. Otherwise, the film-making here is rather prosaic even for 1914; for example, notice how they return to the same camera positions for scenes in the kitchen, bedroom and ballroom. The framing for the kitchen scenes are very similar to those of the kitchen scenes in the 1911 Thanhouser version of Cinderella, which I saw recently before this.
The clock dream is amusing and creative, though. It begins as a superimposed vision above sleeping Cinderella and then becomes its own shot crosscut with her sleeping. The nice added score helps, too. It's worth comparing this to the dance of the clocks nightmare in Méliès's 1899 "Cinderella", as well as the one in his 1912 version. I also like the through-the-window framing of Cinderella looking out the window at dancing fairies during her other sleeping scene; it's also one of the few times Pickford's back is to the camera.
There were other stars in 1914, but I haven't seen any of them receive this good of treatment, with such classical star focus, for another year or two. Nobody, however, was bigger then in the movie world than was Mary Pickford.
