Cinderella (1950)

When Cinderella's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, she gets some unexpected help from the lovable mice Gus and Jaq, and from her Fairy Godmother.

Directors:

Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson

Writers:

Charles Perrault (from the original classic by), Bill Peet (story) (as William Peed)

Stars:

Ilene Woods, James MacDonald, Eleanor Audley

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ilene Woods	...	Cinderella (voice)
Eleanor Audley	...	Lady Tremaine (voice)
Verna Felton	...	Fairy Godmother (voice)
Claire Du Brey	...	(as Claire DuBrey) (credit only)
Rhoda Williams	...	Drizella (voice)
James MacDonald	...	Jaq / Gus (voice) (as James Macdonald)
Helene Stanley	...	(credit only)
Luis Van Rooten	...	King / Grand Duke (voice)
Don Barclay	...	Doorman (voice)
Lucille Bliss	...	Anastasia (voice)
Jeffrey Stone	...	(voice) (as John Fontaine)
Mike Douglas	...	Prince Charming (singing voice)
William Phipps	...	Prince Charming (voice)
Marion Darlington	...	Birds (voice)
Earl Keen	...	Bruno (voice)

Storyline

Cinderella, the beautiful and kind-hearted daughter, sees her world turn upside down when her beloved mother dies, and her pained father remarries another woman, the wicked Lady Tremaine, who has two equally cruel daughters, the jealous Anastasia and Drizella. But, once more, things will go from bad to worse, when Cinderella's father, too, dies, leaving her all alone in the Lady's clutches to serve as her maid-of-all-work. Under those circumstances, a shabby and neglected Cinderella doesn't stand much of a chance of attending the King's royal ball--let alone, captivate the handsome Prince--unless she turns to her loving Fairy Godmother who has quite a few tricks up her sleeve. Nevertheless, will the wronged damsel ever find peace--and with it--her own Prince Charming?

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Plot Keywords:

cinderella | ball | fairy tale | storybook in opening shot | fairy | 

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Taglines:

The greatest love story ever told. (1957 reissue)

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Genres:

Animation | Family | Fantasy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 March 1950 (USA)

Also Known As:

La cenicienta

Filming Locations:

Château de Chambord, Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France

Box Office

Budget:

$2,900,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,300,000, 18 December 1981, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$85,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System) Mono (1939 Reissue) (Dolby Digital 1.0) (Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono) (Mono) Mono (1939 Reissue) (RCA Sound System) (Mono) Dolby SR Mono (1939 Reissue) Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gus is not the only relatively prominent Disney character of that name. He is preceded by Gus Goose, Donald Duck's cousin who appears as a supporting cast member in various comic book series since the 1930s. There is also Gremlin Gus, who briefly had his own comic book series in the 1940s and has been revived in Disney's video games. Finally, there is Gus Griswald, a co-star in the television series Recess (1997).

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Goofs

In older releases of the movie, Lucifer's fur is brown when he tries to catch Gus shortly before he turns into a horse and scares Lucifer before leaving for the ball. This has been corrected in later restorations of the movie.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: Once upon a time in a faraway land, there was a tiny kingdom; peaceful, prosperous, and rich in romance and tradition. Here in a stately chateau, there lived a widowed gentleman, and his little daughter, Cinderella. Although he was a kind and devoted father, and gave his beloved child every luxury and comfort, still, he felt she needed a mother's care. And so he married again, choosing for his second wife, a woman of good family, with two daughters just Cinderella's age, by name, ...

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Crazy Credits

In lieu of a cast list, the opening credits specify "with the talents of" followed by nine names: Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Claire Du Brey, Rhoda Williams, James MacDonald, Helene Stanley, Luis Van Rooten, and Don Barclay. However, only seven of these persons provided voices for the animated characters (according to studio records) and are listed in the cast. Both Stanley and Du Brey were live action models to help the artists animate the humans. They were placed in the miscellaneous section.

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Connections

Referenced in My Boys: Private Eyes (2009)

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Soundtracks

Sing, Sweet Nightingale
(uncredited)
Music and Lyrics by Mack David, Jerry Livingston, and Al Hoffman
Performed by Eleanor Audley, Rhoda Williams, and Ilene Woods

User Reviews

Beautiful

Cinderella takes me back, when I was a little girl I loved the princesses of Disney. Cinderella was one of my favorites because I always was so enchanted by the story. Any child or family members will enjoy this wonderful and magical story.

We have Cinderella who is a beautiful girl enslaved by her wicked step mother and ugly step sisters. She cleans and cooks for them without ever receiving thanks. The only friends she has in the world are the mice in the attic that are so charming and musical. When the ladies receive an invitation to the King's ball to find a lady for his son, the prince, a.k.a. Prince Charming, they all get excited, Cinderella overhears the exciting news and asks if she could come too. Her step mother makes a false promise and says if she does her chores and such, she can come too. Of course, she doesn't keep her promise and destroys a beautiful dress she and the mice made for the ball. Leaving poor Cinderella behind, a wonderful thing happens, Cinderella's fairy god mother appears and creates a beautiful dress and carriage out of things from around the house and even makes the mice and horses into elegant horses and a driver for the carriage. When the prince sees Cinderella at the ball, he has fallen hard for her. All the ladies are jealous, including her step mother and sisters. But Cinderella must return home at midnight when the spell is broken, all she leaves behind is her glass slipper. The next day the prince is on a hunt to find this girl who fits the slipper and is making a stop at Cinderella's house where her step mother has found out about her night and locks her in her room.

Can she escape in time to tell the prince that it was her at the ball? You'll just have to find out. Trust me, this is a true Disney classic with beautiful animation and classic music that is so charming. You can't help but fall in love with this masterpiece. A dream is a wish your heart makes, this movie captures everything a girl could want.

9/10