During the early 1940s,Walt Disney Productions had suffered financially after losing connections to the European film markets due to the outbreak ofWorld War II. Because of this, the studio enduredcommercial failures such asPinocchio,Fantasia (both 1940) andBambi (1942), all of which would later become more successful with several re-releases in theaters and on home video. By 1947, the studio was over $4 million in debt and was on the verge of bankruptcy.Walt Disney and his animators returned to feature film production in 1948 after producing a string ofpackage films with the idea of adapting Charles Perrault'sCendrillon into an animated film.[3]
Cinderella is the daughter of a widowedaristocrat living in the small but prosperousFrench kingdom. When she is a child, her father remarriesLady Tremaine, a widow with two daughters of her own, Anastasia and Drizella, but dies shortly after. Jealous of Cinderella's charm and beauty, Lady Tremaine and her daughters abuse her and eventually force her to become ascullion in her ownchâteau. As the years pass, Cinderella remains kind and gentle, obediently doing her chores. She also makes friends with themice andbirds that live in the château, and takes care of them, while protecting them from her stepmother's petcat, Lucifer.
One day, the King invites all the eligible maidens in the kingdom to aroyal ball, hoping that his son, the Prince, will choose one of them as a bride. Wanting to attend, Cinderella finds a dress of her late birth mother's to fix up. Fearing she will upstage them at the ball, Lady Tremaine and the stepsisters deliberately keep her busy with no time to spare. Jaq, Gus, and the other animals decide to fix up the dress for Cinderella, using beads and a sash discarded by the stepsisters. However, when Cinderella attempts to go to the ball with her family, the stepsisters are upset when they recognize their belongings and angrily tear the dress apart, before leaving Cinderella behind. A distraught Cinderella runs out to the garden in tears, where she is met by herfairy godmother, who has come to help. She transforms a pumpkin into a carriage; Jaq, Gus, and two other mice into horses; Cinderella's old horse Major into acoachman; and herbloodhound Bruno into afootman. The fairy godmother also bestows Cinderella a shimmering silver ball gown and glass slippers. The fairy godmother warns her that all the magic will end on the stroke of midnight.
Cinderella arrives at the ball, unrecognized by the stepsisters, although Lady Tremaine believes something is familiar about her. The prince is instantly smitten, so the King orders theGrand Duke to make sure the romance goes without a hitch. The duke prevents anyone from interfering as Cinderella and the Prince dance a waltz and wander out to the palace grounds, falling deeper in love. However, when Cinderella hears theclock tolling midnight, she runs away before she and the Prince can exchange names. Despite the efforts of the Grand Duke, Cinderella flees the palace, losing one of her glass slippers on the staircase. The palace guards pursue, but when the magic ends on the stroke of 12, Cinderella and the animals revert to their former appearances and hide in the woods. Cinderella discovers the other glass slipper is still on her foot, and takes it home with her.
The Prince promises he will marry none but the girl who fits the glass slipper. The King orders the Grand Duke to try the shoe on every girl in the kingdom until he finds a match. When the news reaches the château, Cinderella is shocked to realize it was the Prince she met. Hearing Cinderella humming the waltz from the ball, Lady Tremaine realizes the truth and locks Cinderella in herattic bedroom. While the stepsisters unsuccessfully try on the slipper, Jaq and Gus steal the key back from Lady Tremaine and take it to Cinderella. Lucifer attempts to stop them, but the birds summon Bruno who scares him out of the house, and a freed Cinderella hurries to meet the Grand Duke. In a last effort to prevent Cinderella from overshadowing her daughters, Lady Tremaine deliberately causes the Grand Duke's footman to trip and break the glass slipper. Cinderella reveals she has the other slipper, much to Lady Tremaine's shock, which the Grand Duke places on her foot. Cinderella and the Prince are married, and share a kiss as they set off in a carriage and leave for their honeymoon.
Rhoda Williams andLucille Bliss (uncredited) as Drizella and Anastasia Tremaine, Lady Tremaine's spoiled and awkward daughters and Cinderella's stepsisters.[12][13]
June Foray (uncredited) as Lucifer, Lady Tremaine's pampered cat who messes up Cinderella's work and chases after her mice friends.[19][20]
Betty Lou Gerson was the uncredited narrator in the prologue.[12] Lucille Williams,Thurl Ravenscroft,Clint McCauley,June Sullivan and Helen Seibert provided uncredited voices for Perla and the other mice. John Woodbury provided uncredited additional voices.
Walt Disney first adaptedCharles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale "Cinderella" as part of his cartoon shorts series for theLaugh-O-Gram Studio in 1922.[21] He was interested in producing a second version in December 1933 as aSilly Symphony short;Burt Gillett was attached as the director whileFrank Churchill was assigned as the composer. A story outline included "white mice and birds" as Cinderella's playmates. To expand the story, storyboard artists suggested visual gags, some of which ended up in the final film.[22] However, by early 1938, the story proved to be too complicated to be condensed into a short so it was suggested as a potential animated feature film, starting with a fourteen-page outline written by Al Perkins.[23][24] Two years later, a secondtreatment was written by Dana Cofy andBianca Majolie, in which Cinderella's stepmother was named Florimel de la Pochel; her stepsisters as Wanda and Javotte; her pet mouse Dusty and pet turtle Clarissa; the stepsisters' cat Bon Bob; the Prince's aide Spink, and the stepsisters' dancing instructor Monsieur Carnewal. This version stuck closely to the original fairy tale until Cinderella arrives home late from the second ball. Her stepfamily then imprisons Cinderella in a dungeon cellar. When Spink and his troops arrive at the la Pochel residence, Dusty takes the slipper and leads them to free Cinderella.[25]
By September 1943, Disney had assignedDick Huemer andJoe Grant to begin work onCinderella as story supervisors and given a preliminary budget of $1 million.[26] However, by 1945, their preliminary story work was halted.[27] During the writing stages ofSong of the South (1946), Dalton S. Reymond andMaurice Rapf quarreled, and Rapf was reassigned to work onCinderella.[28] In his version, Cinderella was written to be a less passive character thanSnow White, and more rebellious against her stepfamily. Rapf explained, "My thinking was you can't have somebody who comes in and changes everything for you. You can't be delivered on a platter. You've got to earn it. So in my version, the Fairy Godmother said, 'It's okay till midnight but from then on it's up to you.' I made her earn it, and what she had to do to achieve it was to rebel against her stepmother and stepsisters, to stop being a slave in her own home. So I had a scene where they're ordering her around and she throws the stuff back at them. She revolts, so they lock her up in the attic. I don't think anyone took (my idea) very seriously."[29]
In spring 1946, Disney held three story meetings, and subsequently received treatment fromTed Sears, Homer Brightman, and Harry Reeves dated March 24, 1947. In the treatment, the Prince was introduced earlier in the story reminiscent ofSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937),[30] and there was a hint of the cat-and-mouse conflict. By May 1947, the first rough phase of storyboarding was in the process, and an inventory report that same month suggested a different approach with the story "largely through the animals in the barnyard and their observations of Cinderella's day-to-day activities".[30]
Following the theatrical release ofFun and Fancy Free (1947), Walt Disney Productions' bank debt declined from $4.2 million to $3 million.[31] Around this time, Disney acknowledged the need for sound economic policies but emphasized to the loaners that slashing production would be suicidal. To restore the studio to full financial health, he expressed his desire to return to producing full-length animated films. However, Walt's brotherRoy O. Disney was reluctant to greenlight another film and asked Walt to consider selling the studio and retiring with the money they had. After arguing for weeks, Roy eventually conceded and allowed a new feature-length animated film to be made.[32] By then, three animated projects—Cinderella,Alice in Wonderland (1951), andPeter Pan (1953)—were in development. Disney felt the characters inAlice in Wonderland andPeter Pan were too cold, whileCinderella contained elements similar toSnow White, and greenlit the project. Selecting his top-tier animation talent,Ben Sharpsteen was assigned as supervising producer whileHamilton Luske,Wilfred Jackson, andClyde Geronimi became the sequence directors.[33] Nevertheless, production onAlice resumed so that both animation crews would effectively compete against each other to see which film would finish first.[34]
By early 1948,Cinderella had progressed further thanAlice in Wonderland, and was fast-tracked to become the first full-length animated film sinceBambi (1942).[30] During a story meeting on January 15, 1948, the cat-and-mouse sequences began to grow into an important element in the film so much that Disney placed veteran story artistBill Peet in charge of the cat-and-mouse segments.[35]
By the late 1940s, Disney's involvement during production had shrunken noticeably. As he was occupied with trains and the filming ofTreasure Island (1950), the directors were left to exercise their own judgment more on details.[36] Although Disney no longer held daily story meetings, the three directors still communicated with him by mailing him memoranda, scripts, Photostats of storyboards, and acetates of soundtrack recordings while he was in England for two and a half months during the summer of 1949. When Disney did not respond, work resumed and then had to be undone when he did.[37] In one instance, when Disney returned to the studio on August 29, he reviewed Luske's animation sequences and ordered numerous minor changes, as well as a significant reworking of the film's climax. Production was finished by October 13, 1949.[38]
Nearly 380 applicants were auditioned for the role of Cinderella.[39] In March 1948,The Hollywood Reporter announced that singer Jeannie McKeon had been signed to voice the character, but eventually the deal did not work out.[40] That same month,Ilene Woods announced on national radio that she had been cast as Cinderella.[41] She got involved with the project when she did a favor to its songwritersMack David andJerry Livingston, who had known Woods from working with her on her eponymousABC radio program.[42][43] They asked Woods to sing on demo recordings of several songs they had written for the film, which were then presented to Walt Disney.[5][43] Two days later, Woods received a telephone call from Disney, with whom she immediately scheduled an interview.[42][44] Woods recalled in an interview with theLos Angeles Times, "We met and talked for a while, and he said, 'How would you like to be Cinderella?'," to which she agreed.[44]
For the role of Lucifer, a studio representative askedJune Foray if she could provide the voice of a cat. "Well, I could do anything," recalled Foray, "So he hired me as Lucifer the cat inCinderella".[19]
Walt [Disney] insisted we planCinderella more carefully than prior films. We shot it all in live-action first, so that we could evaluate it, because we couldn't afford to make changes in the animation. The animation had to be right the first time. The live-action was done without costumes or set. We'd work on a lonely soundstage to see whether the scenes were going to work. Would they be too long? Too short? Will it hold your interest?
—Frank Thomas, on using the live-action reference inCinderella[45]
Starting in spring 1948, actors were filmed on large soundstages mouthing to a playback of the dialogue soundtrack.[46] Disney had previously used live-action reference onSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937),Pinocchio (1940), andFantasia (1940), but as part of an effort to keep the production cost down, the footage was used to check the plot, timing, and movement of the characters before animating it.[47] The footage was then edited frame-by-frame onto large Photostat sheets to duplicate, in which the animators found too restrictive as they were not allowed to imagine anything that the live actors did not present since that kind of experimentation might necessitate changes and cost more money. Additionally, the animators were instructed to draw from a certain directorial perspective to avoid difficult shots and angles.[48] Frank Thomas explained, "Anytime you'd think of another way of staging the scene, they'd say: 'We can't get the camera up there'! Well, you could get the animation camera up there! So you had to go with what worked well in live-action."[47]
Walt Disney hired actressHelene Stanley to perform the live-action reference for Cinderella, allowing artists to draw animated frames based on the movements of the actress.[6] She later did the same kind of work for the characters ofPrincess Aurora inSleeping Beauty (1959) and Anita Radcliffe inOne Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).[6] Animators modeled Prince Charming on actorJeffrey Stone, who also provided some additional voices for the film.[49]Claire Du Brey served as the live-action reference for the Fairy Godmother,[50] although the design for the character was based on Mary Alice O'Connor (the wife of layout artist Ken O'Connor).[51]
Walt Disney referred to Cinderella's dress transformation, animated by Marc Davis, as his most favorite piece of animation.[55]
Eric Larson and Marc Davis were both tasked with designing and animating Cinderella.[56] Larson was the first to animate the character whom he envisioned as a "sixteen-year-old with braids and a pug nose".[57] However, Disney grew displeased with this approach and assigned Davis as the second supervising animator,[45] whose designs suggested a "more the exotic dame" with a long swan-like neck.[57] To minimize the differences and set the final design, Disney assigned animator Ken O'Brien who, as Larson said, made "his gals and Marc's gals look like the same gal."[45] Due to the extensive use of the live-action reference for the film,Helene Stanley's physical features also influenced the character's final appearance.[58]
Frank Thomas was assigned as the supervising animator of Lady Tremaine,[59] which he was "astounded" with,[60] since he had previously mainly specialized in more "charming" characters, likePinocchio orBambi.[42]
Milt Kahl was the directing animator of the Fairy Godmother, the King, and the Grand Duke.[42] Originally, Disney intended for the Fairy Godmother to be a tall, regal character as he viewed fairies as tall, motherly figures (as seen in theBlue Fairy inPinocchio (1940)), but Kahl disagreed with this characterization. Following the casting of Verna Felton, Kahl managed to convince Disney of his undignified concept of the Fairy Godmother.[35]
Unlike the human characters, the animal characters were animated without live-action reference.[61] During production, none of Kimball's designs for Lucifer had pleased Disney. After visiting Kimball's steam train at his home, Disney saw hiscalico cat and remarked, "Hey—there's your model for Lucifer".[62] Reitherman animated the sequence in which Jaq and Gus laboriously drag the key up the flight of stairs to Cinderella.[63]
The original songs were written and composed byTin Pan Alley songwritersMack David,Jerry Livingston, andAl Hoffman,[64] who had written six songs for the film by March 1949.[65]Oliver Wallace andPaul Smith composed the score.[36] A soundtrack was not issued during the initial release in 1950.Walt Disney Records later issued the official soundtrack on CD and audio cassette on February 4, 1997.[66] A collector's edition soundtrack was reissued on October 2, 2012, and consisted of several lost chords and new recordings of them.[67] In conjunction with the film's 65th anniversary and the release of itslive-action remake, the soundtrack forCinderella was re-released in 2015 as part ofthe Legacy Collection.[68]
The film was originally released in theaters on February 15, 1950, inBoston,Massachusetts.[69] It also screened at theinaugural edition of theBerlin International Film Festival in June 1951, where it won theGolden Bear for Best Music Film.[70]Cinderella was re-released in 1957, 1965, 1973, 1981 and 1987.[3]Cinderella also played a limited engagement in selectCinemark Theatres from February 16–18, 2013.[71] To celebrate Disney's 100th anniversary, the film was re-released in cinemas across the UK from August 25 to 31, 2023,[72] and Latin American theaters from October 12 to 18, 2023, alongsideToy Story (1995).[73]
The film was Disney's greatest box office success sinceSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs,[38] earning nearly $4.28 million indistributor rentals (the distributor's share of thebox office gross) from the United States and Canada.[74] It wasthe fifth highest-grossing film released in North America in 1950. It was the fifth most popular movie at the British box office in 1951.[75] The film is France's sixteenth biggest film of all time in terms of admissions with 13.2 million tickets sold.[76]
The success ofCinderella allowed Disney to carry on producing films throughout the 1950s by which the profits from the film's release, with the additional profits from record sales, music publishing, publications, and other merchandise gave Disney the cash flow to finance a slate of productions (animated and live-action), establish hisown distribution company, enter television production, and begin buildingDisneyland during the decade, as well as developing theFlorida Project, later known asWalt Disney World.[42]
Cinderella has had a lifetime domestic gross of $93 million,[2][77][78][79] and a lifetime worldwide gross of $182 million across its original release and several reissues.[2] Adjusted for inflation, and incorporating subsequent releases, the film has had a lifetime gross of $565 million.[80]
Cinderella was released onVHS andLaserDisc on October 4, 1988, as part of theWalt Disney Classics collection. The release had a promotion with a free lithograph reproduction for those who pre-ordered the video before its release date. Disney had initially shipped 4.3 million VHS copies to retailers, but due to strong consumer demand, more than seven million copies were shipped.[81] At the time of its initial home video release, it was the best-selling VHS title until it was overtaken byE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).[82] The VHS release was placed intomoratorium (i.e., into theDisney Vault) on April 30, 1989,[83][84] with7.2 million copies sold and having grossed$108 million in sales revenue.[85]
On October 4, 1995, a digitally remastered edition of film was released on VHS and LaserDisc as part of the "Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection",[86] and later in the UK on November 24, 1997. Both editions were accompanied by "The Making of Cinderella" featurette. A Deluxe LaserDisc included the featurette, an illustrated, hardcover book retelling the story with pencil tests and conceptual art from the film, and a reprint of the film's artwork.[87] Disney shipped more than 15 million VHS copies, of which 8 million were sold in the first month.[88]
On October 4, 2005, Disney released the film on DVD with a digitally remastered transfer. This release was the sixth installment of the Walt Disney Platinum Editions series. According toHome Media Magazine, Disney sold 3.2 million copies in its first week, which earned over $64 million in sales.[89] The Platinum Edition was also released on VHS, but the only special feature was the "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" music video by theDisney Channel Circle of Stars. The Platinum Edition DVD, along with the sequels to the film, went into theDisney Vault on January 31, 2008. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a "Royal Edition" ofCinderella was released on DVD on April 4, 2011, to commemorate the UK RoyalWedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. This release had a unique limited edition number on every slipcase and an exclusive art card.[90]
On October 2, 2012, a 3-discBlu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy Combo Diamond Edition was released. The Diamond Edition release also included a 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo and a 6-disc "Jewelry Box Set" that included the first film alongside both its sequels. A 1-disc DVD edition was released on November 20, 2012.[91] The Diamond Edition release went back into the Disney Vault on January 31, 2017.[citation needed]
Cinderella was re-released on HD digital download on June 18, 2019, with a physical media re-release on Blu-ray on June 25, 2019, as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection commemorating the film's 70th anniversary.[92]
On March 18, 2023,Cinderella was re-released on4K Ultra HD as a Disney Movie Club exclusive, with a SteelBook packaging release on August 1 as well as a standard release on October 17 as part of the Disney100 promotion. It utilized the 4K remastered print from the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival screening, marking it as the first animated film made during the studio's "golden era" to receive this treatment.[93] The 4K version, dubbed as the "Ultimate Restoration," began streaming on Disney+ on August 25.[94][95]
A 4K remastered version of the film premiered at the73rd Berlin International Film Festival on February 19, 2023, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of theWalt Disney Company.[96] The restoration was described as a "multi-year effort" involving Disney's Restoration and Preservation team and key members of Walt Disney Animation Studios, includingEric Goldberg, Michael Giaimo,Dorothy McKim, and Bob Bagley. It involved obtaining the original 35mm Technicolor negative from theLibrary of Congress and re-scanning it in 4K resolution, with dirt digitally removed frame by frame to bring the film back "to its original grandeur, authentic to the artistic ambitions of the Studio's creative team, and which looks and sounds better than ever."[94] The 4K version began streaming onDisney+ on August 25.[95]
Upon release,Cinderella received widespread acclaim from critics,[97][98] who praised its animation, visuals, music, and story.[99][100] The film garnered the best reception for a Disney animated film sinceDumbo; some critics declared it Disney's first artistic triumph sinceSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to which the film was heavily compared in reviews.[101] In a personal letter to Walt Disney, directorMichael Curtiz hailed the film as the "masterpiece of all pictures you have done." ProducerHal Wallis declared, "If this is not your best, it is very close to the top."[102] A review inChicago Tribune remarked: "The film not only is handsome, with imaginative art and glowing colors to bedeck the old fairy tale, but it also is told gently, without the lurid villains which sometimes give little tots nightmares. It is enhanced by the sudden, piquant touches of humor and the music which appeal to old and young."[103]Time magazine wrote that "Cinderella is beguiling proof that Walt Disney knows his way around fairyland. Harking back to the style ofSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), a small army of Disney craftsmen have given the centuries-old Cinderella story a dewy radiance of comic verve that should make children feel like elves and adults feel like children."[104]
However, the characterization of Cinderella received a mixed reception.[105]Bosley Crowther ofThe New York Times wrote, "The beautiful Cinderella has a voluptuous face and form—not to mention an eager disposition—to compare withAl Capp'sDaisy Mae." However, criticizing her role and personality, Crowther opined, "As a consequence, the situation in which they are mutually involved have the constraint and immobility of panel-expressed episodes. When Mr. Disney tries to make them behave like human beings, they're banal."[106] Similarly,Variety claimed the film found "more success in projecting the lower animals than in its central character, Cinderella, who is on the colorless, doll-faced side, as is the Prince Charming."[107]Empire Magazine gave the film 4 stars out of 5, and said "Yes, it's beautiful, and yes, it's classic. But it's also got rather a bland pair of lead characters. That said, it's still enjoyable family entertainment, and shall remain forever so."[108]
Contemporary reviews have remained positive.Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times awarded the film three out of four stars during its 1987 re-release.[109]Jonathan Rosenbaum of theChicago Reader wrote the film "shows Disney at the tail end of his best period, when his backgrounds were still luminous with depth and detail and his incidental characters still had range and bite."[110] Thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes reported the film received an approval rating of 98% based on 40 reviews, with an average score of 8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The rich colors, sweet songs, adorable mice and endearing (if suffering) heroine makeCinderella a nostalgically lovely charmer."[111]
In June 2008, theAmerican Film Institute revealed its "10 Top 10"— the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community.Cinderella was acknowledged as the 9th greatest film in the animation genre.[118][119]
According to animation historianCharles Solomon,Cinderella "remains one of the most popular animated features in the Disney canon".[120] In 2023,Ben Mankiewicz, host ofTurner Classic Movies, toldParade magazine, "Disney was on the ropes.Cinderella saved Disney."[121] He also said, "It has everything you want in a princess story, and it's done in this authentic, beautiful way."[121]
Cinderella is referred by many as one of the most recognizable tales in history.Parade magazine listed the film among the greatest animated films of all time.[122] In 2008,American Film Institute rankedCinderella as the ninth best animated film of all time, writing: "one of the most recognizable fairytale stories ever,Cinderella has stood the test of time."[123]
^abOhmer, Susan (1993). "'That Rags to Riches Stuff': Disney's Cinderella and the Cultural Space of Animation".Film History.5 (2):231–249.ISSN0892-2160.JSTOR27670722.
^"Disney's Timeless Masterpiece 'Cinderella' Joins The Celebrated Masterpiece Collection On October 4" (Press release).Burbank, California.PRNewswire. May 22, 1995.
Sergi, Joe (2015).The Law for Comic Book Creators: Essential Concepts and Applications. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company.ISBN978-1-4766-1733-6.OCLC903489229.
Solomon, Charles (2015).A Wish Your Heart Makes: From the Grimm Brothers' Aschenputtel to Disney's Cinderella. Disney Editions.ISBN978-1-4847-1326-6.
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