Cinderella ***** (1950, voices of Ilene Woods, James MacDonald, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, William Phipps, June Foray) – Classic Movie Review 2220

Directors Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske and Clyde Geronimi’s charming, enchanting 1950 Disney animated version of the beloved fairy story is expertly drawn with well fleshed out adult characters and amusing animals, including, especially, the wicked stepmother’s pet cat Lucifer, voiced by June Foray. Based on the fairy tale Cendrillon by Charles Perrault, it is twelfth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, released on 15 February 1950.

A handsome-looking Technicolor fairy tale film springs to vivid life with help from a smashing voice cast led by Ilene Woods as Cinderella, Verna Felton as the Fairy Godmother, James MacDonald as Bruno/Gus/Jacques, William Phipps as Prince Charming (with Mike Douglas as his singing voice) and Eleanor Audley as the wicked stepmother Lady Tremaine.

All the songs, with their music and lyrics, are written by Mack David, Jerry Livingston and Al Hoffman. Their enjoyable soundtrack includes two hits: the catchy (Oscar-nominated) ‘Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo’ and the sweet ‘A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes’, though otherwise the other songs are rather on the mild and modest side – Cinderella, So This Is Love, The Work Song and Sing Sweet Nightingale.

Helene Stanley provides the live-action model for the figure of Cinderella.

As often with Disney, the screenplay is by many hands – Ken Anderson, Homer Brightman, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Erdman Penner, Harry Reeves, Joe Rinaldi and Ted Sears all work on the original classic story by Charles Perrault.

Also in the voice cast are Claire du Brey, Rhonda Williams (Drizella), Luis Van Rooten (King/Grand Duke), Don Barclay (Doorman) and Earl Keen (Bruno). It is an unassailable Disney classic animation, still delightful, impressive and enchanting after all these years.

Woods beat 309 girls for the part of Cinderella, after some demo recordings of her singing a few of the film’s songs were presented to Walt Disney. She had made the recordings for friends who sent them to Disney without telling her. Cinderella’s torn dress transforming to the white ball gown was Walt Disney’s favourite piece of animation. The $3 million cost was a gamble since Disney had not had a big hit since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, but it was a major success, taking $34 million at the US box office.

Disney restored and re-mastered the movie for its 4 October 2005 DVD release as the sixth in the Platinum Edition series. They sold 3.2 million copies in its first week and earned over $64 million in sales.

A belated sequel, Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, followed in 2002.

Disney’s live-action retelling of the classic fairy tale is released as Cinderella on 13 March 2015, starring Lily James, Hayley Atwell and Helena Bonham Carter, and directed by Kenneth Branagh.

June Foray, the legendary voice actress and queen of voice-overs in the animation business, died on 26 July 2017, aged 99.

William Phipps (February 4, 1922 – June 1, 2018).

Remembering William Phipps, who died on 1 June 2018, aged 96. When he auditioned for the speaking voice of Prince Charming in 1949, the studio liked his vocal performance and he was offered the part by Walt Disney himself.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2220

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