Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

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Which version of Cinderella do you think is best?

Walt Disney's Cinderella (1950)
9
41%
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1957)
1
5%
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1965)
1
5%
The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella (1976)
1
5%
Faerie Tale Theatre’s Cinderella (1985)
0
No votes
Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)
3
14%
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)
1
5%
Disney’s and Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella (2015)
6
27%
ЗОЛУШКА (a Russian Cinderella cartoon)
0
No votes
Other
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 22

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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Redadoodles »

I haven't watched The Cinderella version with Brandy in quite awhile and I'm tempted to get the Dvd.. Anyone has any thoughts on the film ?
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by blackcauldron85 »

For me, the music in the R+H Cinderella is spectacular, so I'm happy watching the Brandy or Lesley Ann Warren version; it's a good time. I've always been a Brandy fan, and I think she does a great job. Bernadette Peters is always amazing, and Whitney makes a great fairy godmother, I think. I was a kid when this came out, and I've always liked it. I don't like it better than the 1950 film, but it (tied w/ the Warren version) would be my 2nd favorite Cinderella.
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Redadoodles »

I do love Brandy but I remember that her acting in that film was quite bad haha.. Actually, When Halle Bailey got cast as Ariel, I was like please don't let her acting be like Brandy's in Cinderella. I think with singers, it's always a hit or miss situation when they act for the first time.
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Disney Duster »

I love the Brandy version. It's my second favorite of the R+H version of Cinderella, after the Lesley one. I actually like Brandy as Cinderella. Yeah, her acting's not great but I feel she makes the film work anyway. She's a good fit (pun intended!). Plus I love the designs and special effects with all that great music. And Whitney, Bernadette, Whoopi? All fantastic!!!
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

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I just think her acting is quite bad compared to her performance in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer in which she seemed more natural.
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Disney Duster »

I saw that movie, too! Hmmm...maybe for Cinderella she was concentrating a lot on being a totally different character from herself, and it wasn't the case in I Still Know?
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Disney's Divinity »

Brandy was on The View this morning advertising R&H's Cinderella coming to Disney+ (the interview was in the last 15 minutes of the show). It's too bad they didn't ask about whether the soundtrack might someday get released, but I don't expect most people outside of Disney or R&H fans to care about that enough to remember and ask about in an interview. :/
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Redadoodles »

Haha good to know. I'll watch it on Disney Plus and decide then. Thanks for the info.
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Disney Duster »

Wow, awesome, thanks DD!!! I would think anyone who likes musicals would ask about the soundtrack, but none of them asked so, I dunno.
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Disney's Divinity »

Since I've finally seen The Glass Slipper in full now, I thought I'd use this opportunity to rank all the versions I've seen:

1. Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)
2. Cinderella (1950)
3. Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997)
4. The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella (1976) ~ I want to watch this one again, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't rank this one any higher or lower than this. I remember it being pretty good. Perhaps I'll buy this on Blu-ray eventually since I may never see it any other way and it's good enough that I'd watch it many times over the years, I'm sure. I already have the 1950, 1997, 1965, 1957, 1998, and Faerie Tale Theatre versions on Blu, DVD, or VHS, so... I might go ahead and get The Glass Slipper and TS&tR, too. :!:
5. The Glass Slipper (1955) ~ I actually really liked this. It was a unique take on Cinderella, as a child that has been so deprived of human contact and attention that she seems like she barely knows how to speak properly. She's easily the most pitiable version of Cinderella I've ever seen and that makes the happy ending sweeter. I love the story that her mother was told by a fortuneteller that her baby would one day live in a palace and that Cinderella believes it. Her balldress was lovely and the Fairy Godmother was one of my favorite versions of that character, I think. I like how they didn't make it obvious to any of the characters what she was, that only the audience knew. The prince was nice, too. I found the scene where he's playing the song he taught Cinderella to dance with on the piano to be powerful, actually. I don't always like the prince in these stories, but I'm glad this Cinderella got a nice guy. :) The worst part was obviously the dream ballet things. They were boring filler, a bit like the mice scenes in the 1950 film. Oh, and last thing I'll say, is I liked how the stepmother smacks her daughters to force them to bow to Cinderella at the end. It reminds me of Sir Ector with Kay at the end of The Sword in the Stone.
6. Cinderella (2015)
7. A Cinderella Story (2004) ~ This is okay. Jennifer Coolidge is the only reason I come back to this, although I like Cinderella's friend she hangs out with the whole movie. Aside from Coolidge, the only person in the cast I really like is Murray as the "prince."
8. Faerie Tale Theatre’s "Cinderella" (1985) ~ I really only ever watch this to see Jean Stapleton and the stepsisters. I know one of them was Edie McClurg. No idea who the other actress is and too lazy to look it up. They were like 40 and played the characters like little mean girls on a kindergarten playground. rotfl
9. Rodger & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1965) ~ The only thing I've ever liked about this one is LAW. She really acts the heck out of this thing. It's such a lifeless movie aside from her. Like the Faerie Tale Theatre version, all the characters are really too old for their parts, imo.
10. Rodger & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1957) ~ I bought this one sight unseen years ago because I really thought it would be good... I don't regret owning it since I can watch it whenever I want to now, but I find it pretty boring.
11. Another Cinderella Story (2008) ~ This has to be the strangest thing I've ever seen. I only watched it because of Jane Lynch and just, wow... This is horrid. I love how it has Becky from Supernatural as one of the stepsisters. And now I'm reading they're both from Gingersnaps! I need to watch that movie again since I know it's a cult classic. I saw it close to 15 years ago, I'm guessing.

I believe I have seen the Happily Ever After version and have it taped somewhere, but it's been way too long and I don't remember much of anything about it. I had to look up A Cinderella Story's sequels on Wikipedia to remember what the title of the Jane Lynch one was. Now I really want to see If the Shoe Fits since I see it stars Jennifer Tilly as the Stepmother! :lol:
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

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Thank you for ranking in my thread! The Slipper and the Rose is pretty good. It's a top favorite of mine, either like 4 or 5 in rankings for me, simialar to you. I bought it on Blu-ray after only seeing it in pieces when I was very young and seeing the whole thing once a long time ago. Atlantica recommended it to me because it's her favorite version of Cinderella, so i decided to buy it when I only barely remembered how it went, and it quickly became a favorite of mine. I should really watch it again soon when I have time. It's free on Amazon Prime with commericals, actually. I own The Glass Slipper, but like you I think the ballet parts are the worst part. I never considered Leslie Caron's Cinderella the way you do. She seemed...mentally slow when I saw it, but your take that she is just so deprived of genuine human connection and kindness, she can't express her mind well, is a very good way of looking at her, and I like that. I do love the Prince loving the look in her eyes as a child and then playing the song when he falls in love with her. I think that part was powerful, too. The fortune teller story is not an aspect I like, but whatever. She does indeed have a beautiful ball dress. If only it was by magic instead of borrowed. I don't like a crazy woman as a fairy godmother, but I occasionally like her lines, and I do like the actress who played her. I forgot the stepmother smacked her daughters. I like that since she smacked Ella before!

I like Jennifer Coolidge, but I don't like any modern Cinderellas. Never have. Unless there's magic, lol.

I never see how old the stepsisters are in Faerie Tale Theatre's Cinderella. They always look appropriate to me even though they should be like 20 years younger. I think that is one of the best Cinderellas ever. It's just so full of personality and Jean Stapleton is my second favorite fairy godmother, after the 1950 Disney one. The costumes are great, too, and I love the sparks and puffs of smoke.

I am so, so glad we agree Lesley Ann Warren does a really good acting job as Cinderella in the 1965 version! But yes, despite her, and a funny stepfamily with a very powerful stepmother, the film is dull. Very dull. Still, it is my favorite of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderellas, pretty much because of LAW and the way the plot goes. The costumes are ok, but it really needs a bigger budget to really look good. The stepsisters should all be 15 years younger, but Jo Van Fleet actually was the perfect age to be a stepmother. The Prince is also ok because is only 10 years older than Lesley Ann Warren was. And of course the King and Queen and Fairy Godmother were of the perfect ages.

I'm so glad you find the 1957 Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella boring like I do. It's actually not just boring to me...it's kind of awful. The only good things about it are the music, singing, and Julie, to me. I hate the costumes and sets so much.

What is the "Happily Ever After" Cinderella? The one set in Spain? With the subtitle "Fairy Tales for Every Child"? The If the Shoe Fits film is also horrid but at least it has Jennifer Tilly like you said, and a cute prince!
Last edited by Disney Duster on Sun Mar 21, 2021 1:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

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Disney Duster wrote: She does indeed have a beautiful ball dress. If only it was by magic instead of borrowed. I don't like a crazy woman as a fairy godmother, but I occasionally like her lines, and I do like the actress who played her.
Wasn't it magic though? When Cinderella leaves at midnight, she crashes and faints. It shows a pumpkin beside her and then she wakes up in her bed like nothing happened. And at the very end when the narrator is telling what happened to everyone, they say (paraphrasing here, I might have garbled some of it), "As for the Fairy Godmother--for she was indeed a Fairy Godmother--she disappeared into the country never to be seen again." And it shows her fading into nothing.
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

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The dress was taken by the fairy godmother from the step family's cousin Loulou. That's why Ella wants to run away, to not be seen by Loulou in her stolen dress. She also has to leave because the coach has to be somewhere at a certain time, so they muddled some plot elements, but whatever. At the last stroke of midnight the magic that made the coach and mice and such ends, so there is the pumpkin. Then the fairy godmother returns the dress, though we don't see that part. Also, in the end the narrator says the fairy godmother "went back to where she came from." I thought you saying she went away and was never seen again was funny! I am not making fun, I was just tickled by that idea!
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Disney's Divinity »

Oh, okay, it was about the dress not being magical. I thought you meant that the Fairy Godmother wasn't magical in this version. Yeah, when she vanished, I assumed she went back to heaven, for example; I definitely got the wording wrong. I often think of Fairy Godmothers as angels in these kinds of films unless there's evidence to the contrary (for example, HBC's Fairy Godmother in the 2015 plays the character more like a traditional fairy with all her weird mannerisms and I think she eats an insect at one point?).
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

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Oh, ok. You know, I really like that idea of fairy godmothers coming from Heaven.

Helena Bonham Carter's fairy godmother never eats a bug, haha! I love your imaginative memory. It must be because you are such a creative guy.

By the way, I forgot to say, I feel like Lesley Ann Warren is the "Ariel" of Cinderellas. She plays the character with so much exuberance, innocence, and liveliness. That's why she is, to me, the best live-action version of Cinderella, the character. She only comes second to Ilene Woods' Cinderella for me. But she's like an Ariel version of Cinderella.
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Disney's Divinity »

She eats something weird from what I remember though. I know she asks for a bowl of milk. Does she eat the bowl after or was it the spoon? :lol: I can't remember what it was.
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Disney Duster »

She only drinks the milk. She doesn't eat anything. I don't know what other thing you are thinking of! Wish I could help you figure it out.
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Redadoodles »

Disney's Divinity wrote:Since I've finally seen The Glass Slipper in full now, I thought I'd use this opportunity to rank all the versions I've seen:

The Glass Slipper (1955) ~ I actually really liked this. It was a unique take on Cinderella, as a child that has been so deprived of human contact and attention that she seems like she barely knows how to speak properly. She's easily the most pitiable version of Cinderella I've ever seen and that makes the happy ending sweeter. I love the story that her mother was told by a fortuneteller that her baby would one day live in a palace and that Cinderella believes it. Her balldress was lovely and the Fairy Godmother was one of my favorite versions of that character, I think. I like how they didn't make it obvious to any of the characters what she was, that only the audience knew. The prince was nice, too. I found the scene where he's playing the song he taught Cinderella to dance with on the piano to be powerful, actually. I don't always like the prince in these stories, but I'm glad this Cinderella got a nice guy. :) The worst part was obviously the dream ballet things. They were boring filler, a bit like the mice scenes in the 1950 film. Oh, and last thing I'll say, is I liked how the stepmother smacks her daughters to force them to bow to Cinderella at the end. It reminds me of Sir Ector with Kay at the end of The Sword in the Stone
I always assumed that the fortune teller was actually the fairy godmother... I guess it's up to the viewers to decide.
As for the ballet sequences, sometimes I love them and sometimes I dread them. Actually it is Leslie Caron herself who insisted to have them in the film and to have her former ballet colleagues hired as well. At the time, she hated Hollywood and wanted to go back to dancing but was eventually convinced to do The Glass Slipper but only if it meant that she could dance throughout the film.
The fact that Ella has short hair in the film also imitates something Leslie had done when she was cast in the lovely American In Paris (1955). At the time, she suffocated because the producers wanted to control every aspect of her life and physique so she cut her hair herself as an act of rebellion thinking it would get her fired. However, she remained in the film and her performance was well received.
I also think that it's quite funny that the prince teaches Ella how to dance when in reality Leslie was an impeccable dancer while Michael Wilding couldn't dance to save his life and could only do the strict minimum.
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Disney's Divinity »

Thanks for that background on the film. That's funny to know the prince's actor didn't know how to dance. :lol:
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Re: Rate the Cinderellas You've Seen!

Post by Redadoodles »

Well, he couldn’t sing either.. He was dubbed for the song that the prince sings haha.. Actually, the only reason why he was cast was because he was Elizabeth Taylor’s husband who,at the time, attracted a lot of publicity. :D
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