The Glass Slipper

Granted, Leslie Caron is NOT Cinderella, but I did like Michael Wilding (even though he seemed a bit old for the part), and Estelle Winwood was fantastic. I did like some of the twists, especially the use of subterfuge vs. magic (Ella "Borrows" a dress, rather than having her godmother "Create" one for her). But mostly, I agree with dinky-4, the song "Climbing Rose" is what I remember most about the movie. I'm hoping the score has been released on CD, but haven't found it so far.

By the way, if anyone knows where I can get the sheet music and/or CD for that song, please let me know! I've been looking for the music for what seems like forever!

Leslie Caron is Cinderella and Michael Wilding is the Prince in this euhemerized version of the classic fairy tale.

Under the direction of choreographer/director Charles Walter, it's a charming version of the story, with the fantasy taking place in Miss Caron's dreams, as choreographed by Roland Petit and danced by Les Ballets de Paris. Estelle Winwood plays the fairy godmother as a dotty creature who can scare up a ball gown and a coach-and-four through means that turn out to be a matter of knowing people. A lush score by Bronislau Caper offers a simple romantic theme and dance music.

While Caron is fine in the role -- although her Parisian accent in the midst of English speakers is odd -- Wilding's casting is bizarre; he is too old for the role, and is inserted into the ballet sequence in short shots, simply moving while the ballet dancers and Miss Caron -- who had been working with Petit since 1948 -- perform their art gracefully. A sequence in which Wilding teaches Miss Caron how to dance is amusing in a meta way. Walter Pidgeon narrates, Keenan Wynn acquits himself well as Wilding's equerry, and Elsa Lanchester is largely wasted in her role.

Leslie Caron was the perfect choice to play Cinderella, a scruffy, rebellious girl living with her stepmother and stepsisters, "not quite a servant and not quite a member of the family". Caron reunites here with much of the team from her best movie "Lili" and, if the results are not quite as memorable, it may be because the tale has been exhausted. Still, director Charles Walters paces it carefully (some may say sluggishly) and keeps the outré magic of the story to a minimum. The droll observation/narration (by Walter Pidgeon, uncredited) is dryly amusing and Cinderella's step-family isn't overly nasty to her (they treat the girl more like a black sheep than a housemaid). While the MGM production is modest, the cast is quite colorful and the musical direction and balletic fantasy sequences are very good. A bit tepid overall, but sweet and simple. **1/2 from ****

I remember seeing this years ago on a family anthology show (now you know how old I am; anthologies are a thing of the past now). One of the things I liked was the fact that they dispense with much of the conventional magic known from the original fairy tale: the fairy godmother is given a name and personality- and portrayed as something of a neighborhood kook who loves funny words and steals for a living. When she helps Ella (the 'Cinder' prefix comes later) go to the ball she 'borrows' a coach and steals a gown- and has something of a needle-in-a-haystack challenge in fixing her charge's unruly hair. Leslie Caron, a positively beautiful dancer in her early years, is made to look less pretty than she really is, and the film throws a symbolic moral at the viewer by making the stepsisters conventionally beautiful, but still harboring nasty personalities. With this scenario we are allowed to judge the central character by her spirit and intelligence (something that would be re-imagined 40 years later in the film EVER AFTER). It is not meant to be taken too seriously- how can it be with Walter Pigeon's extremely dry narration? I didn't care for the Petit fantasy ballets (they just seem to interrupt the action instead of advancing it), but loved the fact that the prince and Ella meet in the glen before seeing each other at the ball- creating something of a real love story. It is a shame that Leslie Caron did not continue to dance on film after this year, as all of her subsequent films were 'Gigi' and then straight dramas. Check this out; it is one of MGM's lesser known, but every bit as impressive.

MGM probably hoped for another "Lili" by casting Leslie Caron as the lead in a live-action version of Cinderella. While this effort didn't quite meet with the success of that earlier film, it still delighted a number of people who continue to hold fond memories of the production. Leslie Caron makes an irresistably appealing "Ella" and Estelle Winwood is a glorious fairy-godmother but Michael Wilding does tend to be a rather bland Prince Charming. Watch for Amanda Blake (Miss Kitty on "Gunsmoke")as one of the selfish stepsisters. And just try, after seeing this movie, NOT to hum, "Climbing rose, on the wall ... "