Cinderella

Virtually unseen for almost a century, the 1914 film Cinderella was one of Mary Pickford's very first feature films and was a key film in her climb to her place in the hearts of moviegoers as "America's Sweetheart". The movie has resurfaced as a bonus feature on the DVD to Pickford's THROUGH THE BACK DOOR.

Pickford stars as the heroine of this beloved fairy tale well-known to probably every human over the age of two. It's quite a surprise to see Mary, usually cast as a fearless spitfire, in the passive role of gentle, mistreated Cinderella but she gives a lovely performance and is quite moving and endearing. The movie also offers a rare chance to see Pickford's first husband, early screen star Owen Moore, cast as Prince Charming. Most of the rest of the cast have minor screen credits (it was apparently quite difficult to get regular supporting work in the early silent film era) but do their jobs well. Regarding the comment by another reviewer, I do believe the stepsisters are played by women however they are made up to look as haggish as possible with obvious putty noses and I suspect their over-sized feet for the "trying on the glass slipper scenes" made have been doubled by men.

This movie is quite charming and romantic although there are a few good laughs, notably when Cinderella's Fairy Godmother instructs her to round up some mice and rats, Cindy clearly is wondering if this is going to be worth the effort. Another hearty laugh comes at the step-family's expense after Cinderella is revealed to be the mystery lady the Prince is seeking in which a wiseacre voices a suggestion that probably crossed many of the moviegoers minds.

The print quality of this film is fairly good for a film less than a decade from it's Centennial and the original score by Donald Sosin is wonderful and completely appropriate. Cinderella is a fairy tale that enchants every generation and this fragile silent beautifully captures the other world quality of this timeless tale.

In its time, this must have been the longest and most ambitious screen version of the familiar story of "Cinderella". So many later versions have been made with the advantage of more recent technology that a 1914 version could never be expected to meet the same standards, but it's a good version for its time, and it stars Mary Pickford in a good role for her. Other than moving a bit slowly at times, almost everything about the feature is of good quality by the standards of its era.

Pickford is certainly well-cast as Cinderella, in one of her earliest full-length movie roles. It's no accident that she would eventually play characters like Pollyanna, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and so many other similar roles. She was able to make such characters instantly sympathetic and believable, and her attractive appearance and engaging personality worked well in many different situations. Her later features would give her a wider variety of material to work with than this does, but she does well here with each scene.

Owen Moore, who was married to Pickford at the time, plays Prince Charming. Moore does not have much range as an actor, but he has a good silent screen presence, and that is what this role most calls for. The two mean-spirited stepsisters seem to be played (despite what the posted cast list may imply) by two male actors, giving the characters a humorously ugly appearance and humorously ungainly movements.

There are numerous visual effects, and director James Kirkwood made an interesting choice by filming most of them with gradual dissolves rather than with the stop-motion, sudden change technique that was more common. Neither method is necessarily better or worse; they are just different in the effect that each creates. There are also some good dream effects, especially an amusing sequence after Cinderella misses her midnight deadline.

For the most part, only silent movie fans will have any significant interest in this. But if you can evaluate it by the standards of its own time, it's a pleasant little movie and a chance to see the charming Mary Pickford while she was in the process of developing her many talents.

The famous fairy tale, appropriately starring Mary Pickford (as Cinderella), with Owen Moore (as Prince Charming). Ms. Pickford's performance is terrific; in many of her early films, her acting ability is most clearly evident. Mr. Moore was one of Pickford's three successful actor husbands; he is charming as her Prince. This film seems adds a lot of story which is not in later re-makes; and, most of it would have been well worth repeating. However, this version skimps on background and characterization; perhaps, the filmmakers supposed everyone knew the basic story. If you don't know "Cinderella", it is possible to figure out who's who, and what's going on. Though, you won't believe how skillfully Pickford catches rodents. Great parts: Pickford and Moore romancing before the clock strikes midnight (or, is that noon?), and Pickford's "clock dream".

The accompanying soundtrack, by Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton, is exemplary.

****** Cinderella (12/28/14) James Kirkwood ~ Mary Pickford, Owen Moore, Inez Marcel, Isabel Vernon

Really this film isn't very good, but echoing another comment I made somewhere on here, don't you think making movies used to be more fun? The ugly sisters played by a bunch of ridiculous men? The gaggle of silly kids that are the forest fairies? they must have had a blast! I guess because these weren't considered art there was no pretension that they should be classy. the tone of it was a little like a john waters film. The trick to enjoying a film like this is to forget how important movies are to us, as people, as a culture, as individuals. I tell people I'm an independent film maker and generally the regard that either like I must be crazy or like I'm doctor or something, which is cool, but imagine back in the days when you'd have been treated like hustler like a pimp, how could you treat yourself that seriously? Anyways, this movie is pretty much totally dumb, but so is Cinderella. The whole shoe thing? He falls in love with a girl who he's never met and doesn't even get a name out of, and decides to track her down by having every woman in the land try on her shoe? so why didn't the shoe turn back into a pumpkin or squash or whatever? no one in the kingdom had Cinderella's shoe size? if he never met her but she was dressed like princess wouldn't it be a safe assumption that she's not actually in your kingdom? royalty tends to know the other royalty nearby. and also if he's so damn in love with why can't he pick out her face? it can't have looked that different without the accoutrement of the ball. also: he's going to marry a peasant? is he crazy? the king and queen don't want him to use that marriage for something beneficial like making peace or pooling power with allies? all the while everyone knows he probably could have just hired poor Cinderella, put her up at the castle and had his way with her any time he felt like it, which is pretty much what royalty did back then. for example henry the... what the crap was I saying? I got distracted. oh, yeah. I would give anything to have worked on a movie like this. but that doesn't mean you'll enjoy the movie per Se.

This is fairly well made for 1914, and it's been restored and presented in a higher quality than most films from that period, including some lovely color tinting. It'd be nice if other early silent films were made available in such quality as Mary Pickford's vehicles have been, but we'll take what we can get, I suppose. In addition, the well-known fairytale narrative makes this an ideal candidate from the early phase of feature-length films to see on DVD if you're not already an avid viewer of ancient cinema.

This is an early example of expert focus on filming and staging around the star. Pickford is filmed in the best lighting; her face is nearly always center stage, even if it means blocking or not showing frontal views of others; and there are a good number of close-ups mostly for her. That's for the best, by the way, as not much else here seems as appealing or talented, including Owen Moore, Pickford's real-life husband at the time, as Prince Charming. Otherwise, the film-making here is rather prosaic even for 1914; for example, notice how they return to the same camera positions for scenes in the kitchen, bedroom and ballroom. The framing for the kitchen scenes are very similar to those of the kitchen scenes in the 1911 Thanhouser version of Cinderella, which I saw recently before this.

The clock dream is amusing and creative, though. It begins as a superimposed vision above sleeping Cinderella and then becomes its own shot crosscut with her sleeping. The nice added score helps, too. It's worth comparing this to the dance of the clocks nightmare in Méliès's 1899 "Cinderella", as well as the one in his 1912 version. I also like the through-the-window framing of Cinderella looking out the window at dancing fairies during her other sleeping scene; it's also one of the few times Pickford's back is to the camera.

There were other stars in 1914, but I haven't seen any of them receive this good of treatment, with such classical star focus, for another year or two. Nobody, however, was bigger then in the movie world than was Mary Pickford.