The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella

This English Musical managed to make an impression in a time when the musical was all but a dead art form in the US. This is largely due to wonderful performances of the supporting cast(especially Michael Hordern as the King and the underrated Annette Crosbie as the Fairy Godmother), and some really wonderful moments in the script (as it happens Crosbie and Hordern get some of the best lines). The leads (Chamberlain and Craven) are sweet, but their performances are lacking something. Chamberlain looks pained at times like he is not enjoying himself. There are also moments where it sounds as though he is giving a straight reading of the script. He can sing, though, and not too badly. The score by the Sherman Brothers (responsible for the music in "Mary Poppins") has its moments ("Protocolicorically Correct" and "The Slipper and the Rose Waltz: When He/She Danced with Me"), but the songs tend to be a little odd and forgetable. Overall though, this film is worth seeing and is an excellent film choice for family video night.

I, too, have been longing forever (since VCRs appeared) for this musical to become available on video. The Sherman & Sherman (& Morley) songs are perfectly good, and the choreography is super, but what I remember best is the great, iconoclastically non-chalant Fairy Godmother character (Annette Crosbie). I put her among the greatest steal-the-show supporting characters of all time, right along with Nicol Williamson's Merlin in "Excalibur."

This is a very clever and entertaining remake of Cinderella, with wonderful music, beautiful costumes and scenery, and a very talented ensemble cast. It also has a good deal of dry wit, particularly from the King, played marvelously by Michael Hordern, which sets it apart from other productions of Cinderella. It also features Richard Chamberlain trying his hand at his first musical, in the role of Prince Edward, the royal heir to the throne of Euphrania, who simply wants to marry for love, not political expediency. He is terrific in this role--handsome, aristocratic, with a very pleasant singing voice, and extremely graceful on the dance floor--he looks very much "The Prince." Gemma Craven is good in the role of Cinderella, and I particularly like her singing in the haunting "Tell Him Anything." The song "Secret Kingdom" with Richard and Gemma is beautiful, and one of the highlights of the entire movie. Though the film itself runs a little too long, I still love all the fine performances from this very talented cast, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys the musical genre.

Beautiful sounds bizarre if you do not ignore the similitaries with the musicals - fairy tales adaptations of the period. But the gifts, the precious gifts are the actors, the humor and the songs. And, sure the atypical godmother fairy. Edith Evans, Annette Crosbie, Michael Hordern,Kenneth More,Christopher Gable and Richard Chamberlain are the basic motives to see, again, time by time, this lovely film, a Christmas one, off course, because, more than each Halmark production, preserves the spirit of it. So, an old fashion lovely adaptation of classic fairy tale . And that is just, just great.

The first time I saw this movie, I couldn't believe it had Richard Chamberlain singing! I really was impressed by the production though some of the singing and dancing sequences seemed a bit long, it was, overall, a well made version of the classic Cinderella story. I thought it told the fairy tale 'to perfection'. I had just recently bought the video and was pleasantly surprised by all the extra footage it included. My daughters all enjoy it and like watching it over and over. The sets and costumes and the lovely landscapes were exceptionally beautiful. I thought Gemma Craven was the perfect Cinderella including a beautiful singing voice. But the one I thought stole the movie was the fairy godmother, played by Annette Crosbie. Her grumpy affection towards Cinderella made her a more interesting character. A must-see for anyone who wants to escape for a couple of hours with an entertaining tale.