Aschenputtel

This is another German made fairy tale film, made in 1955 and released in the us by Childhood Productions in 1966. What a beautiful movie! The English Language version is rather clumsily synchronized, although the voices used for the dubbing are fine. The on location filming is lovely. But what really makes it memorable, is the new musical score, composed by Anne and Milton Delugg. Not only are the songs charming, but the orchestrations are wonderful. This is basically the Grimm Brothers version of Cinderella, but the Fairy Godmother (from Perrault's tale) has been added. Goodtimes Home Video released a near mint videotape of it years ago, but it is now out of print (and it was never easy to find even when it was available). The only other release was a cassette from Republic home video(also out of print) which was missing 22 minutes, and was scratchy and splicey to boot. Ihope this film makes it to DVD soon!

I saw this movie a few times on VHS when my little sister rented it from the local Video 2000 - it was scratched and worn then and probably now, out of circulation entirely. It was certainly memorable for its vibrant colour (absolutely saturated), the Bavarian style costumes, heavy make-up and intensity of the step mother and general unattractiveness of the step sisters. There's nothing new or surprising here, except if you're unaccustomed to English dubbing - though no more clumsy than usual.

It's taken seriously as a romantic fantasy (not the beerhall humour than could've prevailed in a German inspired romcom), and quite dated which might not appeal to younger, more savvy audiences of today. Nevertheless, "Cinderella" it is; a ball, a lost slipper, midnight departures in carriages and a prince looking for his destiny are elements that never really change in spite of the treatment. Nothing special as I recall, but visually quite bright (not just the over-exposed film) and compact for young attention spans.

I probably would never have come across this charming European-filmed interpretation of the classic children's tale, had not I picked it up for 50 cents at a local school fete many years ago (long pre-VHS format...yep, I'm THAT old!) thinking my (then) five year old daughter would take it to her heart. To tell the truth, I had the hots for Cinderella myself ever since my mom first read me the tale, when I was but knee-high to a hula-hoop!.....some unresolved issue with bare feet, my analyst suggests!

Just over an hour or so in running time, this "Cinderella goes Hans Christian Anderson" is no threat to a child's attention-span and is the epitome of tastefulness. Only problem being that this particular version was so amateurishly dubbed, I think the school selling it must have done it themselves! Still, five year olds aren't fussy....the girls are pretty (especially Nowotny as Cindy), the Prince handsome and the costumes suitably colorful. Director Genschow himself plays Cinderella's father and Milton Delugg turns in a worthwhile musical score.

MOULIN ROUGE it ain't, but you know, I'd rather watch Cinderella than Ms Kidman any day of the week, even in out-of-sync English!