Poor Cinderella

Max Fleischer and Paramount give Betty Boop the Cinderella treatment in this 10-plus minute short presented in lovely Cinecolor (the Fleischer Studio's first color cartoon). Betty sings "I'm just a poor Cinderella"--and her Fairy Godmother refers to her as a "kind and gentle thing"--but we know from her sashay walk that she's just pretending to be an innocent. Playing the scrub-girl taunted by her ugly stepsisters, Betty/Cindy sobs for less than a second before her wish to attend the Prince's Ball is granted--with the proviso to be out of there by midnight. Some funny visual jests: the trumpeter blowing so hard on his instrument that his pants become briefs (showing off his hairy legs!); the Prince's sword accidentally giving one of the stepsisters a goose; Betty sliding down the castle bannister to get to her coach before it changes back to a pumpkin. The 3D effect is quite stunning, as is Betty's red hair and the Prince's blue eyelids! I never understood Betty Boop's universal appeal (she seems to attract the die-hard affection of all races, creeds and orientation); she's resourceful and sexy, if never quite as sassy as one might hope.

Before moving on to their prolific (and highly successful) POPEYE series (as well as into their unfortunate GABBY series--just imagine Elmer Fudd without his macho sex appeal), Paramount's Fleischer brothers poured their creative genius into BETTY BOOP. This is their finest B-B cartoon, and may just be their finest EVER, period.

Using their 3-D filming process (and a unheard-of budget for a cartoon short), they adapted the Cinderella legend to Betty, adding some marvelous songs and (likely roto-scoped) beautiful dance numbers. For reasons not told, this was the only Betty Boop cartoon ever done in color--a tragedy.

Look for versions with the original opening titles intact--even the titles show that this was a project of love (and yes, money). Plus, Betty's as sexy an ingenue as ever thanks to Technicolor.

Long before Rodgers and Hammerstein had the idea of musicalizing Cinderella, Betty Boop made the midnight pumpkin change tunefully, with verve, sex and good story editing. The plot is trimmed to its essentials, the splendid backgrounds may have influenced the Disney Beauty and the Beast, and the closing shot of the Pinocchio-nosed sisters wraps everything up with a laugh.

Betty Boop as Cinderella. an idea who seems strange but this short animation is the ideal proof for define it as inspired. because all is nice - the songs, the dance, the short story preserving essence of fairy tale and the colors, the technique and the ingenuity of Betty. at first, naive, it is the perfect illustration of significant episode of animation history.

Poor Cinderella (1934)

**** (out of 4)

Excellent Betty Boop cartoon is the only one to feature her in color and they made her a red head as well! In the film she plays Cinderella who is granted a magical night thanks to her fairy godmother and soon the Prince falls in love with her. Storywise this here is pretty familiar to all the other versions out there but the real interest here is getting to see Betty Boop in color. I'm not sure of the reasonings behind making her a red head but it's certainly interesting to say the very least. The short really does follow the story pretty closely so those expecting to see something new might be disappointed. However, fans of Boop are going to love seeing the sexy "actress" getting to play her looks down as the abused Cinderella. I thought these early scenes were very good and things certainly got better as the Pre-Code naughty moments happen and this is when Betty is pretty much stripped down in order for her new clothes to be put on her. Modern audiences probably wouldn't even think about this but film buffs know this wasn't always accepted. The Technicolor is also extremely good here and overall this is just a highly entertaining short.