Poor Cinderella
August. 03,1934In the only Betty Boop color cartoon, Cinderella (Betty) goes to the ball thanks to her fairy godmother. Later, only her foot fits the glass slipper.
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Reviews
Fresh and Exciting
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
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.
This is one of favorite Betty Boop cartoons, and also "Cinderella" is one of my favorite fairy stories. I also would like to point out that this short was made 16 years ago before Disney's animated theatrical version.Like I said I love animation from Fleischer Studios (also from Disney, Hanna/Barbera, Rankin/Bass and Studio Ghilbi from Japan) and Betty Boop is one of my favorite cartoon characters beside Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Pepe le Pew of Looney Tunes and Disney's Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. I love the ballroom scene, where Betty/Cinderella and The Prince dance (until midnight that is). And I also love the main title song :"I'm just a poor Cinderella Nobody loves me it seems And like a poor Cinderella I find my romance in dreams.For that's where I meet my Prince Charming When I'm with him, cares stay away I'm just a poor Cinderella But I'll be a princess someday!"
This is the only color cartoon we have of the delicious Miss Boop, incidentally made on the cusp of when the Hayes Code was enforced. So we have her at her bouncing sexist. And we discover that she is a redhead! Pretty much all the material that Disney later covered in his feature cartoons had been done in a Boop version first, and with more energy. I think if Fleischer had arranged the backing to make feature cartoons, we'd now be visiting BoopLand in California, Florida and Paris.Oh, there's another unique thing here. Betty does her trademarked butt dancing but when with her prince at the ball, has an equally sexy smooth ballroom dance. I think it is the only non-jazzy dance in all the Boop cartoons.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
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.