You won't be disappointed!

To me, this movie is perfection.

Such a frustrating disappointment

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

next to Disney's delightful cartoonish contrive, this is my favorite version of 'Cinderella'. and not to commit iconic blasphemy, R&H's very best musical.i know i know. how can i say such a thing when 'South Pacific' and 'Oakiehomie' are such monumental works? simple. they're just that. monumental. how dull, boring and oppressively overpowering. i like it when things are kept pure and simple. R&H completed this in half the time and effort as their other works, and that bare basics approach works in this production's favor. rarely are media musicals this sincere and unpretentious. a pure delight for anyone that relishes sweet unpretentiousness. it also has the straight-forward, raw quality that only live television and performances can provide.and the performances in this can be just wonderful. not only is Dame Julie a perfectionist delight a Cinders, but the supporting cast is just marvelous fun. Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley are liltingly hilarious and "lovely" as the awkward stepsisters. and Edith Adams and Ilka Chase are wonderful. this has to be the most entertaining "fairy godmother" you could imagine outside of Disney. "impossible", stands right alongside "Bibbidi-Bobbidi" as one of musical's most delightful and very best.even though this first rate, Broadway-like production, is only preserved in a primitive, rough, kinescope telecast videotape, young unexperienced viewers must keep in mind that the original CBS-TV broadcast was seen by the largest TV audience on the planet at that time. it was a television, historical event that reached millions and millions of viewers stretching from Canada to Cuba. a real milestone in the "Golden age" of television. by today's standards, that event is "impossible" to conceive.for anyone that loves American television history, this is a true national treasure. and if you let yourself believe, "impossible things are happening everyday".

Before the TV movie musicals explosion of the later 90's and early 2000's, there was Cinderella, a Rogers and Hammerstein adaptation of a classic fairy tale. In the 1950's, color T.V. was the new thing and everyone wanted to show off their capabilities. This was also a time when art of all kind was for show on commercial television.Not to be outdone by rival NBC, CBS announced that they would get the legendary team of Rogers and Hammerstein to write a for-T.V. musical based on the beloved tale of Cinderella. The show would use such talent as Howard Lindsay, Dorothy Stickney, Edie Adams, and a young up and coming Broadway star named...oh...what's her name...Julie something or other, I think. I'll remember later. You've probably never heard of her, anyway.Though only black and white kiniscopes exist now, the show was filmed in glorious color and live in a cramped studio. What we'd find out later is that this was shown in front of the biggest audience at that time.ANDREWS! Of course.I've seen all three televised version of Cinderella, and I can say that the original is, without question, the best of the three. It had the one quality all great musical performances have...engagement. I was absolutely sold on everything that happen throughout the musical. Only the best shows and performances can do that. Andrews showed the country why she was a mighty force on Broadway and why she would become a beloved actress the world over. The old, familiar faces and the new people from different places, this was a meeting of all of them. I only hope we can see this again on the small screen again in the near future.

Face it-- "Cinderella" has been worn out since the day it was conceived. And since, the world has never forgotten this disgustingly sentimental heap of molly-wash. Julie Andrews gives a non-memorable performance in the title role-- where is the interest with which she has played every other part before and since? Other performers have absolutely no redeeming value whatsoever, where Andrews shows promise. But the reality is, the musical score by the normally-excellent Rodgers and Hammerstein is nothing more than a collection of garbage-riddled ditties wallowing in their own pathos. The only acceptable tune in the whole lot is the "Stepsisters' Lament," which occasionally borders on funny. Sadly, the entire telecast is an exercise in sugar-encrusted romantic tripe that makes James Cameron's "Titanic" look excellent.

In reviewing this, I've taken into consideration that this was done live back in 1957, when the world and I were much younger, and live television was much more primitive. Still, it's fascinating to view it again and see it from a different perspective. And yet, one can't help thinking how much technology has improved since then!The B&W print shown on PBS tonight was a rather murky one, so I'm basing all my comments on the perception that the soundtrack was wonderful but the video left much to be desired. Of course, 21 year-old Julie Andrews (rather matronly looking due to hairdo and make-up), has the right singing range to do justice to the songs and Jon Cypher keeps up with her in that department. Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostly are fun as the two step-sisters, absurd as their characterizations are, and Ilka Chase makes an acceptable step-mother, though not quite as wicked as one could wish for.The score is full of wonderful melodies in typical R&H style, particularly the lilting waltz amid such songs as "Ten Minutes Ago" and "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?". Julie does a particularly nice rendition of "In My Own Little Corner" while Edie Adams has fun making the most of her role as the Fairy Godmother.But on the debit side is the video quality and the obviously budgeted stage sets and uninspired costuming (especially for the ball). They look rather bland in B&W. Perhaps when originally telecast in color (a factor I don't recall at this point), the sets and costumes had more of a glow. But as Julie Andrews says, in interviews that come on at intervals, it was a wonder the whole thing was done live in one take.This is a lot easier on the ears than the later versions and includes an amusing number between King and Queen (preparing for the banquet) that was cut from both of the later productions. And while the later versions had more glamor and color, this is the one to watch for complete enjoyment of the score and justice to the songs performed by Julie Andrews and the rest of the cast.What an honor for Julie Andrews--to have a television musical written expressly for her by two of the master musicians of the 20th century, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Their music has all the charm one could ask for in a production of this kind.