Page 22 - 2005-12

WALT DISNEY'S CINDERELLA
A MAGICAL LEGEND IN ANIMATION

By Eric Scott

On February 15 th 1950 Walt Disney and his team of talented animators crossed their fingers in nervous anticipation.

The fate of feature animation at Disney's' studios rested solely on the success of their latest animated effort, a 74
minute retelling of Cinderella, the highly popular children's story on par with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Disney had not produced a full-length cartoon since Bambi (1942). The studio was enthusiastic and passionate
about the opportunity and challenge that Cinderella presented in returning to a feature length assignment.
However there was a good deal of scepticism based on Disney's serious financial woes at this time. If Cinderella
failed to return the large sum of money invested in it, the studio would go under. Amongst individual animators like
Milt Kahl, there was also speculation that the studio would close down altogether. Necessity they say is the mother
of all invention and it was necessary to spend many years meticulously planning and preparing Cinderella for
audiences that would remember and inevitably compare it to Snow White.
"Haven't we done this before?" became the catch phrase of Disney's' creative team, working under pressure knowing
it was vital to come up with fresh ideas together with new inventions and unconventional concepts. The main
problem was how to produce Cinderella without duplicating Snow White.
According to literary scholars the story of Cinderella is oriental in origin
and over 900 years old. This of course dispels the widely held belief that
the tale was written by the brothers Grimm. For centuries many legends
like Cinderella were told and handed down in verbatim form only. Wilhelm
Grimm heard the story of Cinderella from an old storyteller in Germany,
then translated it into written form. He created
the first book of fairytales for children, where
the tale of the glass slipper would appear
opposite Tom Thumb, Hansel and Gretel,
Rumpelstiltskin and many others.
The Grimm stories were renowned for their
dark content. In Grimms' Cinderella, a group of
angry birds take revenge on the ugly sisters by
pecking their eyes out (too heavy a scenario for a Disney picture). Disney's version of
Cinderella is based on the lighter more romantic version, written by French author
Charles Perrault, over 350 years ago. Everyone knows the simple story of the little kitchen
maid victimised and humiliated by her cruel stepmother and two stepsisters, rescued by
her fairy godmother and then the handsome prince. Walt Disney was a deeply complex
person and the story of Cinderella with its rags to riches motif held great attraction and
appeal to the man who himself went from obscurity and poverty to become a Hollywood
legend. Cinderella closely parallels Disney's own life and in particular his foresight, philosophy and vision which are
recurring themes throughout his films. Disney's affection for Cinderella dates back to 1922-23 when he produced a
silent black and white Laugh O' Gram of the classic tale.
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