Cinderella (1950)

A classy and stylish adaptation of the ancient riches-rags-riches tale of "Cinderella"; a young girl who finds herself little more than a skivvy in her own home. When her evil stepmother receives an invitation to the Palace for a ball in honour of the Prince; she and her two selfish and spoilt daughters pull out all the stops. They leave our heroine alone at home where she encounters an old hag. Next thing, after a gloriously colourful spree of magic spell-weaving, she is dressed in ultimate finery and heading for the palace in a glittering carriage drawn by the finest horses in the land. The rest of the story is the stuff of true fairy tale legend. The animations are, once again, magnificently detailed and the score featuring "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" is great fun too. There are, for my money, too many talking beasties - particularly the mice. The squeaky voices, slapstick comedy (especially "Gus") and accompanying wind instruments grate after a while; the characterisation of Cinderella is so heavily endowed with saccharin as to be syrupy. That said, the story is well told in an an engaging fashion with some good human characters (particularly the King) and some stunning creative imagery.