Cinderella Stories

So the first adaptation that we'll talk about is the most recent of them.  The 2015 version.

Cinderella- Directed by Kenneth Brannagh

This movie is probably the closest version to the original story that I have seen.  It even includes the little detail about Ella begging her father to bring her the branch that touched his shoulder (though here she asks for the first that he meets on the road and in the original its the first that brushes him on the way back, it's really close).  I also really liked that it killed off the dad in this, because its really weird in the original story.  He does nothing to help his daughter in that version despite the cruel treatment which he is no doubt a witness too.  The movie also includes the detail about the stepsisters providing the name Cinderella.  Obviously, it also diverges in fairy god mother versus dead tree mother, but that also makes more sense from a cinematic angle.  It also is less bloody (no stepsister toes were harmed in the making of this movie) but that also makes a certain amount of sense--it is a children's movie, after all.

But before this movie was envisioned, before most of its actors were born, there was another movie made by Walt Disney.
Cinderella-1950 Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson and produced by Walt Disney

This is an adorable movie, one that we all grew up watching. Cinderella has her cute little mice friends, like Gus Gus. It is more markedly different from the fairy tale than the more recent one, but it is still very cute.  Her name is Cinderella from the beginning, and she has a fairy god mother.  It differs from the story in all the ways the newer one did, and more, but I think the biggest change that the story made was in the ending.  Lady Tremaine trips the footman who was going to bring the shoe to Cinderella for her to try on, but Cinderella still has the other shoe.  She shows that shoe to the footman and the duke and tries it on.  When it fits perfectly, Cinderella gets to go off with Prince Charming and live happily ever after.


Those are the most famous versions of Cinderella, one of the most famous fairy tales.  But next week we will cover a much less well known one by Hans Christian Anderson--East of Sun, West of Moon.