2008-04-06 13:33:00
Up to now, Drew Barrymore was my favourite (Cinder)Ella. Ever after has plenty of funny, is well written and Drew is very cute. However, today that movie got bumped into second place by The glass slipper from 1955. And it all owes it to Leslie Caron.
I was very impressed by the fact that this leading lady from the fifties did all the ballet scenes herself, and pretty well at that! But I guess that was the custom back then: you didn't get doubles to do the hard work for you.
Anywho... What's there not to like about this version of Cinderella? There's anti-social, tomboyish Ella with a rather remarkable accent. Her short, boyish hair makes her look even better to me and it's an original twist to the character of Ella. There's a batty, kleptomaniac old lady who's supposed to be the fairy god mother. There's ball gowns the size of battleships. And there's ballet: sometimes over the top in its gayness and sometimes close to classical ballet. And another twist that I rather liked: the duke's son knew from the start that Ella was a commoner and was in love with her even before the ball.
Some of the acting might be a bit off, but the scenery makes up for it in my book. It's remarkable what they could build at the time :)
Ah, what a nice start to my Sunday filled with homework.
kilala.nl tags: movies,
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