This film may be long but it is thoroughly worth sitting through to the end.
The story starts off in the palace, where we are introduced to the Prince and the royal family. There are some great songs to get the film off to a bang and I had some fun spotting all the wonderful British actors who have bit parts - and believe me there are lots! Then we are taken to Cinderella's residence where her stepmother and stepsisters have taken over. (Margaret Lockwood does a super turn as the evil stepmother!) Here we are introduced to Cinderella aka Gemma Craven, who plays the part to perfection. She has a lovely voice and is ideally suited to the role of the young girl who is down on her luck but granted her heart's desire by her very own fairy godmother. It's a shame that Richard Chamberlain, in my opinion, couldn't have brought more to the part, although his scenes where he believes he has lost Cinderella forever were genuinely touching.
I do think that the film could have been cut in length slightly, especially the scenes in the palace but overall it's a beautiful retelling of the classic fairytale.
The story starts off in the palace, where we are introduced to the Prince and the royal family. There are some great songs to get the film off to a bang and I had some fun spotting all the wonderful British actors who have bit parts - and believe me there are lots! Then we are taken to Cinderella's residence where her stepmother and stepsisters have taken over. (Margaret Lockwood does a super turn as the evil stepmother!) Here we are introduced to Cinderella aka Gemma Craven, who plays the part to perfection. She has a lovely voice and is ideally suited to the role of the young girl who is down on her luck but granted her heart's desire by her very own fairy godmother. It's a shame that Richard Chamberlain, in my opinion, couldn't have brought more to the part, although his scenes where he believes he has lost Cinderella forever were genuinely touching.
I do think that the film could have been cut in length slightly, especially the scenes in the palace but overall it's a beautiful retelling of the classic fairytale.