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Cinderfella

Cinderfella
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DVD Release

  • Release Date: 2004
  • Widescreen version enhanced for 16:9 TVs
  • Dolby Digital: English Mono and French Mono
  • cc
  • Commentary by Jerry Lewis and Steve Lawrence
  • Archival materials
  • English subtitles
  • Spanish subtitles

  • Rating: StarStar
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Movie Type: Fantasy Comedy, Romantic Comedy
  • Themes: Cinderella Stories
  • Director: Jerry Lewis
  • Main Cast: Jerry Lewis, Ed Wynn, Judith Anderson, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Henry Silva
  • Release Year: 1960
  • Country: US
  • Run Time: 88 minutes

Plot

Both director Frank Tashlin and his comic star Jerry Lewis dilute their comic talents to play for the kiddie crowd in this fractured fairy tale version of the Cinderella story. This simply-told tale lards over the fairy story with un-needed songs and production numbers, but the basic story is still the same, only switched to a male Cinderella. Lewis is Fella, a put-upon flunky to a mean and rich dowager (Judith Anderson) and her three surly sons (all of whom appear to be pushing fifty). Fella falls for the beautiful princess (Anna Maria Alberghetti) and with the assistance of his screwy fairy godfather (Ed Wynn) gets transformed into a pre-Buddy Love lounge lizard who sweeps the Princess off her feet as he struts down an ornate stairway to the beat of The Count Basie Orchestra, leaving his stepbrothers with their mouths agape. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Review

Cinderfella finds Jerry Lewis toning things down slightly, which means that there are actually several segments of this children's film that adults can watch without cringing. Fans of Lewis' over-the-top performing style needn't worry; there are still plenty of opportunities to watch the star mug, convulse, and run circles around himself (and others), as well as turn words and phrases into strings of mush (sometimes at an interminable length). Still, there are also some moments, particularly toward the end, when Lewis plays in a subdued manner that is quite appealing, creating a sweeter version of what will later become his Buddy Love character in The Nutty Professor. Cinderfella also has some nice "slumming" work from Judith Anderson and an enchanting, if criminally underutilized, stunning Anna Maria Alberghetti (whose glorious singing voice is heard only briefly). There's also a nice turn by Joe Williams and Count Basie's band and a decent bit from Ed Wynn; otherwise, there's not much to Cinderfella. The gender-switching fairy tale idea is never really explored, either for theme or for comic invention, and a subplot about Fella's secret treasure from his father is just so much dross. Lewis and Frank Tashlin's direction is surprisingly bland (although they do compose a nicely framed closing shot); even when Lewis lets loose, the film doesn't seem to be having a lot of fun. Better in concept than execution, Cinderfella is harmless but not particularly involving. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

Cast


Count Basie - Himself; Robert Hutton - Rupert; Del Moore - TV announcer

Credit

Haskell Boggs - Cinematographer; Henry Bumstead - Art Director; Nick Castle - Choreography; Edith Head - Costume Designer; Jerry Lewis - Director; Jerry Lewis - Producer; Hal Pereira - Art Director; Walter Scharf - Composer (Music Score); Frank Tashlin - Director; Frank Tashlin - Screenwriter; Ernest D. Glucksman - Associate Producer; Arthur P. Schmidt - Editor

Similar Movies

The Nutty Professor
 
 
Wikipedia: Cinderfella
Cinderfella
Cinderfella.jpg
Directed by Frank Tashlin
Produced by Jerry Lewis
Written by Frank Tashlin
Starring Jerry Lewis
Ed Wynn
Judith Anderson
Anna Maria Alberghetti
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) December 16, 1960
Running time 91 min.
Country U.S.A.
Language English
IMDb profile

Cinderfella was filmed October 19–December 15, 1959. It was released December 16, 1960 by Paramount Pictures. It is a comedy version of the classic Cinderella story, with several of the roles reversed. Fella (Jerry Lewis) has two stepbrothers and a Fairy Godfather. He is also in love with a Princess.

Plot

When Fella's (Jerry Lewis) father dies, he continues to live with his stepmother (Judith Anderson) and her two sons (Henry Silva and Robert Hutton). His stepfamily takes over the family mansion, while Fella is reduced to living in an unfinished room at the end of a long hallway. He has in essence become their butler, catering to their every whim.

Fella dreams nightly that his father is trying to relay a message to him about where he has hidden his fortune, but he always awakens before he learns the hiding place. His stepfamily knows of this secret fortune and they go to great lengths to try to discover its whereabouts. They pretend to befriend him in order to wrangle his fortune away once it is found.

The Princess Charmein of the Grand Duchy of Morovia (Anna Maria Alberghetti) is in town and the stepmother decides to throw her a lavish ball in order to get her to marry one of her sons. Fella isn't allowed to go to the ball, but his fairy godfather (Ed Wynn) tells him that he won't remain a "people" much longer, but will blossom into a "person".

On the evening of the ball, Fella is turned into a handsome prince and sent to the ball in a limousine. Count Basie is playing at the ball when Fella makes his grand entrance. The young man quickly gains the attention of the Princess. The night is cut short when midnight strikes and Fella flees, losing his shoe along the way.

Back home, one of Fella's stepbrothers realizes that Fella is the supposed "prince." They wind up in a struggle under a tree, in the process discovering that that is where Fella's father's fortune is hidden. Fella gives the money to his stepfamily, telling them that he never needed money to be happy, he only wanted a family. Shamed, his stepmother orders her sons to return the money to Fella.

The Princess arrives with Fella's lost shoe, but Fella explains that they could never be together because she is a "person" and he is a "people". She tells him that underneath the fancy clothes she is a "people" too.

Trivia

  • Lewis suffered a heart attack halfway through production.
  • Paramount wanted to release the film during the summer, but Lewis considered it a holiday film and wanted to hold it back for a Christmas release. The only way that the studio would delay its release was for Lewis to provide them with another movie that they could release in its place in the summer. Lewis agreed and wrote, produced, and directed The Bellboy in four weeks in February 1960 while he was performing at the Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami Beach. That movie was released on July 20, 1960.
  • It was re-released on a double bill with another Jerry Lewis film, The Errand Boy, in 1967.

DVD release

October 12, 2004

External links


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