Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Poor Cinderella" is a 10.5-minute animated short film from 1934, so it had its 80 anniversary two years ago and it is one of the longest Betty Boop cartoons. There is one crucial difference here compared to her usual work: This one is in color. And this is also the main reason why it makes such an impact. I do believe color usually adds a lot to fairy-tale based movie and the title already gives away that this is the Fleischer Studios' take on the famous Cinderella story. You all know the plot, so I won't go a lot into detail here. Of course, at this runtime, they had to shorten it considerably in terms of certain plot elements. The evil mother of the two not-so-attractive girls is missing entirely and she is the main antagonist in the tale usually. Betty as Cinderella works very well and once again the male audience members will like that you see Betty in underwear on one occasions. They certainly play with her sex appeal, not just in this one. And who would have guessed that Betty shows up as a redhead in her most-known color movie. I recommend the watch. Different, but pretty good for a Betty Boop film and one of my favorites.

TheLittleSongbird Poor Cinderella is a cartoon so good(to me it is easily one of Betty Boop's best) that I got the feeling that more of her cartoons should have been in colour. The animation is wonderful, it has Fleischer's style all over and is one of the best-looking Betty Boop cartoons. There is beautiful use of colour, everything is designed and drawn in a way that a lot of care and effort went into making them(as usual with Fleischer) and there is even a very realistic quality in places- if not quite on the same level as other Fleischer cartoons like Somewhere in Dreamland- that is unlike anything seen before personally other than Fleischer Studios. Animation-wise, the transformation/preparing for the ball scene was especially clever.Poor Cinderella has great music too with another memorable title song that repeats itself more than once. The rest of the music is very tuneful and lush in orchestration, other than the title my favourite was the Fairy Godmother song. Poor Cinderella is a cleverly written cartoon. It is charming and adorable, without falling into too much sentimental schmaltz, but there are also some funny moments like the Cupid hitting the Prince on the head and especially the end with the step-sisters(one of the funniest moments of any Fleischer cartoon in my opinion) as well as a couple of somewhat surreal ones like with the pumpkin(in fact the whole transformation sequence).Fidelity-wise, Poor Cinderella follows just the basic outline of the story(apart from the omission of the step-mother), structurally though it is very faithful, but has a real magic, fun and charm of its own. The characters are all engaging, there have never been a sexier Cinderella in animation or possibly anywhere than Betty Boop, the step-sisters are hilarious and who wouldn't want a Fairy Godmother after seeing her portrayed here? Bonnie Poe's voicing for Betty Boop is great and I fell in love with the soothing sound of the Fairy Godmother's singing voice. Overall, if you love Betty Boop you'll have no problem liking Poor Cinderella, it, to me and several others, is one of her best and more than just historical interest(apparently her only colour cartoon, or at least with Fleischer involved, correct if wrong). 10/10 Bethany Cox

MartinHafer This is the first color film from the Fleischer Studio and it's in something called "Cinecolor"--which appears to be a variation on 2-color Technicolor. Unlike the older 2-color Technicolor, the film seems to have a lot of blues and a slightly greater color spectrum. It is easier on the eyes than the older process but it truly isn't full color--the full spectrum is missing. This cannot be confused with the rich and vibrant colors of true Technicolor--a more expensive process that was also being introduced around the same time. Not surprisingly, Technicolor became the dominant color process, as it simply looked nicer and wasn't mostly orange. Now despite these limitations, this Betty Boop cartoon is nice to look at because like many of the Fleischer cartoons, there were very lovely line drawings and a nice 3-D look to the backgrounds (something this studio specialized in). These help you overlook the orange hue on most everything.Clearly this in an innovative film, though I also think it suffers from two major problems. First, although it's a Betty Boop cartoon, it's an amazingly "by the book" rendition of the old story. There isn't much new or exciting to the tale. Second, if you are not a fan of Boop, you also might not be all that impressed--simply because she's a rather dull character compared to animated characters from the 40s and 50s (which had a lot more personality). However, compared to competing contemporary cartoons of the era, this is a fairly good short. While nowhere near the quality of most Disney cartoons, compared to Warner Brothers and the other studios, it is clearly technically superior. Worth a look if you are a film historian or want to see a better than average cartoon of the 1930s.By the way, I saw this film on the DVD entitled "Cartoon Crazys: And The Envelope Please". This is a rather poor compilation of supposedly award winning and nominated films. Poor because several of the films are very lame and are NOT award nominated, the prints are rather bad and parts of some of the cartoons are missing! This might account for the extreme redness of the cartoon, as it could use a good restoration. Cinecolor and Two-Color Technicolor films often get an even more orange look over time but clean up quite beautifully.

Afternothing99 If I had to produce a list of the twenty best classic cartoons of all time, it would take me well over an hour to produce it, but this would be an absolute inclusion. I hate to give any film a 10-out of-10, but I have to with this one. Max and Dave Fleischer never quite reached the depths, in shorts of course, that Disney did with either 'The Band Concert' or 'Skeleton Dance' or especially 'Wyken, Blynken, And Nod', but this is definitely one of their three best, and two of those are in the Color Classics series. The Fleishcer's never quite recovered after Disney made 'Snow White' and they made their two average, but box-office dud, features (with one glaring exception-the three color Popeye's they did). What else? This cartoon is in two-color Technicolor (it says Cinecolor in some prints) and Betty has red hair, as well as a voice not by Mae, like we usually hear. What we get in this cartoon is an-all-around classic, one worth watching by any stretch of the imagination. The film runs 7 minutes, and the best print is one the 'Somewhere In Dreamland' DVD, which you should buy right now if you don't have.