#aleksei konsovsky

[toto-et-moi]

[dare-g]

Daughter of the Sun (1963)

#daughter of the sun #aleksandra snezhko blotskaya #animation #erast garin #aleksandr khvylya #aleksei konsovsky #georgi millyar #talks

[princesssarisa]

Cinderella September-through-November: "Zolushka" (1947 Russian film)

Now we reach the first full-length sound film on my list of Cinderella adaptations. This 1947 film from Soviet Russia isn't a version a that many people in the US have grown up with. But that certainly doesn't mean it isn't a charming, adorable version!

Set in a pastel-colored fantasy land literally named Fairytale Kingdom, with lavish 16th century-style costumes, this Cinderella is brimming with old-fashioned charm. Even though its look and its special effects have an artificial quality that by modern standards can definitely be called "cheesy," this somehow adds to the fairy tale atmosphere. The overall tone of the film is comic, never taking itself too seriously, yet without detracting from the warm sincerity of Cinderella herself and of her romance with the Prince. While not a full-fledged musical, it does feature four songs as well: one sung by the Prince, the other three by Cinderella. And while the film is faithful to the classic fairy tale as a whole, it still finds its own creative touches to add.

Once again, we find an adaptation where Cinderella's loving father is still alive, but henpecked by his wife, in this case because she's a noblewoman with powerful "connections" and could have her husband banished or imprisoned if she chose. (The Stepmother's "connections" are satirically mentioned throughout: even the Fairy Godmother remarks "I'd like to turn her into an ugly frog, but the old hag has lots of connections.") This version also gives an extended comic role to the Prince's father, the King: a flighty, melodramatic man who proclaims at every slight inconvenience that he'll give up the throne and become a monk, but kind and amiable nonetheless and charmed by Cinderella. Another endearing character is a new one: the Fairy Godmother's apprentice, a little Page Boy who aspires to be a wizard. He's the one who creates the glass slippers for Cinderella, which presumably explains why they don't vanish at midnight like the Fairy Godmother's creations. At the ball, one of the guests is a wizard who, at the king's request, transports everyone to the wonderful Land of Magic for a few brief minutes; Cinderella and the Prince find themselves in a romantic garden, where the Prince declares his love to her. And after the ball, the King sends his soldiers out into the kingdom wearing seven-league boots, so they can travel all the faster to find the girl who fits the slipper.

We also get an interesting new twist on the finale. The Stepmother takes advantage of Cinderella's skill at all types of handiwork by ordering her to make the glass slipper fit the elder stepsister Anna, threatening to harm Cinderella's father if she refuses. Cinderella succeeds in squeezing Anna's foot into the slipper and Anna is taken triumphantly to the palace. The King knows instantly that she's an imposter, but can't go against his own orders that whoever could wear the slipper would marry the Prince; but when she tries to dance in the ballroom, the slipper flies from her foot. Meanwhile, Cinderella and the Prince have both fled into the forest in despair of ever meeting again, and there they find each other (shades of the opera Cendrillon), but Cinderella runs and hides when the Prince recognizes her, either ashamed of her rags or afraid of what the Stepmother will do if she wins the Prince. It takes Cinderella's father discovering that she has the other glass slipper, and a little magical interference, to finally reunite the two lovers.

Yanina Zhejmo, although 38 years old and not exactly a "classic" beauty, is a nicely innocent, gentle and endearing Cinderella: one with a high, sweet singing voice reminiscent of Disney's Snow White, and who remains an artless country girl even in her ballroom finery, sewing up the King's torn collar and leading the ball guests in a lively peasant-style dance and a silly song about a beetle. Aleksey Konsovsky is also endearing as her tender, passionate Prince. (Both he and Zhejmo would later lend their voices to a Russian fairy tale film that's better known to Western audiences, the 1957 animated version of The Snow Queen: Zhejmo voiced the little heroine Gerda, Konsovsky the Reindeer.) Meanwhile, Erast Garin steals the show as the silly yet likable King. The rest of the supporting cast is uniformly good, and Antonio Spadavekkia's musical score evokes the perfect atmosphere of fantasy, humor and romance.

If you don't mind foreign films with English subtitles, and you don't mind older fantasy films with a slightly cheesy, old-fashioned look and feel, this is an excellent, underrated Cinderella that I wholeheartedly recommend to fairy tale lovers.

@ariel-seagull-wings, @superkingofpriderock

#cinderella #fairy tale #cinderella september through november #zolushka #russia #1947 #film #live action #russian film

[ariel-seagull-wings]

TOP 12 PRINCE CHARMINGS (FROM CINDERELLA)

@superkingofpriderock​ @princesssarisa​ @sunlit-music​ @mademoiselle-princesse​ @amalthea9​ @anne-white-star​ @lioness--hart​ @theancientvaleofsoulmaking​ @astrangechoiceoffavourites​ @parxsisburnixg​ @metropolitan-mutant-of-ark​ @filmcityworld1​

I made a ranking for Cinderella. Is fair that i make one for her greatest love. What is interesting about Cinderella’s Prince is that, in contrast to Cinderella, who is more of a character defined by her resilient hard work, kindness, romanticism and dreams of a better life, he is more of a simbolic reward for her to win, with makes him a blank slate that gives total freedom to screenwriters, directors and animators imaginations, but over the years adaptations have shown some comonalities: sometimes he is a classical brave hero, sometimes he is a lovely bumbling dork, sometimes he is just a hedonist concerned with his own fun, but at the end of the day, they all fall in love with the honest and good hearted heroine. And tonight, i will share my favorite takes on the man who catchet Cinderella’s and, by extension, our hearts.

12º Tony Oliver as the Prince in Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics (1989)

There is a Prince who just wants his Dad to stop meddling with his personal life. Specially when it comes to making a ball despite the fact that he doesn’t know how to dance. But thankfully for him, while trying to escape trough the gardens he literary stepped over onto a napping Cinderella, who promptly teached him how to dance, and how to love.

11º Florian Bartholomäi as Prince Viktor in Sechs Auf Einen Streich (2011)

This Prince can’t hit a target with his arrows to save his life, and isn’t particularly excited to have the responsabilities of a King. But he is kind and humble to help Cinderella to catch back some lost piglets in the woods, even if it means getting dirt in the mud, and for her and the audience, sometimes that is enough.

10º Jimmy Smits as Prince Felipe in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales For Every Child (1995)

A Prince who admits that he isn’t fit for battlefield and would rather spend time chilling in the Palace’s dance floor. What it’s not to love about him?

09º  Pavel Trávnícek as the Prince in Three Wishes for Cinderella (1973)

The original Slacker Prince, who is constantly running away from studying with his tutor to go hunting in the forest. He looks chill enough to accept handing over the actual role of ruller to a wise Prime Minister.

08º Masami Kikuchi as Prince Charles in Cinderella Monogatari (1996)

A Slacker who has to learn about dealing with the consequences of his actions! Charles prefers a hundred times to go out fencing than to studying Power and Politics, and wears his best friend’s Alex clothes to pretend that he is page and go out stealing the grapes of his own family vines. But when Cinderella is unfairly framed by the grape robbery, Charles has to slowly understand that not everything is fun and games, and that he has to think in doing something for the well being of others, providing a good character arc about maturity and responsability.

07º Dougray Scott as Prince Henry in Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

Another Prince who has to go trough a character arc, this time about letting go of his prejudices. Henry first runs in the heroine Danielle while running away from an arranged marriage that his parents are trying to push over him. He falls in love with her when she presents herself as the noble lady Nicole and the two share heroic adventures, but eventually the masquerade will have to be broken, and Henry must decide: will his class prejudices win over him, or will he accept Danielle for who she trully is and assume the love he has for her to the world?

06º Matthew Broderick as Prince Henry in Fairy Tale Theater (1985)

The adorkable Prince who gaved a second ball to see his mysteryous beloved lady again and conquered her hearth with melon balls. Three word describe him: Himbo! Himbo! Himbo!

05º Stuart Damon as Prince Chistopher in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1965)

The veteran warrior hero who after having many adventures rescuing damsels and slaying dragons and evil sorcerours, is getting ready to settle down in a calm, domestic family life. When i watch Damon’s Prince Christopher, i feel that his shoulder will be a strong source of support and comfort to Cinderella after all she went trough, and that’s what makes me to want so much for him to get together with her.

04º Paolo Montalbán as Prince Christopher in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)

While Stuart Damon was a strong Prince with lots of world experience and confidence, Paolo Montalbán was a young man that, instead of being known as a travelling dragon slayer and damsel rescuer,had the feeling of falling in love itself be his greatest adventure. Because of that, i felt that as a romantic partner, he was in a more equal footing with his version of Cinderella, portrayed as another young lady that was about to discover the world, and the two found the perfect companion in each other for their emotional journey. Plus, it helps the higher ranking that after this 1997 TV Movie production, Montalbán retook the role of Prince Christopher in the 2000 stage production known as The Enchanted Edition. Is he or not the definitive face for this musical version of the character at this point?

03º Richard Chamberlain as Prince Edward in The Slipper and The Rose (1976)

He can sing, he can dance, he has a happy musical number about pondering his mortality in his family’s mausoleum, he helps his best friend getting together with the girl he likes, he fights with his father for the right to marry whoever he wants for love. Chamberlain gaved a very energetic an fun performance to the one of the most idealistic and romantic encarnations of Cinderella’s Prince, and for this he earns the number three spot in this ranking.

02º Michael Wilding as Prince Charles in The Glass Slipper (1955)

After spending years studying in London, Paris and Rome, Prince Charles returns to his father’s small principality to reconect with his people and prepare to become the next rulling Duke. One day, walking in the woods, he remembers that he didn’t knew what sorrow was until one day when he was eight years old and saw a poor five year old girl of sad rebellious eyes crying and running in despair for the loss of her mother. By the force of destiny, he finds that same girl as a grown woman and despite her initial rejection of his polytiness as mockery, he insists in being her friend, presenting himself as Son of the Cook at the Palace of the Duke and teaching her to dance. One day, Charles that he is falling for the sad girl and kisses her, but she runs away, afrayed of being loved. And he melancholicaly sits at the piano to sing, reflecting about how her sad eyes and explosive rebellious temper, instead of repelling, atract him to her, and he asks himself how to make her thrust him.

For being this kind, perfect friend, this version was originally going to be my number one. Until he got surpassed by...

01º  Aleksey Anatolyevich Konsovsky as the Prince in Zolushka (1947)

This is a colorfull russian feature film adaptation of the Charles Perrault version of the fairy tale. One of the highlights of this adaptation is how it combines its visuals with good dialogues, where the characters talk honestly about their feelings. Thanks to that, it is one of the first adaptations to explore the Prince as human being, instead of treating him as a simple trophy. We first see him sitted at the ball, looking bored, trowing a paper plane onto the Stepmother to amuse himself. And then, he is called by his father to receive the new guest of unknown identity, and smiling in awe he says to his father that he cannot speak at her vision. A magician makes a spell for the guests to spent time in their dream lands, and the Prince gets alone with the unknown lady in a beautifull garden, asking what counsel would she give to a friend of his who likes a lady but doesn’t know how to tell her. He gets to sing to her. Back at the ball room, during their dance he guesses that she would like some ice cream, and he goes far as to select fourty different flavours, but when he arrives, the lady says goodbye and that she must go away, but he begs her to stay, declaring his love for her. When she is gone, leaving a glass slipper behind, he admits to have felt ofended with her running from him, but still wants to get reunited with her, going in the next morning to a search in the woods, where he hears a beautifull singing voice: the voice of his mysteryous beloved from the ball, to whom he promisses going in the most difficult quests, if they mean he will earn her love.

Prankster, wish guesser, shy, proud, and, above all, romantic, Aleksey Anatolyevich Konsovsky’s performance is historically significant in reaching the right balance of making the Prince the perfect man of Cinderella’s dreams, while also being palpably human, and that is why he is my number one portrayal of Cinderella’s Prince.

Honorable Mention: Robert Westenberg in Into the Woods (1987), The Triplets version (1998).

This list is dedicated to the memory of Libuše Šafránková (7 June 1953 – 9 June 2021)

#cinderella #moodboard #wallpapers #fairy tales #fairytales #fairy tale #fantasy #mithology #folklore #brothers grimm #charles perrault #genre fiction #pop culture #my rankings

[princesssarisa]

Top 10 "Cinderella" Adaptations, Cinderellas and Princes (so far)

For @ariel-seagull-wings

I haven't finished my overview of adaptations yet, but these are my feelings at the moment.

These are in chronological order, not order of preference, because ranking them in order of preference would still be too hard.

Top 10 Adaptations

1817 Rossini opera La Cenerentola

1947 Russian film

1950 Disney animated film

1955 film The Glass Slipper

1965 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical (Lesley Ann Warren)

1973 film Three Wishes for Cinderella

1985 Faerie Tale Theatre episode

1996 anime Cinderella Monogatari

1997 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical (Brandy)

1998 film Ever After

Honorable mentions: 1899 Massenet opera Cendrillon, 1914 silent Famous Players film, 1922 Lotte Reiniger animated short, 1934 Betty Boop short Poor Cinderella, 1945 Prokofiev ballet, 1957 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical (Julie Andrews), 1976 film The Slipper and the Rose, 1989 Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics anime episode, 1995 musical A Tale of Cinderella, 2010 German Märchenperlen episode, 2011 German Sechs auf einen Streich episode

Top 10 Cinderellas

Yanina Zhejmo

Disney animation/voice of Ilene Woods

Leslie Caron

Lesley Ann Warren

Libuše Šafránková

Gemma Craven

Frederica von Stade

Brandy

Drew Barrymore

Aylin Tezel

Honorable mentions: Mary Pickford, Julie Andrews, Lily James, Jennifer Beals, Petra Vigna, Cinderella Monogatari animation/voice of Maria Kawamura, Christianne Tisdale, Anne Hathaway, Emilia Schüle, Joyce DiDonato

Top 10 Princes

Aleksey Konsovsky

Michael Wilding

Stuart Damon

Richard Chamberlain

Francisco Araiza

Matthew Broderick

Cinderella Monogatari animation/voice of Masami Kikuchi

Paolo Montalbán

Dougray Scott

Max Felder

Honorable mentions: Richard Madden, Jon Cypher, Pavel Trávníček, Sean Frank Sullivan, Hugh Dancy, Florian Bartholomaï, Alice Coote

#cinderella #fairy tale #adaptations #top 10 #favorites

[princesssarisa]

Top 12 Cinderella Adaptations, Cinderellas and Princes, Plus Other Preferences

For @ariel-seagull-wings

Now that I've finally finished overviewing every Cinderella I could get my hands on, here's my definitive list of favorite adaptations and leading ladies and men. Again, it's hard to pick a single favorite, second favorite, etc. so I've listed my top 12 choices in chronological order, not order of preference.

Top 12 Adaptations

1817 Rossini opera La Cenerentola

1947 Russian film Zolushka

1950 Disney animated film

1955 film The Glass Slipper

1965 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical (Lesley Ann Warren)

1973 film Tři oříšky pro Popelku (Three Wishes for Cinderella)

1976 film The Slipper and the Rose

1985 Faerie Tale Theatre episode

1996 anime Cinderella Monogatari

1997 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical (Brandy)

1998 film Ever After

2015 Disney live action remake

Honorable mentions: 1899 Massenet opera Cendrillon, 1914 silent Famous Players film, 1922 Lotte Reiniger animated short, 1945 Prokofiev ballet, 1957 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical (Julie Andrews), 1989 Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics anime episode, 1995 musical A Tale of Cinderella, 2010 German Märchenperlen episode, 2011 German Sechs auf einen Streich episode, 2015-17 Alma Deutscher opera

Top 12 Cinderellas

Yanina Zhejmo

Disney animation/voice of Ilene Woods

Leslie Caron

Julie Andrews

Lesley Ann Warren

Libuše Šafránková

Gemma Craven

Frederica von Stade

Brandy

Drew Barrymore

Aylin Tezel

Lily James

Honorable mentions:

Mary Pickford, Jennifer Beals, Petra Vigna, Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics animation/voice of Mitsuko Horie, Cinderella Monogatari animation/voice of Maria Kawamura, Christianne Tisdale, Anne Hathaway,Laura Osnes, Emilia Schüle, Joyce DiDonato, Vanessa Becerra, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Camila Cabello

Top 12 Princes

Aleksey Konsovsky

Michael Wilding

Stuart Damon

Richard Chamberlain

Francisco Araiza

Matthew Broderick

Cinderella Monogatari animation/voice of Masami Kikuchi

Paolo Montalbán

Dougray Scott

Max Felder

Florian Bartholomaï

Richard Madden

Honorable mentions:

Jon Cypher, Pavel Trávníček, Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics animation/voice of Masami Kikuchi, Sean Frank Sullivan, Hugh Dancy, Santino Fontana, Alice Coote, Jonas Hacker, Ivano Turco, Nicholas Galitzine

Best Live Action Theatrical Film

Ever After, 1998 (out of all films) or Disney's live action remake, 2015 (as a straightforward fairy tale version)

Best Full-Length Animated Film

Disney, 1950

Best Foreign Language Film

Zolushka, 1947, or Tři oříšky pro Popelku, 1973

Best Musical (not counting opera)

Rodgers and Hammerstein's, in all its iterations

(Best version: 1997, with Brandy, Whitney Houston, et al.)

Best Opera

Rossini's La Cenerentola, 1817

Best Ballet

Prokofiev, 1945 (yes, this is cheating, I haven't seen any others)

Best Animated Short

Lotte Reiniger's silhouette version, 1922

(Best English-language animated short: Betty Boop's Poor Cinderella, 1934)

Best Japanese Anime

Cinderella Monogatari, 1996

(Best short anime version: Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, 1989)

Best Adaptation of the Grimms' Aschenputtel

Lotte Reiniger's animated short, 1922, or Sechs auf einen Streich, 2011

#cinderella #fairy tale #adaptations

[ariel-seagull-wings]

UPDATED CINDERELLA AND PRINCE CHARMING RANKINGS

@princesssarisa​ @superkingofpriderock​

CINDERELLA RANKING

12º Aylin Tezel as Cinderella in Sechs auf einen Streich (2011)

11º Maria Kawamura as Cinderella in Cinderella Monogatari (1996)

10º Ilene Woods as Cinderella in Disney’s Cinderella (1950)

09º Gemma Craven as Cinderella in The Slipper and The Rose (1976)

08º Drew Barrymore as Danielle de Barbarac in Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

07º  Jennifer Beals as Cinderella in Faerie Tale Theatre (1985)

06º  Libuše Šafránková as Cinderella in Three Wishes for Cinderella (1973)

05º  Lesley Ann Warren as Cinderella in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1965)

04º  Brandy Norwood as Cinderella in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)

03º Janina Zejmo as Cinderella in Zolushka (1947)

02º  Leslie Caron as Ella in The Glass Slipper (1955)

01º Frederica von Stade as Angelina in Jean-Pierre Ponelle’s La Cenerentola (1981)

PRINCE CHARMING RANKING

12º Florian Bartholomäi as Prince Viktor in Sechs Auf Einen Streich (2011)

11º Jimmy Smits as Prince Felipe in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales For Every Child (1995)

10º Pavel Trávnícek as the Prince in Three Wishes for Cinderella (1973)

09º Masami Kikuchi as Prince Charles in Cinderella Monogatari (1996)

08º Dougray Scott as Prince Henry in Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

07º Matthew Broderick as Prince Henry in Faerie Tale Theatre (1985)

06º Richard Chamberlain as Prince Edward in The Slipper and The Rose (1976)

05º Stuart Damon as Prince Chistopher in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1965)

04º Paolo Montalbán as Prince Christopher in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)

03º Aleksey Anatolyevich Konsovsky as the Prince in Zolushka (1947)

02º Michael Wilding as Prince Charles in The Glass Slipper (1955)

01º  Francisco Araiza as Don Ramiro in Jean-Pierre Ponelle’s La Cenerentola (1981)

#rodgers and hammerstein #la cenerentola #cinderella #cinderella 1950 #cinderella 1965 #cinderella 1947 #zolushka #grimm's finest fairy tales #Sechs auf einen Streich #Faerie Tale Theatre #opera #disney #happily ever after: fairy tales for every child #cinderella monogatari #the slipper and the rose #the glass slipper #gioachino rossini #charles perrault #brothers grimm #fairy tale #fairy tales #folklore #mithology #literature #fantasy #genre fiction #pop culture #musings #fandom musings #ever after (1998)