DATE Night: Sleeping Beauty

I have been anticipating our DATE Night with Sleeping Beauty since we kicked the series off back in August. When I re-watched it for the first time as an adult in 2010, I was completely blown away. Whenever people would ask me how the Disney Project was going, I would cite Sleeping Beauty as the biggest surprise for me. As a kid, you just get wrapped up in the fairy tale. You laugh at the humor and get excited by the fighting. As a grown-up, you really appreciate the artistry on display in every aspect of the film. This week was also the first time that I watched it on Blu-ray and it was worth getting a player just to watch this film alone. The transfer literally took my breath away. The audio and visual are so crisp and clear that it almost feels like you are watching it again for the first time. 

The Background:

Busy but effective poster art.

After three unabashed successes, both financially and artistically, in Cinderella, Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp, and one artistic triumph that has finally been recognized as such in retrospect with Alice in Wonderland, the studio now sits squarely in the thick of its second golden age. Building on lessons learned with these four films, Disney made Sleeping Beauty as an artistically ambitious way to keep moving forward while still telling the kind of story that would resonate with a large audience. The film had been in production since early in the decade and was intended to be the greatest artistic achievement in animated film. Disney invested heavily in the picture, which, at six million dollars, was budgeted for more than twice as much as the last few films that preceded it. It was hand-inked and -painted, released in stereo and 70mm Super Technirama widescreen, and given a huge promotional push.

Surprisingly, the film did not fare so well upon release. Critics seemed unimpressed, finding it heavy-handed and slow. The audiences came, but not enough to recoup the massive cost. It was by no means an embarrassment, but was not the grand slam that the studio was hoping for. After re-releases starting in the seventies and home video are figured in, the movie is the second most profitable film of the year and it is looked on today with respect, if not outright awe, for this incredible work of art. Aurora has entered the ranks of the iconic Disney Princesses. History has most certainly proven the tepid initial response to the movie to be unwarranted. It is now unquestionably considered to be one of the top tier Disney animated classics.

The First Impression:

The Disney Project- Part 9: Sleeping Beauty. The film is unspeakably gorgeous. I actually gasped at the beauty a few times. The artwork is stunning beyond words. The styling is impeccable from top to bottom. It's the last of its kind- the last Disney feature to be inked and painted by hand. The prince is dimensional. Aurora is lovely. The fairies are so adorable. Maleficent is the most terrifying Disney villain ever.

February 6, 2010 at 3:09pm ·

The Art:

Most of the art from here on is Eyvind Earle's.
Cuz it's stunning.

10/10. The art in Sleeping Beauty is untouchable. It is probably the richest, most beautifully styled art in any Disney animated film. The look of the film can be attributed to color stylist Eyvind Earle. Earle worked on many of the films that Mary Blair did the styling for, as well as some of the visually arresting Ward Kimball helmed shorts, like "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom". He had a very distinctive style. Very clean lines, angles and shapes. Layering of colors to create depth. Disney saw in him an artist with a singular vision and wanted to give him the kind of control over the look of a film that he regretted never giving to Blair, whose vision always got terribly watered down in the final project. He hoped that the result would be a moving illustration and a masterpiece.

Medieval tapestry at the Cloisters.

Earle married his style with the very flat look of medieval tapestries, like the famous ones of unicorns housed at the Cloisters in New York City. By Walt's command, he had the final say on anything having to do with the look of the film. Some of the artists chaffed at the idea of losing some of their wiggle room, but the result is a movie that looks, more than any other, of one design. From the backgrounds, to the animals, to the curls in Aurora's hair, there is a consistency to the look that has never been achieved so clearly in another animated feature. Earle's vision coupled with the artists' skill (including Earle's own, considering that he painted many of the film's backgrounds himself) make this everything Walt hoped it would be artistically. They created a masterpiece, indeed.

If I pointed out everything that I loved about the artwork, I would literally be describing every frame in detail. I would like to point out a few highlights with the understanding that this list is horribly incomplete. You have to see this film with your own eyes to appreciate the beauty, detail, and craftsmanship. That being said, here are few of my favorite bits and pieces. The way the illustrations in the opening storybook share the look of the film so that it feels like we are actually stepping into a storybook. The trippy gift sequences that are abstract in a lovely way- I still have no idea how they were done. The use of green as the color of evil in fire, eyes, background hue and saturation. All of the fire, lighting, thorns, clouds and other amazing effects animation. The tentacle-like movement at the bottom of Maleficent's dress and the lovely movement in Aurora's clothing and hair. The detailing on walls, stones, tapestries, cups, and everywhere that does not pull focus but deepens the experience. The way the forest parts to reveal the cottage. Aurora and Phillip's dance reflected in the water. The sunset behind the castle. The huge area of black as the fairies take Aurora back to the tower and how it eventually engulfs her as she approaches Maleficent. The jagged and terrifying design of Forbidden Mountain and especially its gargoyles. The Hironymous Bosch inspired look of the celebrating goons. The color shift when the kiss awakens Aurora. And of course that gorgeous dance on the clouds at the end, with Aurora's dress changing from pink to blue. Phew! This whole exercise was like trying to find the prettiest stone in a satchel of gems.

The Story:

9/10. I find the storytelling here to be crisp, clean, muscular and well-paced. The romance, humor, and thrills are perfectly balanced. The complaint that the story drags doesn't hold water for me at all. At an hour and fifteen minutes, it moves at a brisk clip, keeping all of its balls in the air skillfully. It can move from the pageantry of the royal scenes, to the hilarious slapstick quality of the cake and dress making scene (including one of my favorite bits in the make-it-pink-make-it-blue fight), to the battle with the dragon and have them all make sense together and flow from one to the next seamlessly. There are no scenes (besides that ratty "Skumps" bit) that do not keep things moving forward. There is no fancy storytelling technique. It is very straightforward. We open with the classic storybook and a narrator who tells us the tale, though he vanishes part way through to avoid being intrusive. A testament to how well the story is laid out is the scene with the three fairies at Aurora's bed after she has pricked her finger. I dare you not to get at least a bit misty during that moment. Emotional payoffs like that don't happen if you have crafted your story effectively. This aspect of the movie did not rely on being groundbreaking. The art was there for the wow factor. The storytelling here was all about doing what Disney knew how to do well and continuing to hone it. Here they came as close to perfection as any of the early animated features achieved.  

The Characters:

8/10. They did an exceptional job on the characters in this film, starting with Aurora herself. Some people argue that she is by necessity unremarkable, since she is asleep for a third of the film. I beg to differ. Her design is lovely and distinct from the other princesses, with touches of the Eyvind Earle styling. In her limited screen time she is quickly but clearly established. There is no need for a lot of subtext. She grows up isolated, falls in love, is denied her love, is put to sleep and finds her love again. What really sets her apart, though, is Mary Costa's gorgeous vocal performance. Her singing is sublime, her speaking voice is gentle yet sassy, and both retain just the slightest hint of twang ("walk together and talk together"). That voice and some really smart moments in the animation (her arched eyebrow while under Maleficent's spell and walking towards the spindle, betraying a bit of cognizance about the danger despite her trance) fill in the details that the archetypical story leaves out.

Prince Phillip, on the other hand is easily the most dimensional prince Disney had made up until that point. We see that he's going to be different from the moment he makes a stank face at his future bride in her crib at their first meeting. After that we see his playful banter with his horse, Samson, who is also drawn with a lot of personality and humor, his charming way with Aurora, his headstrong attitude with his father ("You're living in the past. This is the fourteenth century!"), and his great bravery fighting Maleficent / the dragon. A case can be made for Phillip being a bit more dimensional than Aurora even, but after their short yet potent courtship, there is no doubt that they are meant for each other and no point to such an argument. The other royals are also distinctive, with the kings and minstrel given their own moments in the forefront (for better or worse).

The three fairies are my favorite characters in the movie. They bring the real heart and humor into the story. From their magical appearance, leaving a trail of sparkles, to the one last make-it-pink-make-it-blue argument, they are charm personified. Two of the voices are provided by Disney vets (Verna Felton from Cinderella, Dumbo, and Alice in Wonderland as Flora and Barbara Luddy, who voiced Lady in Lady and the Tramp as Merryweather) with Barbara Jo Allen as Fauna completing the trio. Each has her own personality (Flora takes charge, Merryweather is feisty, and Fauna is the clueless but kind one) and all of the charming quirks that come with. Merryweather's shuffle of frustration, Fauna perched on the table with wisps of hair falling out of place and Flora's insistence on outfits being pink come to mind. At the core, their goodness and love for Aurora, even sacrificing their powers for 16 years to care for her, shine through and give the story its emotional core.

Last but certainly not least is Maleficent. To my mind, she is the most terrifying Disney villain of them all. She is absolutely and completely evil with no cause whatsoever. She's mean to be mean and vengeful out of spite. Surrounded by her pack of awesomely creeptastic goons, she combines the anger of the Queen of Hearts, the stillness of Lady Tremaine (who, like Maleficent, was also voiced by the brilliant Eleanor Audley), the maniacal nature of Hook, the scary presence of Chernabog and the magical abilities of the Evil Queen. There are moments when she skitters back and forth between these elements in a rapid-fire way that is terribly unsettling. She is just as horrible when she is being exacting and precise as when she's a gigantic, attacking dragon. When she conjures "all the powers of Hell", you know that you are dealing with a singularly horrifying baddie. Whenever I think of who is the best Disney villain, I always answer Maleficent because I literally get chills up my spine every time I watch her. That visceral reaction never goes away. OK. I need to stop talking about her. I'm wigging myself out!

The Music:

9/10. The music here is adapted from the Tchaikovsky ballet by George Bruns, who also co-wrote "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" and "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" among many other works for Disney. I have never seen or heard the original ballet, but using that music was yet another way that the movie reached back into the past to create something that pushed the art form forward. Each note of underscore feels as though it were specifically created for the film from the ground up. As all great scores do, it highlights important moments, serves as an emotional guide and heightens the sensations built into the story. Think of the processional music giving you a sense of place and time, the twinkling music that plays as the fairies appear, and the tension created during the battle between Maleficent and Phillip.

Additional music and lyrics were provided by Tom Adair, Winston Hibler (of the True-Life Adventures), Ted Sears, Sammy Fain and Jack Lawrence. Almost all of it is pitch perfect. A chorus is utilized as a sort of musical omniscient narrator, introducing the love theme, "One Upon a Dream", foreshadowing important events and ideas ("for true love conquers all"), singing a lullaby as the fairies induce sleep from the kingdom, adding magic to the gifts bestowed on Aurora, as well as providing musical layers. That stunningly gorgeous love theme also serves to move the plot forward by establishing a connection between the romantic leads. "I Wonder" is Aurora's "I Want" song, establishing her as a young woman in search of love and her identity.

The only misstep, in my opinion is "Skumps". It's halting, sing-songy melody is off-puttingly shoehorned into the scene between the two kings. It feels like the song could be removed entirely without any real effect on the story. The bright spot of it is the introduction of the amusingly drunken minstrel, but that's not enough to keep me from wanting to press the skip button on the remote. That odd duck aside, the music is incredible. If the artwork roots you firmly in a wondrous time and place, the music provides the blossoms. It cements the film as in incredibly immersive experience. I look forward to one day going to the ballet and listening to the music in its original form, but I doubt that it will ever be able to move me as much as it does in its Disney incarnation.

The Gay Scale:

8/10. There are a few essential elements in Sleeping Beauty that keep it gay. First off, any time you have a princess film, you have a gay film. Gay boys are perpetually drawn to princess characters from a young age. We aspire to be like them. As I've grown older, I've been fascinated by the way that their narratives can be interpreted to speak to a queer audience. In Aurora's case, you have a young woman who has been sheltered from the world to protect her. After years of ignorance, she falls in love with someone and is promptly told that she cannot love him because she has grown old enough to take her proper place in society and marry the person she is intended for. Most young gay people similarly feel socially isolated from their peers and feel thwarted when they fall in love with someone of the same sex only to realize that their love does not fit into the life that has been laid out for them. What I think is so lovely in this specific case is that Aurora ultimately finds out that the man she loves is the person she is destined to be with after all.

Next, we have a completely dreamy prince. Phillip is terribly handsome, sings beautifully and is swoon-worthy. We also have a set of fairy guardians, who are like a trio of dotty but lovable Aunties, and who help the prince by turning boulders into bubbles, arrows into flowers and cauldrons of scalding who-knows-what into a rainbow. And of course we have a larger than life, diva-like villain who is both beautiful and evil. She's a Dynasty-worthy, cold-hearted, glamorous antagonist. Plus she makes a great drag character. All of these characters populate a world that is bright, bold and beautiful. It's the kind of fantasy world that makes you want to escape into it. It is all underscored by music based on the work of a classical queer icon- Tchaikovsky. There may be precious little camp, but when emotions are so expansive and everything is so pleasing to the eye there is no need for it. 

The Bottom Line:

9/10. I adore every frame of this movie. With every inch of my being. All of the things that I treasure most about Disney animated films are here in spades. The artwork is beyond incredible, the story is emotional and exciting, the music transports you. Strangely, I don't remember seeing this film too much when I was young. I chalk it up to a combination of having a memory like a sieve and possibly being so terrified by Maleficent that I blocked it out to avoid the high cost of therapy. Coming back to Disney within the last several years, this film has quickly risen to become one of my top five favorite animated classics. It makes sense when you consider the sophistication of its construction. Though there may be a few films that I would rank above Sleeping Beauty (my number one is yet to come), nothing will ever be able to touch the craftsmanship and skill that is apparent watching this movie. There is no other film before or after that looks and feels like this one. But it's Aurora's many little fans, dressed in their pink medieval-style gowns, who assure me that the film is not too highfalutin' to speak to children. The movie will remain essential viewing for generations of children to come. Just like me, they will turn to it when they want to feel like getting lost in a fairy tale world where good triumphs over evil and despite seemingly insurmountable hardship, there is always a happy ending.

The Miscellanea:

Aurora and I beveling like princesses.

Quick anecdote for you. One of my favorite character greeting experiences was with a lovely Aurora in the Magic Kingdom. I was there with my family and we waited in the queue to meet the princesses. Belle, Cinderella and Aurora were there and we all took turns posing with them. My sister, Kelly, was being princessy and I was standing tall, arm crooked, being a model prince. Finally, Mama, who was snapping photos, looked at Aurora and I and said, "Do what she's doing!" Aurora looked a bit perplexed and said, "No, no. Princes should stand like this." Mama laughed and said, "No, no. Really. It's OK. I want a shot of the two of you being princesses together." It was like a lightbulb went off in Aurora's head. No stranger to gays was she, which isn't surprising considering she was a Disney cast member. A huge grin crept onto her face and she said, "Oooooh. Of course! Well then, if you're going to be a proper princess, then you will have to bevel. You do know how to bevel, right?" She proceeded to teach me how to bevel like a princess and gave us a priceless princess moment. It was fully awesome.

Here is some footage of Helene Stanley, who was the live model for Aurora as well as Cinderella and Anita in 101 Dalmatians, twirling about while animator Marc Davis sketches.

Mary Costa, the voice of Aurora, went on to have an enviable career in opera. You can obviously hear the technique in her work on Sleeping Beauty, but it's pretty remarkable how different she sounds in hardcore operatic mode. Here is a clip of her singing an aria from Faust on TV in 1962.

Program given to early visitors to
the walkthrough. 

Don't forget that the original Disney Park castle is Sleeping Beauty's. The park was built in 1955, as production on the film was well underway, and the castle was part of the promotional push for the film that would be released four years later. One of my favorite little gems in Disneyland is the Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough. There is extensive coverage of the new version in the Blu-ray special features, which reveals that the latest remodel makes it essentially the same as it was when it was first installed in the castle in 1957. It is gorgeous, incorporating a lot of Eyvind Earle styling, immersive atmospherics, and imaginative visuals. Don't skip it. I have never seen a line for it and it's terribly charming. Disneyland is Tom's home park and he had been going for years and years but didn't even know it was there until we went together for the first time a year ago and it was near the top of my list of things to see. He was as enchanted by it as I was. (PS My favorite touch is the very final make-it-pink-make-it-blue moment as you exit.)

I got curious as to what the previous incarnation of the walkthrough, which lasted from 1977 until it was closed in 2001, looked like. I knew it featured more dimensional characters but little else. I scrounged up a pretty clear video of what the attraction looked like in the eighties and nineties. Me no likey. It looks like a cheesy window display. Personally, I'm glad that it went the way of hair bands and neon scrunchies. The version that is now inside the castle lives up to the exterior's magical promise.

I heart bossa nova. I heart Sleeping Beauty. Therefore, I heart this awesome cover of "Once Upon a Dream" from the Japanese Bossa Disney Nova album. This recording is by Wanda Sa and Joao Donato. Pull out the tiki torches and enjoy!

Amateur covers tend to get on my nerves. It mostly seems to be over-eager pre-teens searching for their identities or over-eager twenty- or thirty-somethings drenched in flop-sweat and desperate to be discovered. It makes me uncomfortable to watch either way. However this version of "Once Upon a Dream" played on solo acoustic guitar is absolutely lovely. Kudos.

As a rule, I don't enjoy putting up videos that I full-on think are bad. It feels mean-spirited. But this version of "Once Upon a Dream" is so completely wackadoo (and is produced in a way that makes it seem like this young lady has her eyes set on the Big Time) that I felt like I had no choice. (I especially love the dude with the broom walking between the camera and the young lady at the top of the video and the exceptionally bad syncing.) All I know is that there is a lot of awkward posing going on, her fluttery vibrato runs rampant and I'm pretty sure she says "...the gleam in your eyes is so familiar and gleam." Otherwise, I am perplexed. If you understand, please explain. Please and thank you.

Rory is amazing. I don't know this lil' southern girl but she's rad beyond compare. Rory sings "Once Upon a Dream" and wipes the floor with that last chick. I still clap at the end of this video every time I watch it.

Sleeping Beauty came out just after the Mickey Mouse Club had ended it's phenomenal run in the late 50's. One of the Mouseketeers, Darlene Gillespie, was being groomed for a kind of stardom that she unfortunately could never seem to attain. As the lovely blonde who was a triple-threat singer, actor and dancer, she watched the lovely in a real-girl kind of way Annette Funicello's star rise as she struggled to establish herself post MMC. Her life took a rather tragic turn later, marked by several run-ins with the law. Before things went south, Disney tried to give her career a boost by featuring her on albums of sings from Alice in Wonderland and Sleeping Beauty. Here are a few tracks from the Sleeping Beauty album. Her voice is quite lovely and very strong and the arrangements are lush. It makes me sad to hear a young girl with such promise knowing that her story doesn't end in a happily ever after. First off is "Once Upon a Dream" and after that is "I Wonder".

This next track is also from the Sleeping Beauty album that featured Darlene. It is the "Sleeping Beauty Song" and was credited only to a Disney Trio. It features more gorgeous orchestrations and exceptional harmony and really spotlights this song in a way that does't necessarily happen in the film.

Here we have an episode of Disneyland that aired in 1959- "The Peter Tchaikovsky Story". It was a dramatized biography of the composer broadcast to help promote Sleeping Beauty. The chunk that I've watched looks quite good. It once again makes me wish that Disney would open up its vaults and release some of this classic material. Grant Williams, who plays Tchaikovsky as a man, was matinee-idol dreamy and, considering the fact that the real Tchaikovsky was a gay man, there is certainly a queer interest factor in the episode. It is also included in the Platinum Edition reissue of the film from a few years back.

In looking for Disney's Sleeping Beauty related nuggets, I came across this clip rightcha here. (Embedding wasn't allowed, so I'm afraid you're going to have to click on the link. Sorry bout it.) It is of a Canadian singer named Gisele MacKenzie performing a song called "Spinning" from a television live-action adaptation of Sleeping Beauty. It's quite a fun little number (if a bit too schmaltzy for my tastes), but it really makes me appreciate the sophistication of Disney's adaptation even more. It elevated the tale to something more appropriately elegant than musical comedy.

Sleeping Beauty marks the end of an artistic era. Never again will Disney invest the kind of resources into an animated film. In many ways, this film is the pinnacle of hand-crafted, traditional animation. Starting with the next film, 101 Dalmatians, more and more technological innovations will allow animation to be done more quickly and more economically and forever change the look of animation, for better or for worse. Things will never be the same. So how bout next week for our DATE Night we'll do a complete one-eighty and take a jaunt to London and spend some time with another set of canine companions? What do you think of Sleeping Beauty? Did it take your breath away or is it just another princess film to you? Is it the pinnacle of the animated feature or are you ready for them to take on a new look? Would you rather make it pink or make it blue?

DATE Night: Cinderella

Not trying to avoid Snow
White comparisons, are they?

So we've made it to a new decade! It's 1950 and we are finally out of the Forest of the Package Films that the forties had abandoned us in. We emerge for this week's DATE Night and, lo and behold, there's a big, bright shiny castle ahead! One styled by Mary Blair, no less! Be still my heart! There was plenty that was good about the last 10 years of Disney filmmaking, but on the whole it just didn't quite have the spark, charm, or consistency of quality that the first five films had. With Cinderella, I'm pleased to say, the tide has turned. I told you it'd be worth it to stick around!

The Background:

After a decade of hit-and-miss package films from Disney, Cinderella was the first single narrative animated feature since Bambi in 1942. It was quite a gamble to make, made at a considerable expense when the studio was in debt, but it paid off handsomely. It became a hit and the success of the film, music and merch provided an infusion of cash which later allowed for the establishment of a distribution company, forays into television, and Disneyland. It has been said that if the film had failed, it would have been the end for the studio.

Mary Blair's castle concept art.

Some choose to look at Cinderella as the beginning of the end of Disney animation's golden age. In my eyes, it is the beginning of a second golden age. The first consists of the first five films (Snow White through Bambi), which set the ground rules. This second golden age, lasting from Cinderella to The Jungle Book, uses those rules as a jumping off point, mixes in what was learned by the failed and successful experiments of the forties, and builds upon the Disney legacy to push the artistic boundaries of what was possible for and expected for in an animated film.

The First Impression:

The Disney Project- Part 5: Cinderella. You can see Mary Blair's amazing style all through this film. Cinderella is one sassy lady. She's romantic, optimistic and kind while remaining ballsy and proactive. I should be more like her. Lovely animation. Wonderful storytelling. The "Bibbity Bobbity Boo" scene is untouchable. The transformation from rags to a gown is one of the most perfect 10 second ever in film.

February 2, 2010 at 8:51pm ·

The Art:

Mary Blair. This exact shot is in the film.

8/10. I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record, but Mary Blair, Mary Blair, my heavens, Mary Blair. This blog is by nature pretty biased and she's my fave, so you'll keep hearing about her until she exits the studio after Peter Pan. Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan were the three major Disney features that really showcased her vision. Watching Cinderella for the first time as an adult, I was still a burgeoning fan of her art and saw flashes of it, but this time through I saw how the film is truly dripping with Mary Blair. I know that there were many talented artists who created these films and I will try to point them out as well here and there, but for now, as far as I'm concerned, it's Mary Blair's world and we're just living in it.

Notice the more muted colors in Mary's art.

You see her style beginning with the title cards at the opening of the film and it influences everything from the color palette to design to how shots are framed to emotional resonance. Look at the designs in the wallpaper and carpets, the contrasts of shadows and light, the famous dress ripping scene where the background get more bloody red as the stepsisters get more violently angry, some of the far shots that look like Mary Blair painted landscapes, the chill-inducing wow-moment color change before Cinderella and the Prince's waltz, the headless horseman-inspired figures chasing the pumpkin carriage, the way that the King literally turns red in anger like the characters from "Once Upon a Wintertime" or even Cinderella's iconic castle, which is glistening with Mary's style.

Mary's character design concepts for Cinderella.

Very often we we talk about Mary Blair's brilliant use of color referring to the bright, saturated tones of Alice in Wonderland or "it's a small world", but here she uses greys and silvers, powder and gunmetal blues, magentas and turquoises with just pops of bright colors to reinforce an emotional idea. Her use of color is psychological, informing us of the emotional state of a character wordlessly. It is surface as subtext. This all becomes increasingly apparent when you see her fantastic concept artwork, some of which I got to see in person at the Colors of Mary Blair exhibit at the Disney Gallery in Disneyland. (She even did initial character designs that were rejected when they decided to make the characters more rounded and more in the Disney tradition. The animators weren't ever fully able to bring her vision to the screen fully in an animated feature.) There are shots, like Cinderella and the Prince walking onto the terrace during their waltz that are taken almost directly from Mary.

The art here as a whole is stellar. This was the first time that Disney dipped its toe into the process of rotoscoping (tracing from live action footage). They did it for budgetary reasons and I must say that it is artfully done. I wouldn't have known that any of it was rotoscoped, which isn't surprising since the animators resented the idea so much that they went above and beyond to elevate it beyond simple tracing. Ward Kimball, animating the mice (with mouseholes everywhere! I want a map of where they all go in the house!) and Lucifer, deserves special mention for his humorous and precise work here. Free from the constraints of using live models, he allowed his imagination to go to wonderfully unexpected places. Other great moments include the shadows-as-jail cast as Cinderella walks into the Stepmother's room for the first time, the moon's transformation into a clock face and the gorgeous bubble section of "Sing Sweet Nightingale".

Perfection.

Last but not least is the whole of the "Bibbity Bobbity Boo" sequence. Every artistic element comes together to create one of the best scenes in animation and, more specifically, one of the best moments in cinema history period. Everything is spot-on here, from the Fairy Godmother's materialization, heightened by a shift in lighting and a few artfully-placed sparkles to the playful transformations of the pumpkin and animals into a carriage and entourage of sorts. Even later, after the ball, the transformation back is the flip side, as sad and defeated as the bookend is joyous and triumphant with it's trampled pumpkin bleeding glitter. The jewel in the crown of this film, however, is Cinderella's transformation. Animated by Marc Davis, it is done simply and perfectly and is over almost as soon as it starts. Yet it takes your breath away and wedges itself into your memory forever. With a curly-cued trail of fairy dust, he is able to make us experience what it feels like for our deepest dream to come true. It is commonly known as Walt's favorite piece of animation and it is probably mine as well. It is pure magic.

The Story:

Mary Blair's Fairy Godmother.

8/10. What makes the storytelling so powerful in Cinderella is that it is simple and straightforward enough for a child to understand, but it is also layered enough for adults to feel like they have something to explore as well. We open again with the storybook, harkening back to the first golden age, and then get a brief prelude to establish our story. From there we have two distinct worlds that we move back and forth between- that of Cinderella and other people and that of Cinderella and her animal friends. The scenes featuring people provide a potent emotional roller coaster from the lows of scrubbing the floor and having a dress ripped apart to the highs of going to the ball and marrying the Prince. The scenes with the animals use different styles from broad physical comedy to musical production number to Hitchcockian suspense to show us a good time. The way that these two are balanced is the key to its success. It has something for everybody, it never drags, it keeps you on the edge of your seat and you stay engaged from the very beginning to the very end. It is brilliantly constructed. My only quibble is with the end. Where is comeuppance for Lady Tremaine and her awful daughters? It's the one hole in the story that I feel needed to be filled.

The Characters:

8/10. The cast of characters here is not only beautifully designed and animated, but more dimensional than I think they are given credit for being. I think Cinderella herself has a bad reputation for being a bit empty and I think that's bogus. In the original film, she's quite layered. She is a woman who spends her life so emotionally isolated from others that she can only be herself around the animals who wouldn't mistreat her. She grew up without her birth mother, lost her father at a young age and was enslaved by a cruel stepfamily. Yet she emerges as a sassy and hopeful, biting her tongue in order to survive but making vocal air quotes when she refers to the stepsisters' "music lessons".

Shady, shady Lady Tremaine locks Cindy up.

She is so beaten into submission around other human beings that the Fairy Godmother's kindness and her own flowering around the Prince feel like a gust of cool autumn air. You understand why she is the way that she is, yet there is a spark that never lets you doubt that she has the capacity to overcome. How interesting it is that she never actually realizes that the man she has fallen in love with is the Prince himself until the Grand Duke arrives with the slipper. The moment when she drops the tray shows a woman realizing that her entire world is on the verge of changing. She purely fell in love with the man, not the title, and therefore is the one who deserves him. Her voice, by Ilene Woods, is quintessential Disney princes- kind, endearing, and lovely. It's the kind of voice you would want to sing you to sleep every night and be the first thing you hear every morning. Her face is exceptionally exquisite.

This made me giggle. I'll take one!

The supportng cast of humans have a bit of depth as well. See The Gay Scale below for my thoughts on the King and Grand Duke. The Prince is a bit of an empty vessel, but it's not his story. You love him because he loves Cinderella. I do enjoy the moment when all of the women are being presented to him and gives a WTF gesture to the King and the Grand Duke. It shows a flash of sass in him that makes him feel completely compatible with Cinderella. Plus that singing voice is silky smooth and dreamy. And he sure is easy on the eyes. And of course we can't forget Verna Felton's endearing performance as the Fairy Godmother. You may remember her voice as one of the mean elephant ladies in Dumbo. She's the dotty grandmother we all wish that we had. She is sweet, funny, and maternal. It's impossible not to fall in love with her.

We're your Dreamgirls...wait...no. Never mind.

On the villainess side of things, you have Lady Tremaine and her awful daughters. Eleanor Audley provided the Lady's voice, as she later would do for Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent and Madame Leota in "The Haunted Mansion". It is pitch-perfect, showcasing the terrifying power of using restraint. That stillness is carried over into the animation, where just the shift of her eyes is enough to chill your blood. The animators also like to play with her movement into and out of shadows, signaling a literal and figurative shadiness about her. Her design, with that horrid sneer, riffs on Audley's appearance, exaggerating everything possible to make her unattractive and severe. Drizella and Anastasia also push the boundaries of purposefully ugly character design, but leans more toward the comic. They are voiced well, making you laugh at them and despise them at the same time.

The animals are wonderful and distinctive. Lucifer (also see The Gay Scale) is fabulously drawn- able to slink up stairs and turn himself into a super-weird sleeve worm for a chuckle. His humor is firmly rooted in the world of animated shorts. Malleable bodies doing ridiculous things that are possibly only through the willing suspension of disbelief. The mice add an indelible playfulness. Jaq and especially GusGus (I love him so much! I want one!) are so adorable and hilarious it is a joy to watch their hijinks. It's impossible not to go say "Awww" when you see Bruno and he is literally an underdog that you root for and gets to play the hero when he takes care of awful Lucifer. All of the various animals are depicted in a style somewhere between broad cartoonishness and realism that works beautifully.

The Music:

8/10. Walt went to Tin Pan Alley to find songwriters Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston. He knew the importance of the music being successful and he wanted songwriters who could give him songs that would both work within the context of the story and also be hits. Cinderella marked the first movie for which Disney held the publishing rights to the music, so profits would help bring the studio back from the brink. The movie's songs were immensely popular, ingraining themselves firmly into the nation's collective unconsciousness even up through today, providing another revenue stream for Disney, and working beautifully in context.

Hallucinogens are a way to pass time scrubbing.

The first song is in the intro, a fine if not terribly special little title ditty praising the title character's loveliness. From there, we get a hit parade of unforgettable numbers. "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" is Cinderella's defining statement of her core belief in the power of dreams coming true. "Sing Sweet Nightingale" functions as a comic song to showcase the ridiculousness of the stepsisters which morphs into a means to starkly contrast them with Cinderella. It's also one of the very first uses of the new technology of overdubbing in order to create the chorus of Cinderellas. Again, Disney always stayed on the tipping point of technological advances. "The Work Song" shows us not only how devoted Cinderella's animal friends are, but the lyrics give us a glimpse at the hell she is living through. Since it is coming from the mice and not Cinderella, it wisely avoids making our heroine seem whiny by giving us an outsider's perspective instead of her own. "Bibbity Bobbity Boo" is a wonderfully inventive and catchy magic incantation for the Fairy Godmother which is rivaled only by the Sherman Brothers in its ability to spin gold from nonsense words. It doesn't hurt that they are able to roll right off the tongue of little ones, who take a particular joy in making the sounds. There is nothing cuter than a kid saying the phrase. Last but not least is "So This is Love", which may be my favorite song in the film. It is romantic and simple and by the end of it we feel through sheer potency of emotion that we have seen a full and believable courtship, though we have, in reality, only seen moments.

The score is also brilliantly done, by Paul Smith and Oliver wallace. It punctuates the action so wonderfully, making the the hijinks with Lucifer and the mice even funnier and the moments with Lady Tremaine even creepier. They even manage to weave in moments of musical foreshadowing, such as the strains of "So This is Love" underneath Cinderella planning for the ball. In the same way that the art and colors were tailored to find the psychological truth in the story, the score does a wonderful job in supporting the emotional truth, whether playful, romantic or terrifying.

The Gay Scale:

7/10. Shockingly enough, I missed a lot of the gay undertones the first time around. Some are somewhat obvious. The princess movie will always be dear to a gay's heart. We project our own trials onto those of a plucky heroine who triumphs despite hardships and others who try to hold her back. Cinderella is made to feel less than and alone in the world, yet manages to transform into her best self and find the man of her dreams. Underdog narrative plus princess story equals gay dream come true. The gays also love a great villainess, and Lady Tremaine is cold, grand, reserved and creepy enough to strike fear in the heart of Miranda Priestly.

Extend the pinky looking annoyed & unimpressed, Lucifer!

Spending this DATE Night with my awesome husband Tom, my rad roommate Katie and our friends Stacy and Justin, gay tendencies in characters that had totally evaded me before were pointed out left and right. This is why I like to surround myself with witty, brilliant people to steal ideas from! They pointed out that Lucifer extends his pinkies, throws shade, turns his nose up at the poor beleaguered Bruno and sneakily swishes about. He is a plump, nasty queen who takes pleasure in manipulating those he feels are beneath his station. He is the first in a line of distinctive gay-reading Disney villains.

Uh. Pardon me, sire...

The relationship between the King and the Grand Duke was also brought to my attention. There is the conspicuous lack of a (capital Q) Queen and the two royals act like an emotionally volatile set of parents raising a son together. It had never really crossed my mind until Stacy pointed it out a bit into their first scene and all of a sudden I watched their banter in an entirely new light. The way that they interacted made so much more sense. Plus, the Grand Duke is decked out in some dandy duds. The sea foam green. The monocle. The stirrup pants. It all starts to make sense that with him in the motherly role and the King in paternal mode there is a complete family unit, albeit dysfunctional, as they tend to be. 

The Bottom Line:

Triptastic!

8/10. Cinderella marks a return to form for the studio. It is the first time that all of the elements that make a Disney animated classic a classic have been in place together since Bambi. The fact that they came out of the gate with a single narrative feature that is this well-done is nothing short than a miracle right when they needed it. The took the Snow White template and delved deeper, adding elements of psychology and artistic and stylistic experimentation. They respected a formula that they had created successfully enough to make it work for them again and yet weren't afraid to diddle with it enough to make it fresh, exciting, and a bit daring. There is very little that I don't love about this movie. There is a reason that it has resonated so deeply for generations and has (arguably) become the definitive telling of the story. Full of wishes and dreams that come true, it helps us believe that no matter who we are and where we come from, we have the potential to be anything or anyone. It's a powerful message and is rendered beautifully in a medium that even allows it to look like our dreams. Watching Cinderella is like living a dream- complete with happily ever after.

The Miscellanea:

Totes worth tracking down!

A few years back, Disney released a (too) short series of picture books featuring classic concept art for their films accompanied by retellings of the stories by great contemporary children's authors. Out of the four that they made, one had art by Gustaf Tenggren (Snow White) and three showcased the art of Mary Blair (Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan). They are all beautifully done with fine reproductions of the art and solidly edited interpretations of the stories. Each one is a perfect bedtime story length. They all seem to still be in print and available at a reasonable price except, of course, for Cinderella, which now fetches over thirty bucks on Amazon. They are all worth having if you are a fan of classic Disney art, especially Mary Blair, or would like to have really well done Disney versions of the classic tales. Working very often in the children's department at my former job, I can't count the number of times someone would want "the Disney version" of whatever story. It was so lovely to be able to put these beautifully done editions in their hands. I highly recommend them.

Lest we forget all about it, Disney produced the 1997 TV remake of another classic version of Cinderella- the one originally starring another Disney stalwart, Julie Andrews, by Rodgers and Hammerstein. They cast it as if they were shooting a Benetton ad and filled it with a mix of celebrities (Whitney Houston, Whoopie Goldberg), hot young things (Brandy, Paolo Montalban), and theater folk (Bernadette Peters, Veanne Cox, Victor Garber, Jason Alexander). Here is a trailer from said television event.

Though I must say I enjoy the camp value of infinite melisma during "Impossible", I will always be terribly partial to the Lesley Ann Warren version from 1965 that I wore out on VHS as a kid and finally found on an out-of-print DVD recently. Whoa. I just blew my own mind! With this realization, a husband who's obsessed with the sixties (to the point of still watching Christina Ricci's forehead...uh...I mean Pan Am. Yes. He's the one.), and my newfound fascination with the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair, I am full-on having a mid-sixties moment!

This next video is from the D23 Convention that happened a few months back in California. D23 is the official Disney fan club (of which I am finally now a member, thanks to my thoughtful hubby) and they do a big ole bi-annual event in California. Tom and I will be there in 2013 with bells on, but until then, we had to be satisfied with blogs and pictures and videos from people who were lucky enough to make it. Here we have a princess explosion! Buckle your seatbelts gays and pre-pubescent girls! It's the voices of Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Mulan and Tiana all singing "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" together. All four of these ladies were (deservedly) inducted as Disney Legends during this ceremony. Though y'all know that Tiana is probably my favorite princess thanks to Anika Noni Rose's amazing performance, I'm impressed that Lea Salonga's voice hasn't aged a day, Jodi Benson still sounds so strong, and Paige O'Hara has embraced her newfound status as everyone's favorite crazy cougar aunt.

As if that wasn't enough to set your gay heart aflame, here is Cher's version of the song! It's actually quite a lovely, understated take on the song, from a For Our Children charity album to benefit pediatric AIDS causes. I love this particular video because it's a fan-made travelogue video that documents a rad blonde lady's trip to see Cher in Vegas and you can tell it was done with a lot of love. I think it's just precious. When I went to Vegas, Cher had left, Bette was on hiatus and Celine was gone. Not a happy gay was I.

You know I love me some fabulous Disney covers. I dug into YouTube for y'all and found some interesting ones. "Bibbity Bobbity Boo" has had some great classic covers. This first one is a real swinger from Jo Stafford and Gordon McRae.

This next one is by Italian bass Salvatore Baccaloni. It's funny to hear an opera singer let themselves be so silly, and I love it! My favorite part is when he sings "the thingamabob-a that does the job". It makes me giggle, as does the picture they chose to put on the video. Teeheehee.

This last cover of the sing is by Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters. It has a very forties sound to it. You can clearly tell that this was made to help lure the kiddie's parents into the cinema. I adore it. There's also a charming little special feature on the Platinum Edition DVD with Perry Como singing songs from Cinderella on his TV show with the Fontane Sisters dressed up as mice (one of them does quite a good GusGus voice) and guest Ilene Woods. Perry is smooth, the Sisters are adorbs and Ilene sounds like a dream when she's not caught laughing at herself for tripping up on national television. It's a charming little lark.

I was actually saddened by the lack of great covers of "So This Is Love". I thought there would be tons since it seems to me the easiest to pull out of context and interpret for a more adult audience. Instead we get two ends of the spectrum. First is the teenybopper Disney Channel treatment from the Cheetah Girls. Um. No. They have sapped the melody right out of it. It feels lazy instead of lovestruck and substitutes vocal machinations for emotion. I suggest picking a spot in the middle and watching for about five seconds. That's all you need to get it and it's most likely all you'll be able to take. It's almost as bad as the "Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" video included on the Cinderella Platinum Edition DVD featuring a bunch of Disney Channel "stars" who are all pretty rancid, save Raven Symone, whom I adore, and the girl who grew up to be awesome as my wife Emma Stone's friend in Easy A.

At the complete opposite end it this interpretation by legendary The Dave Brubeck Quartet. I'm not a fan of this type of jazz. I feel like they often pretentiously torture the melody so much that it is unrecognizable. I am a fan of great melody, myself. That's usually what draws me into a song. To diddle with it so much that it's barely there feels almost disrespectful. Now this is purely a personal aesthetic judgement. Brubeck is very talented and well-respected. It just doesn't tickle my pickle at all, though I must say that this version of "So This Is Love" isn't as far gone as some other jazz interpretations I've heard. Brubeck himself did an entire album called Dave Digs Disney with his quartet. If this is your bag, by all means seek it out. You'll love the whole album.

This is probably my favorite thing that I uncovered on this Cinderexcavation. I have never seen this in the park and I want to so bad! It's Lady Tremaine, Drizella and Anastasia! And they perform "Sing Sweet Nightingale"! I want to go to there! Awesomesauce!

Ah! So much better right? You can relax now, because it's gonna be a lovely ride for about the next twenty years. So for next week's DATE night, I'm taking you to Wonderland, baby! And not that deconstructed, dour Tim Burton Underland. We're talking full-out, Mary Blair-y, vibrant, clever, brilliant, Golden Age Disney Alice in Wonderland! Prepare to be amazed!