Cinderfella [VHS]

Cinderfella [VHS]
by Frank Tashlin

Cinderfella [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Ed Wynn, Henry Silva, Jerry Lewis, Judith Anderson, Robert Hutton
Director: Frank Tashlin
Producer: Jerry Lewis
Writer: Jerry Lewis
Cinematographer: Haskell B. Boggs
Writer: Frank Tashlin
Editor: Arthur P. Schmidt
Producer: Ernest D. Glucksman
Writer: Joe Besser
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 91 minutes
Release Date: 1994-08-17
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Anchor Bay
Studio: Anchor Bay

VHS Movie Reviews of Cinderfella [VHS]

Movie Review: A pleasant, but not so funny tale
Summary: 3 Stars

I just watched this movie this morning. As Jerry Lewis movies go, this one is strangely quieter than most of his other movies. Although the movie is a generally pleasant diversion, it isn't as funny as his best movies. He plays a totally passive, doormat that his family members continuously insult and order around, and he strangely never seems to object to this abuse or stand up for himself, for whatever reason. I suppose that he's just too timid and selfless to have any dignity at all, which is not a particularly funny state of affairs.
Ed Wynn is always good in any movie that he's in, but he too can barely raise his voice or get too excited during the movie. He is pretty elderly at this point in his career, so the general lack of vitality is understandable.
Cinderfella surprises the wealthy crowd at the ball, where the princess is, and he immediately starts tearing himself down and telling the princess that he really doesn't belong there. The next thing you know, the princess falls in love with him, for no apparrent reason. No yucks there, but of course it has a happy ending with the princess settling on Cinderfella over the many wealthy, charming, and sophisticated men at the ball. Makes a lot of sense, right? After all, pathetic schmucks have their own kind of charm, I guess.

Movie Review: Excellent Jerry Lewis
Summary: 5 Stars

This is another one of Jerry Lewis's great films. Puts a different twist on Cinderella. Wish that Who's Minding the Store would come out.

Movie Review: LOUIS+BASIE=GREATNESS
Summary: 5 Stars

See Jerry Lewis at the top of his game, along with the Count Basie Orchestra, and you have a virtual orgy for the senses. The supporting cast is top notch. However, the dip into the hipness of the era, via the Basie Orchestra really puts this fairytale over the top.
See it, and let your hipness get rejuvenated.
TONY HOROWITZ

Movie Review: cute Jerry Lewis comedy favourite
Summary: 3 Stars

Made primarily as a Christmas attraction for family audiences, CINDERFELLA (1960) stars Jerry Lewis in a gender-bending spin on everyone's favourite fairytale, co-starring Judith Anderson and Ed Wynn.

Fella (Jerry Lewis) lives with his overbearing stepmother (Judith Anderson) and two stepbrothers (Henry Silva and Robert Hutton) in his dead father's Beverly Hills mansion, where he's treated like a servant--and a klutzy one at that! Forbidden to attend a party being held in honour of the visiting Princess Charming (Anna Maria Alberghetti), Fella's eccentric Fairy Godfather (Ed Wynn) steps in to lend a helping hand...

Unless you're a Jerry Lewis fan (and there really is no 'gray area'), you won't entirely appreciate his performance in CINDERFELLA. Lewis was given lots of free rein with his performance in this movie, and the constant mugging sometimes causes the feather-light story to become bogged down. Anna Maria Alberghetti provides a sweet Princess but her role is fairly minor. Judith Anderson ("Rebecca", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof") does manage to turn the stepmother into an ultimately sympathetic character, something you don't really get in any other 'Cinderella' movie.

The DVD includes some fun outtakes and bloopers, plus a commentary track with Jerry Lewis and his friend, singer Steve Lawrence. (Single-sided, dual-layer disc).

Movie Review: I love Jerry Lewis comedy films, however...
Summary: 1 Stars

Cinderfella is painful to watch. This film is a complete, unabashed challenge to enjoy, and it's basically impossible for me. Every time I give it a new chance, it fails miserably to entertain. I usually enjoy Jerry Lewis. I love "The Ladies Man", "The Bellboy"... and even "The Nutty Professor" (which slowly sinks into a very somber, depressing mood). But "Cinderfella" just makes me scratch my head, wondering what the appeal is. It boggles the mind how people can love this awful film.

I don't care at all about the character of Fella, who isn't even likeable to begin with, so there is no investment, no concern as to what happens to him. Will he somehow go to the ball? I couldn't care less. He's just a dolt.

The few good things it offers:
It's nice to look at. Lush sets, Edith Head's costumes, and fun colors.
The dance sequence with Fella and the princess is nice.
Sadly, none of these things saves the film from being a fiasco.

And the comedy sequences fall incredibly flat. The dining room table bit is awful and endless. I never laugh at this film. It's not a comedy. I don't know what it is, really.

I cannot overemphasize the fact that Cinderfella is entirely too slow in its pace. And I am not alone in this opinion, not by a long shot.

And it gets too maudlin in spots (especially during the few dull, ridiculous songs featured). This film is like those single soppy scenes in his other films where Jerry indulges his soft, sad side. It comes off mawkish and inappropriate. Like in "The Disorderly Orderly", when the bitter blonde girl brings the entire movie's light mood crashing to a disturbing halt; a comedy movie that contains a nasty, overly sour psycho? It's just unnecessary.

I am being completely honest here with my review because I know someone new to this movie will have high hopes based on the reviews that praise it, and may end up very disappointed as I was.

Bottom line: Boring and not worth one's time.

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Summary of Cinderfella [VHS]

The team of Jerry Lewis and director Frank Tashlin (The Geisha Boy) were at the peak of their hit-making prowess with Cinderfella, a klutzy take on the fairy tale. Jerry is the stepson in a snooty family, dominated by wicked stepmother Judith Anderson and lounge-lizard brothers Henry Silva and Robert Hutton. Fairy godfather Ed Wynn turns up one day, not only promising "Fella" a happy-ever-after but basically accusing the old fairy tale of ruining the lives of countless married couples by raising unrealistic expectations of Prince Charmings in every home. (Tashlin always had a nose for psychoanalytic explanations along with the pratfalls.) The movie's very slow--especially whenever Ed Wynn is around--and has a strange taste for "interior monologue" songs, emphasizing the mawkish side of Lewis's personality. The good comic scenes are worth it, especially a lengthy sequence at an elongated dinner table, which Lewis must navigate repeatedly. His physical skills are showcased in a musical mime to Count Basie's "Cute" (Basie and his orchestra also appear in the big ballroom scene) and some violently geeky dancing. This one is unlikely to win over non-Jerry fans, but the already initiated will be fine with it. --Robert Horton

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