Poor Cinderella

Like I promised last week, here's a post about "Poor Cinderella", a Fleischer Color Classic released on 8/3/1934. This is a very important and particular cartoon in many ways. It's the first Fleischer cartoon produced in color, a 2-strip Cinecolor process that would be abandoned in the subsequent Fleischer releases. Also it is the only appearance of Betty Boop in color, not counting the Korean rotoscoped and redrawn remakes from the early 70s.
This is basically a straightforward retelling of Cinderella story, augmented with just a small dose of the typical Fleischer surrealism. In this cartoon, the main emphasis has been put not on the gags, but on the visual spectacle. This is an amazingly sumptuous cartoon, comparable with Disney's most lavish Silly Symphonies, or Columbia's "The Little Match Girl". The backgrounds are extremely elaborate, and many of the shots are composed and staged in depth, viewed from the large distance. That characteristic is very unusual and rarely seen in the 30s cartoons, and Fleischers will use it in several other Color Classics and Popeye cartoons. Another thing that deserves to be mentioned is a very catchy and enjoyable soundtrack.