"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.

Betty Boop, fetching even in rags, meets her prince thanks to her fairy godmother. Similar elements of the movie are here, but the short stands in it's own. There are wicked stepsisters, but no stepmother. The animation of the mice and lizards transforming to horses and coachmen is very reminiscent of the Disney movie. The music would fit in that movie, but adds to the short's charm. I really liked the Cupid who banged the prince on the head with a mallet when he first glimpsed Betty. The talking pumpkin is a little scary with it's jagged teeth and deep voice. The ending is happy of course with Betty reunited with her slipper and her prince. While this short can't match that movie's completeness and gloss, this is a very enjoyable short for lovers of the classic story. This is the only color Betty Boop cartoon that I have seen and hopefully not the only one in existence.

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.

Long before Rodgers and Hammerstein had the idea of musicalizing Cinderella, Betty Boop made the midnight pumpkin change tunefully, with verve, sex and good story editing. The plot is trimmed to its essentials, the splendid backgrounds may have influenced the Disney Beauty and the Beast, and the closing shot of the Pinocchio-nosed sisters wraps everything up with a laugh.