"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.

This is the first color film from the Fleischer Studio and it's in something called "Cinecolor"--which appears to be a variation on 2-color Technicolor. Unlike the older 2-color Technicolor, the film seems to have a lot of blues and a slightly greater color spectrum. It is easier on the eyes than the older process but it truly isn't full color--the full spectrum is missing. This cannot be confused with the rich and vibrant colors of true Technicolor--a more expensive process that was also being introduced around the same time. Not surprisingly, Technicolor became the dominant color process, as it simply looked nicer and wasn't mostly orange. Now despite these limitations, this Betty Boop cartoon is nice to look at because like many of the Fleischer cartoons, there were very lovely line drawings and a nice 3-D look to the backgrounds (something this studio specialized in). These help you overlook the orange hue on most everything.Clearly this in an innovative film, though I also think it suffers from two major problems. First, although it's a Betty Boop cartoon, it's an amazingly "by the book" rendition of the old story. There isn't much new or exciting to the tale. Second, if you are not a fan of Boop, you also might not be all that impressed--simply because she's a rather dull character compared to animated characters from the 40s and 50s (which had a lot more personality). However, compared to competing contemporary cartoons of the era, this is a fairly good short. While nowhere near the quality of most Disney cartoons, compared to Warner Brothers and the other studios, it is clearly technically superior. Worth a look if you are a film historian or want to see a better than average cartoon of the 1930s.By the way, I saw this film on the DVD entitled "Cartoon Crazys: And The Envelope Please". This is a rather poor compilation of supposedly award winning and nominated films. Poor because several of the films are very lame and are NOT award nominated, the prints are rather bad and parts of some of the cartoons are missing! This might account for the extreme redness of the cartoon, as it could use a good restoration. Cinecolor and Two-Color Technicolor films often get an even more orange look over time but clean up quite beautifully.

This is one of favorite Betty Boop cartoons, and also "Cinderella" is one of my favorite fairy stories. I also would like to point out that this short was made 16 years ago before Disney's animated theatrical version.Like I said I love animation from Fleischer Studios (also from Disney, Hanna/Barbera, Rankin/Bass and Studio Ghilbi from Japan) and Betty Boop is one of my favorite cartoon characters beside Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Pepe le Pew of Looney Tunes and Disney's Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. I love the ballroom scene, where Betty/Cinderella and The Prince dance (until midnight that is). And I also love the main title song :"I'm just a poor Cinderella Nobody loves me it seems And like a poor Cinderella I find my romance in dreams.For that's where I meet my Prince Charming When I'm with him, cares stay away I'm just a poor Cinderella But I'll be a princess someday!"

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.