The Golden Slipper (1916)
Original title / transcription:
Золотая туфелька
Zolotaia tufel’ka
Do you remember Cinderella? A naive fairy tale that you read in the distant days of childhood, admiring the charming prince who married a dirty little girl only because the golden slipper he had found fit her tiny foot?
“Kriticheskoe obozrenie,” Proektor no 18 (1916): 11-13.
Do you remember Cinderella? A naive fairy tale that you read in the distant days of childhood, admiring the charming prince who married a dirty little girl only because the golden slipper he had found fit her tiny foot? As you grew older, you realized with your own eyes that princes charming do not exist and that pretty little creatures with tiny legs get along just fine in life without any help from the good fairies.
But Ms. Vystavkina who wrote the screenplay wanted to get creative and come up with a Cinderella remade for “adult children” according to the modern circumstances. For this purpose, she presents a certain dreamy count. He has a very sober mother who wants to marry him to a rich bride. But the count prefers to walk through the park at night and dream about Irene who had long been dead. The old Countess has a poor ward who also wanders around the park, dressed in Irene's dress. Having accidentally met the Count on a walk, she loses her slipper. The Count, just like in the fairy tale, declares that he will marry only the woman who dropped the slipper. But in our prosaic age, people forge not only naivety but also slippers. A local shoemaker counterfeits a golden slipper according to the measurements of the rich bride’s feet, and this slipper, secretly from the count, replaces the one he found. As a result, the count marries a rich bride while “Cinderella” dies in the hospital.
This is the 20th century Cinderella. Although this picture was directed very carefully, one watches it with bewilderment. Who exactly is it intended for? For children, it is too complicated; for adults, it is too naïve.
“Novye postanovki,” Vestnik kinemanografii no 120 (1916): 5-7.
The Golden Slipper. According to the plan, The Golden Slipper is a melodrama and a moment of a fairy tale, sophistically integrated into the story of real life. It should enhance the mood of discord between gray reality and a beautiful, poetic dream. In the realistic story, the scene with the slipper becomes a touching symbol.
The axis of the play was supposed to be the conflict between the beautiful Cinderella’s love drama and the vain pursuit of the ideal from the romantic hero’s side. The general tone of the play is as sadness and regret about the elusiveness of happiness.
It seems to us that the author E. Vystavkina did not express her idea in the play clearly enough, and that caused great difficulties for the director and the actors, who did everything in their power to combine a fairy tale with reality in the film. Apparently, the male protagonist was supposed to be the central figure of the screen play. However, the actor who played him presented a common image of a bored ‘barchuk’ [spoilt nobleman] rather than a young romantic.
In terms of the visual beauty, the production was done extremely thoughtfully. Certain aspects of lighting are interesting. Outdoor shooting is artistic.
“Kriticheskoe obozrenie,” Proektor no 18 (1916): 11-13.
Do you remember Cinderella? A naive fairy tale that you read in the distant days of childhood, admiring the charming prince who married a dirty little girl only because the golden slipper he had found fit her tiny foot? As you grew older, you realized with your own eyes that princes charming do not exist and that pretty little creatures with tiny legs get along just fine in life without any help from the good fairies.
But Ms. Vystavkina who wrote the screenplay wanted to get creative and come up with a Cinderella remade for “adult children” according to the modern circumstances. For this purpose, she presents a certain dreamy count. He has a very sober mother who wants to marry him to a rich bride. But the count prefers to walk through the park at night and dream about Irene who had long been dead. The old Countess has a poor ward who also wanders around the park, dressed in Irene's dress. Having accidentally met the Count on a walk, she loses her slipper. The Count, just like in the fairy tale, declares that he will marry only the woman who dropped the slipper. But in our prosaic age, people forge not only naivety but also slippers. A local shoemaker counterfeits a golden slipper according to the measurements of the rich bride’s feet, and this slipper, secretly from the count, replaces the one he found. As a result, the count marries a rich bride while “Cinderella” dies in the hospital.
This is the 20th century Cinderella. Although this picture was directed very carefully, one watches it with bewilderment. Who exactly is it intended for? For children, it is too complicated; for adults, it is too naïve.
“Novye postanovki,” Vestnik kinemanografii no 120 (1916): 5-7.
The Golden Slipper. According to the plan, The Golden Slipper is a melodrama and a moment of a fairy tale, sophistically integrated into the story of real life. It should enhance the mood of discord between gray reality and a beautiful, poetic dream. In the realistic story, the scene with the slipper becomes a touching symbol.
The axis of the play was supposed to be the conflict between the beautiful Cinderella’s love drama and the vain pursuit of the ideal from the romantic hero’s side. The general tone of the play is as sadness and regret about the elusiveness of happiness.
It seems to us that the author E. Vystavkina did not express her idea in the play clearly enough, and that caused great difficulties for the director and the actors, who did everything in their power to combine a fairy tale with reality in the film. Apparently, the male protagonist was supposed to be the central figure of the screen play. However, the actor who played him presented a common image of a bored ‘barchuk’ [spoilt nobleman] rather than a young romantic.
In terms of the visual beauty, the production was done extremely thoughtfully. Certain aspects of lighting are interesting. Outdoor shooting is artistic.
Источник
“Kriticheskoe obozrenie,” Proektor no 18 (1916): 11-13.
“Novye postanovki,” Vestnik kinemanografii no 120 (1916): 5-7.