Cinderella Adaptations
There are over 300 adaptations of Cinderella in this list, from 1898 to 2024 (the present year) and there’s no way I’m going to be able to cover them all in one post individually! This post is going to be an overview by decade highlighting a few things for each one, and including the noir and horror versions.
Cendrillon (1899) by Georges Méliès is usually hailed as the first adaptation, but that might actually be the lost British film Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother (1898) dir. George Albert Smith.
Film makers started really getting into it; there have been a plethora of adaptations ever since. It was also a story that immediately got modern updates, starting with A Modern Cinderella (1911) dir. J. Searle Dawley, The Cinderella Man (1917) dir. George Loane Tucker, and A Kentucky Cinderella (1917) dir. Rupert Julian. The trend continued with feel-good comedies like Cinderella Cinders (1920) dir. Frederick J. Ireland, and Ella Cinders (1926) dir. Alfred E. Green, and romantic dramas like The Jazz Cinderella (1930) dir. Scott Pembroke. Animations got their fair share of Cinderella action too, as this medium took off.
Adaptations in Europe tended to focus on Aschenputtel, the Grimms collected version of the tale, and so did versions from the USSR, like Золушка/Cinderella (1947) dir. Nadezhda Kosheverova, Mikhail Shapiro. There were also film adaptations of Rossini’s opera version, La Cenerentola. There were also imaginings of the ‘ever after’ after happily ever after, like Cenerentola e il signor Bonaventura/Princess Cinderella (1941) dir. Sergio Tofano.
歌ふ狸御殿/Palace of the Singing Racoon-Dogs (1942) dir. Keigo Kimura is maybe the first Japanese one?
In this Japanese retelling of Cinderella, Okuro (Takayama) is the unfortunate stepdaughter of a family of tanuki: shape-shifting raccoon dogs. She hopes to see the tanuki prince (former Takarazuka star Miyagi) against her stepmother’s wishes; the magical spirit of the willow tree, and a hapless kappa (water goblin) intercede in unexpected ways.
A Chinese adaptation came later, with Yun chang yan hou/Cinderella and her little Angels (1959) dir. Tong Wong, and this was a musical! At the other end of this decade, Spain produced an animated version Érase una vez…/Once Upon A Time (1950) dirs. José Escobar, Alexandre Cirici Pellicer, one of the first Spanish animations.
We get a live action Greek version, Σταχτοπούτα (1960), but I’m not sure if this is the first one for Greece – definitely one of the first.
In the 60s, we get more than romance and animations; we also get French noir, like Piège pour Cendrillon/A Trap for Cinderella (1965) dir. André Cayatte, which can be watched here: https://ok.ru/video/4009018526266. This was remade as Trap for Cinderella (2013) dir. Iain Softley.
Cinderella remained popular in Anglophonic cinema too, especially as romantic comedy material, and this is the year of Cinderfella (1960) dir. Frank Tashlin, a genderbent version where poor Fella is trapped with his stepmother and stepbrothers, and needs a visit from his fairy godfather to win the Princess.
Romance and comedy are still the primary genres of course, and in 1978 we have Cindy, dir. William A. Graham, filmed with an all-Black cast and set in Harlem in WWII. Cindy is a country bumpkin who moves from South Carolina to live with her father and his new family. When her stepmother and two stepsisters refuse to take her to the Sugar Hill Ball, her draft-dodging, chauffeur neighbour whips up a little “magic” and at the ball she catches the eye of the richest man in Harlem.
The 1970s also produced the porn/erotic versions, obviously, and even sexed-up comedy Sci-Fi like Cinderella 2000 (1977) dir. Al Adamson, set in the year 2047 where sex is forbidden (so one plucky girl rebels, presumably full of spunk). Still plausible.
The 80s came upon us, and went in several directions. There was the big hair and power dressing of Working Girl (1988) dir. Mike Nichols, dreamy Italian lads on scooters in Cinderella ’80 (1984) dir. Roberto Malenotti – even then, the Yanks had weird European monarchy fascinations – and Malenotti also made Cinderella ’87 (1987), a musical.
It also went the weird way – Cinderella (1986) is a short film with a 28 min runtime, dir. Ericka Beckman.
“CINDERELLA is a musical treatment of the fairy tale. I have broken apart the story and set it as a mechanical game with a series of repetitions where CINDERELLA is projected back and forth like a ping-pong ball between the hearth and the castle. She never succeeds in satisfying the requirements of the ‘Cinderella Game’. The film was shot MOS, the dialogue is lip-synched, and along with the out-front score and effects track magnifies the film’s sense of alienation.” — E.B. 1984 – Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2017.
The 90s wasn’t so experimental; there was a plethora of film adaptations of this story around the world, though, in Asian, European and American cinema, and it produced an adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical (starring Whitney Houston and a multi-racial cast), Cinderella (1997) dir. Robert Iscove, and Ever After (1998) dir. Andy Tennant.
It also brought us proto-Cinders plots in romance, like Pretty Woman (1990) dir. Garry Marshall, which is probably one of the most well-known rags-to-riches romances of the 90s but isn’t on the Cinderella master list.
Fantasy The 10th Kingdom (2000) dirs. Herbert Wise, David Carson played with Cinderella as one of the tales it weaved into its plot, and kickstarted the new millenium in its continued Cinderella craze.
Thankfully, the torture porn years swooped in to take us back to the dark side – Japan came in hard with anime シンデレラボーイ/Cinderella Boy (2003), with organised crime and body swap dystopian drama, and Korean cinema took up the challenge with 신데렐라/Cinderella (2006), dir. Bong Man-dae, featuring some gnarly plastic surgery body horror, and girls cutting their own faces off.
But don’t worry – we’ve still got romances galore. Nollywood got in on the game with Super Love (2003) dir. Andy Amenechi, and for gender swap fans, there’s the Malay film Mr. Cinderella (2002) dir. Ahmad Idham. Eastern Europe, Russia, and the rest of Europe were not to be outdone, and there were plenty of romances and comedies. Also, a number of adaptations of Rossini’s La Cenerentola, and Prokofiev’s ballet!
The 2010s produced more adaptations of the opera and ballet, and romances like Nollywood’s Phone Swap (2012) dir. Kunle Afolayan and Flower Girl (2013) dir. Michelle Bello. It also brought us the live action version of Disney’s animation, and a whole host of others!
Shout out to Dominican Republic film Cinderello (2017) dir. Beto Gómez, another gender flipped romantic fantasy, in which Marlon, an insecure and not-so-attractive photographer, is hit with a spell that every night transforms him into Brando, a handsome womanizer. Things will get harder when the spell becomes his biggest obstacle to obtain true love.
There were two adaptations called Aschenputtel – (2010) dir. Susanne Zanke, Austria/Germany, and (2011) dir. Uwe Janson, Germany.
If you’re after something a bit darker, then there’s Thai horror film หนังผี/Ghost: The Cinderella (2011) dir. Sarawut Intaraprom. A movie star has an argument on a film set which leads to his untimely death. His ghost later comes back to seek its revenge.
If you’re after something darker and queerer, then there was also the Portuguese short Boa Noite Cinderela/Goodnight Cinderella (2014) dir. Carlos Conceição. Listed under “romance/horror/crime”, this 32min film features a gay prince and his squire-lover in search of Cinderella to complete the pair of shoes.
Italian crime thriller animation, Gatta Cenerentola/Cinderella the Cat (2014) dirs. Alessandro Rak, Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri, Dario Sansone, is another imaginative adaptation, where the protagonist wants to escape the shadow and schemes of her stepmother and stepsisters, while living on a docked boat in a dystopian near future.
The live action low budget dark fantasy films, Sinister Squad (2016) dir. Jeremy M. Inman, and his Avengers Grimm films – Avengers Grimm (2015) and Avengers Grimm: Time Wars (2018), are not necessarily recommended, but they exist.
Brazil also dropped a modern, teen version: Cinderella Pop/DJ Cinderella (2019) dir. Bruno Garotti, about a pop music-loving “princess”, Cintia, who goes to live with her aunt after her parents divorce and finds her own love story.
The 2020s, with its horror resurgence in mainstream cinema, has brought us more dark versions and horror adaptations than other decades. This could also be off the back of book trends where retellings are popular, and the lapse of copyright on a number of popular children’s characters (like Winnie the Pooh) resulting in horror versions of multiple stories and concepts.
There are plenty of filmed versions of the operas La Cenerentola (Rossini) and Cendrillon (Massenet), and the usual round of contemporary and fantasy romances aimed at a young adult/younger audience. Contemporary versions include A Cinderella Story: Starstruck (2021) dir. Michelle Johnston, The Royal Treatment (2022) dir. Rick Jacobson, and Sneakerella (2022) dir. Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum.
India was not to be outdone with a demonic possession version via a cursed Cinderella gown. சிண்ட்ரெல்லா/Cinderella (2021) dir. Vinoo Venketesh is a Tamil language film where Akira and her band go into a forest to research nature sounds and celebrate Akira’s birthday, and it all goes horribly wrong.
Queer versions include the Norwegian fantasy Tre nøtter til Askepott/Three Wishes for Cinderella (2021) dir. Cecilie A. Mosli (m/m), and a short film (16 min runtime) from Panama with a trans woman protagonist, Cindyrella (2021) dirs. Felipe Betancur Villegas, Christian Rios.
Fantasies like Cinderella (2021) dir. Kay Cannon and Disenchanted (2022) dir. Adam Shankman (sequel to Enchanted (2007) dir. Kevin Lima), had mixed (mainly negative) receptions, and Japanese live action fantasy/crime series, 赤ずきん、旅の途中で死体と出会う/Once Upon A Crime (2023) dir. Yuichi Fukuda, was a bit more of a hit for Netflix, but as a series not a feature film (see also the success of Once Upon A Time (2011-2018, 7 seasons)).
Ep 01 of The Grimm Variations is also a great dark Cinderella take! The ‘Cinderella’ character is the antagonist, and the whole story is twisty and fun.
Japanese horror/drama, 哀愁しんでれら/The Cinderella Addiction (2021) dir. Ryohei Watanabe, is a good alternative option to the remakes, musicals and romances if you’re after something darker. Upcoming releases include low budget indie horror films, Cinderella’s Revenge dir. Andy Edwards and Cinderella’s Curse dir. Louisa Warren.
Horror Themes
シンデレラボーイ/Cinderella Boy (2003): Magic Bus anime. Cinderella Boy follows the adventures of impoverished private detective Ranma Hinamatsuri and his thrill-seeking rich girl partner Rella “Cindy” Shirayuki in a futuristic city named “Kirin Town”.
Kirin Town is a lawless European city-state with its own currency with the name of the city being a pun on the English word for “killing”. The two are badly injured when they stumble across an organised crime operation and are put back together into the same body by a mysterious doctor.
Every night the stroke of midnight, their shared body changes both form and identity. Ranma becomes Rella, or vice versa. Neither is aware of any actions or situations their partner is involved in, completely losing consciousness until twenty-four hours later, when the change comes around to them again.
신데렐라/Cinderella (2006) dir. Bong Man-dae – BEAUTY IS ONLY A CUT-AWAY.
With a renowned plastic surgeon for a mother, Hyun-soo is always surrounded by girls in line for beauty consultations. But her happiness comes to an end as her friends who have received facial surgery from her mother start to commit mysterious suicides by cutting out their faces.
หนังผี/Ghost: The Cinderella (2011) dir. Sarawut Intaraprom – A movie star has an argument on a film set which leads to his untimely death. His ghost later comes back to seek its revenge.
シンデレラゲーム/Cinderella Games (2016) dir. Hayato Kano – Not strictly a Cinderella story, this is actually about an idol group.
Sana Haitani (Kasumi Yamaya) is a member of an idol group. She’s following the dreams of her now deceased older sister who always wanted to become a top idol. Unfortunately, Sana’s idol group is disbanded. She is then kidnapped and taken to an uninhabited island. What awaits for her is a card battle. If she wins in the card battle against other kidnapped idol girls, she can become a top idol. But, if Sana loses … she will die.
I’ve been trying to think of Cinderella figures in horror, like cleaners who become final girls and get rewarded at the end with a better situation in life, and came up with One Must Fall (2018) dir. Antonio Pantoja.
The sleazy office boss is the evil stepmother role, I guess?
A horror-comedy slasher set in the ’80s about a woman wrongfully fired from her office job and forced to take on a temporary job on a crime scene clean-up crew. With a maniacal serial killer on the loose leaving them lots of work, did he ever leave the scene of the crime?
I guess also Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is a kind of Cinderella story gone wrong too. You have the nameless protagonist plucked from comparative obscurity by a rich man after a whirlwind romance, and then… the After after Happily Ever After kicks in with a vengeance.
There are a number of film adaptations of this, from 1940 noir to 2020 Gothic romance. As in the Bluebeard post, I can only find about 5 versions of Rebecca on Letterboxd, although I wasn’t looking too hard. There’s Hitchcock’s classic version (1940), Simon Langton’s version (1979), Jim O’Brien’s version with Charles Dance (1997), Francesca Zambella’s version which sticks pretty closely to the original novel (2006), and Ben Wheatley’s most recent version for Netflix (2020).
I think we can also add Jane Eyre to this list, as she has the evil aunt and cousins in place of the stepmother and step-sisters. The graphic above links to another Letterboxd list.
சிண்ட்ரெல்லா/Cinderella (2021) dir. Vinoo Venketesh – Akira and her band as they go into the dense forest to research on the sounds of nature. Akira celebrates her birthday there with her band mates and receives a gift of a beautiful Cinderella gown. But when she wears the gown, her behavior starts to change, as if she has been possessed.
哀愁しんでれら/The Cinderella Addiction (2021) dir. Ryohei Watanabe – Fukuura Koharu works at a child welfare office and plunges into despair overnight. Then she meets Daigo, a private-practice doctor raising his 8-year-old daughter on his own. She resolves to build a happy household, but things don’t go as expected.
I think we can reprise Ile Owo / House of Money (2022) dir. Dare Olaitan as having Cinderella rags-to-riches vibes, with Busola’s rise from nurse to fiancée of a billionaire, but this is much more suited to Bluebeard.
Busola has forever been unlucky with love. Pressured by society and her parents to tie the knot as a means to lift her family out of poverty, she finally meets Tunji – the perfect man. At first, Busola struggles to understand why a billionaire would choose to marry her, but after she accepts his proposal of marriage, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead her to a truth she could never have imagined.
Cinderella’s Curse (2024) dir. Louisa Warren – CINDERELLA GOES ON A MASSACRE AT THE BALL.
Desperate Cinderella summons her fairy godmother from an ancient flesh-bound book, seeking revenge on her evil stepmother and stepsisters who abuse and torment her daily.
Cinderella’s Revenge (2024) dir. Andy Edwards – Cinderella finds freedom from her wicked stepmother with the help of her fairy godmother. Only this time, they unleash a plan of bloody vengeance.
If you can think of more, drop them in the comments!
