Sam Goldwyn, the movie mogul, famously said: “If they liked it once, they’ll love it twice.”
Well, ‘they’ love fairy tales for sure. Fairy tales have an inherent ability to be retold. The Damsel in Distress, the Wicked (almost always female) Villain and the much-awaited Prince Charming — it’s the perfect mix for any storyteller to captivate the audience. Cinderella seems to be particularly perfect for retelling, it seems. IMDB lists over 100 previous attempts in film and television to retell this story.
If a hundred weren’t enough, Director Kenneth Branagh decided to make another one in 2015. The Cate Blanchett/Lily James starrer was named (spolier alert) Cinderella and seems to be the favourite recent adaptation for Gulf News readers.
In a Twitter poll, we asked which film best adapted this classic fairy tale and the 2015 movie beat Anne Hathaway starrer Ella Enchanted (2004), Hillary Duff’s A Cinderella Story (2004) and Drew Barrymore’s much more critically acclaimed Ever After (1998).
Which is your favourite? And what do you think explains our fascination with this European classic? Comment below.
