Released in 1950, Erase una vez... (Originally known as "La Cenicienta") was a Spanish animated movie based of the fairy tale Cinderella...which unfortunately, was around the same time Disney released their version of the story.
When first released, the film was deemed worthy of national interest and won a Venetian film festival, but due to the legal complications with Disney, was never commercially released and was considered to be a lost film, though a black and white copy can be seen at the Spanish Cinema Museum.
Starting in 2015, the Filmoteca de Barcelona set out to make a full restoration of the film in color, and finished restoring the film near the end of 2022.
The full black and white version is viewable at Dailymotion: Part 1
Part 2
The Filmoteca de Barcelona restoration of the film is viewable at RTVE for free until the 14 of December of 2023: https://www.rtve.es/play/videos/cine-de-siempre/erase-una-vez/6769857/ and a physical blu-ray disk was released the 30 of November of 2023: https://twitter.com/FilmsAmaray/status/1730143538908713159
This film includes examples of:
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Cinderella's hair is blonde in the actual film (but interestingly becomes red and curly in the ball costume) but was colored brunette in promotional material.
- Bedsheet Ghost: Cinderella's friends decide to dress as these with the intention of scare the stepmother and their daughters.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Both Murgo and the Fairy Godmother are magical users who wear dark clothing and who help Cinderella in the story.
- Cats Are Mean: Averted. Unlike the Disney counterpart, one of Cinderella's only friends is her pet cat, Ulysses, though she does have a dog, named Chao, too.
- Easily Forgiven: At the movie's end, Cinderella forgives all the abuse the wicked stepmother and stepsisters gave her, claiming that she still loves them.
- Expy: Given the influence of Rossini's La Cenerentola, Scariot could be one to Don Magnifico, symbolically giving Cinderella a wicked stepmother and a stepfather.
- Fat Bastard: Cinderella's stepmother and Scariot, who both are quite large and abuse Cinderella.
- Friend to All Living Things: Both Cinderella (whose kindness is reflected in that even her pet cat and dog are friends) and the Fairy Godmother (who summons birds to help Cinderella)
- Gratuitous Italian: Scariot often uses italian words in his dialogue.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Cinderella's father marries the stepmother and puts her under the care of Cinderella believing she will take good care of her when he leaves. The second he's gone, she starts abusing her power by abusing Cinderella and reducing her to a mere servant.
- I've Never Seen Anything Like This Before: When the prince asks the shoemakers of the kingdom who made Cinderella's shoe, all of them claim that they have never done, nor seen a shoe like that in their whole lives.
- Kick the Dog: Dona Facunda and her daughters throw things at Ulysses when he tries to play with them.
- Dona Facunda having the portrait of Cinderella's late mother removed out of spite, claiming that she's the only duchess of her home.
- Clorinda taking Cinderella's brooch for the ball and acts like she's being modest for wearing a cast-off.
- Medium Blending: The movie has two live-action sequences, one at the beginning where Bertoldo shows his friends and cinderella a puppet show, and another at the ball, where Murgo summons a knight show to entertain the attendees.
- Mistaken for Undead: Cinderella's friend, who are dressed as ghosts, mistook Bertoldo who used black paint on his sheets for a real ghost, and quickly fled the scene.
- Parental Abandonment: Cinderella's father leaves her alone under the charge of his new spouse to travel to America, and is never seen again from the rest of the film.
- Public Domain Animation: Surviving clips from the movie are widely available online because of this.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Cinderella is revealed to be the girl who fits the shoe, Scarlot flees the house in fear of retaliation for abusing Cinderella.
- Stock Femur Bone The chair of Murgo is made from these, which Ulysess's dog can't help but snatch one of these from the mage, making the chair fell apart when the wizard tries to sit on it.
- Swan Boats: The final scene is of Cinderella and her prince in a boat being pulled by swans.
- Tasty Gold: Murgo tests the golden coin with a magical skull to make sure it's legitimate.
- Undying Loyalty: Ulysess, Chao and Cinderella's group of friends, who still help her and don't leave her side even when she's reduced to a servant.
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: "The spell will be broken." Cinderella then hurries and manages to get back home before her carriage and her princess attire disappear.
- Wicked Stepmother: Dona Facunda is a classic example of this trope, abusing Cinderella for being prettier than her daughters.
- Wizard Classic : Murgo, a friendly wizard who sells potions for a living and puts a magic show in the royal ball.
