Excellent, Without a doubt!!

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

The first must-see film of the year.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

next to Disney's delightful cartoonish contrive, this is my favorite version of 'Cinderella'. and not to commit iconic blasphemy, R&H's very best musical.i know i know. how can i say such a thing when 'South Pacific' and 'Oakiehomie' are such monumental works? simple. they're just that. monumental. how dull, boring and oppressively overpowering. i like it when things are kept pure and simple. R&H completed this in half the time and effort as their other works, and that bare basics approach works in this production's favor. rarely are media musicals this sincere and unpretentious. a pure delight for anyone that relishes sweet unpretentiousness. it also has the straight-forward, raw quality that only live television and performances can provide.and the performances in this can be just wonderful. not only is Dame Julie a perfectionist delight a Cinders, but the supporting cast is just marvelous fun. Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley are liltingly hilarious and "lovely" as the awkward stepsisters. and Edith Adams and Ilka Chase are wonderful. this has to be the most entertaining "fairy godmother" you could imagine outside of Disney. "impossible", stands right alongside "Bibbidi-Bobbidi" as one of musical's most delightful and very best.even though this first rate, Broadway-like production, is only preserved in a primitive, rough, kinescope telecast videotape, young unexperienced viewers must keep in mind that the original CBS-TV broadcast was seen by the largest TV audience on the planet at that time. it was a television, historical event that reached millions and millions of viewers stretching from Canada to Cuba. a real milestone in the "Golden age" of television. by today's standards, that event is "impossible" to conceive.for anyone that loves American television history, this is a true national treasure. and if you let yourself believe, "impossible things are happening everyday".

Before the TV movie musicals explosion of the later 90's and early 2000's, there was Cinderella, a Rogers and Hammerstein adaptation of a classic fairy tale. In the 1950's, color T.V. was the new thing and everyone wanted to show off their capabilities. This was also a time when art of all kind was for show on commercial television.Not to be outdone by rival NBC, CBS announced that they would get the legendary team of Rogers and Hammerstein to write a for-T.V. musical based on the beloved tale of Cinderella. The show would use such talent as Howard Lindsay, Dorothy Stickney, Edie Adams, and a young up and coming Broadway star named...oh...what's her name...Julie something or other, I think. I'll remember later. You've probably never heard of her, anyway.Though only black and white kiniscopes exist now, the show was filmed in glorious color and live in a cramped studio. What we'd find out later is that this was shown in front of the biggest audience at that time.ANDREWS! Of course.I've seen all three televised version of Cinderella, and I can say that the original is, without question, the best of the three. It had the one quality all great musical performances have...engagement. I was absolutely sold on everything that happen throughout the musical. Only the best shows and performances can do that. Andrews showed the country why she was a mighty force on Broadway and why she would become a beloved actress the world over. The old, familiar faces and the new people from different places, this was a meeting of all of them. I only hope we can see this again on the small screen again in the near future.

I sincerely hope that many parents and other grownups will share this wonderful, witty musical with their kiddos and kiddo friends. Start them early with quality fare like this, and don't let them develop a prejudice against black & white viewing, or intelligent creations.It really is a shame that later television CINDERELLAs messed with the script, and particularly that they cut the ball- and banquet-planning scene with the King, Queen, Chef, Tailor and...I forget who else. The King and Queen are such stronger roles here than in the later versions. Actually, all the roles seem stronger here, as directed and played. (I don't mean to bash the later two TV CINDERELLAs, both of which have their good points, and good intentions, but end up falling so short of the original, for all their larger budgets, full color, more ethnically diverse casting--the last a plus in my book. A shame they didn't stick with the many strengths of this original script, and build and embellish from there. It also helps to have a Cinderella with a gorgeous, majestic voice.) Besides the wit, humor and intelligence of this musical's book, the big, winning ingredient is the basic sense of love and good will, strong but not cloying. A very Hammerstein element, which, for the most part, he wielded deftly throughout his works. There is an unfortunate tendency to screw with that strong ingredient when people try to adapt and "improve" Rodgers & Hammerstein shows. For a particularly heinous example of this, see the ABC TV, Glenn Close SOUTH PACIFIC. Better yet, don't subject yourself to that horrible desecration of a beautiful work. Watch the good stuff, like this original Cinderella.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's loving the Lesley Ann Warren version of Cinderella and always will, mostly because of the wonderful score, but, I have always wanted to see this version as Julie Andrews is one of my all time favorite musical stars. She absolutely shines throughout the whole production. And to think they did it all LIVE is just amazing. Only one noticeable goof-up that I noticed (when the prince stepped on the queens lines-but he was a newcomer and probably scared to death) This version is more tongue in cheek than the later version- which Rogers admitted he re-wrote to be more fairy tale like (Disney-like is more like it) But as I said don't bother with comparisons, just be glad to see a new Julie Andrews performance (new to most of us anyway) in an original musical written especially for her. What's especially great is that you get to see what Julie was like during the run of "My Fair Lady" and to see why there was such a buzz about her at the time (Jack Warner sure made a goof not putting her in the film of "Lady").All the cast are wonderful in their parts, especially Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley as the bickering stepsisters. All in all a lovely night with a loverly lady.