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Cinderella was filmed in live action first
The ultimatum
By 1950, Disney was heavily in debt, but Walt wanted to return to animated features and gave an ultimatum: if the company did not go back to them, it should sell. Roy gave in, and the company raised another $2 million for Cinderella, its first feature in eight years since Bambi.
Live action first
The animator Frank Thomas recalled planning Cinderella more carefully than earlier films and shooting it all in live action first, without costumes or sets, to judge whether a scene would work. Walt's reasoning was that Disney could not afford to animate a scene and then change it. The studio effectively traced the live footage, which made the animation more rigid, and once a scene was filmed, the view was locked in. It had less of the lavish detail of Pinocchio and Bambi, and Walt helped kick it off but was not engaged during production.
The result
Cinderella earned $8 million in film rentals in its first year on a cost of $2.2 million, the company's biggest success since Snow White.
How did Cinderella do at the Oscars?
Cinderella earned three Academy Award nominations, for Best Sound, Best Score, and Best Song. The song was Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo. The film also won the Golden Bear at the 1951 Berlin film festival. It restored the studio's finances.
Why were Disney features rare in the 1940s?
The war cut off foreign markets and absorbed the studio's resources. Disney released cheaper package films that strung together shorts, such as Make Mine Music and Melody Time. They cost less than a single story feature. Cinderella in 1950 was the first full story feature since Bambi in 1942.
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