The Sleeping Princess (1939) Online

What happened to Burt Gillet's career? He went from directing some of Disney's best late black and white cartoons to directing some awful, puerile color works for van Beuren. Then he worked for Lantz for three years and seems to have vanished from the credits after 1940, even if he lived for another third of a century.

Although he directed some of the Andy Panda's, this version of Cinderella from the viewpoint of the Wicked Fairy seems a bit shaky, as if the script bounces uneasily between hep music and humor to making fun of the efforts, as if there were too many cooks for this bowl of broth. Perhaps that had been Gillet's problem all along: maybe he had prospered at Disney because of the strong staff, then floundered at van Beuren because of the weak staff. Perhaps he was simply not cut out for the top spot.

This is a beautiful cartoon, though, with some lovely color compositions and a combination of graceful and humorous visuals. Perhaps you will enjoy it for that.