Cinderfella

Both director Frank Tashlin and his comic star Jerry Lewis dilute their comic talents to play for the kiddie crowd in this fractured fairy tale version of the Cinderella story. This simply-told tale lards over the fairy story with un-needed songs and production numbers, but the basic story is still the same, only switched to a male Cinderella. Lewis is Fella, a put-upon flunky to a mean and rich dowager (Judith Anderson) and her three surly sons (all of whom appear to be pushing fifty). Fella falls for the beautiful princess (Anna Maria Alberghetti) and with the assistance of his screwy fairy godfather (Ed Wynn) gets transformed into a pre-Buddy Love lounge lizard who sweeps the Princess off her feet as he struts down an ornate stairway to the beat of The Count Basie Orchestra, leaving his stepbrothers with their mouths agape.