Ella Cinders (1926)

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

This Cinderella story stars the wonderful Colleen Moore as the much put upon Ella Cinders. Ella is the household drudge for her nasty step-sisters (Lotta and Prissy Pill) and step-mother. Ella's one pal is the iceman, Waite Lifter. Ella's chance to escape comes when the Gem Studio is promoting a movie contest ball. Among the funniest scenes in the movie are when Ella goes to a professional photographer to get the photo needed for the contest. As she's leaving her house, a title card informs us that "When Ella got into her good clothes, six moths laughed until they died." The session with the photographer does not go well for Ella (but it does for audience!)- thanks to a pesky fly. That and the bit Ella does with her eyes were amazing and funny. Much to the chagrin of her step-relatives, Ella wins the contest because the judges were sure Hollywood needed an actress who could cross her eyes while looking at a fly on her nose. Arriving in Hollywood, Ella does not have the reception she expected, but perseveres and through some clever studio gate crashing (and the amusing help from Harry Langdon), Ella lands a long term movie contract. But, she gives it all up to marry her Prince Charming, the erstwhile Waite Lifter (actually George Waite, the son of a wealthy businessman). Once a little boy iceman cometh, Ella's life seems a perfect Hollywood ending. Well, Ella certainly earned it. As every reviewer has commented, Colleen Moore was a joy to watch and makes it worth seeing this movie more than once.

Months ago I hunted down this film for Coleen Moore since I had never seen her in anything before and I wish to give every silent film star a chance. Imagine my surprise! Not only was Coleen a completely wonderful entertainer but Ella Cinders also turns out to be a little forgotten gem of silent cinema.Although nothing earth shattering, that's fine because nobody wants to be overwhelmed with huge epics all the time. Occasionally everyone wants to escape into an easy, breezy, cute comedy they can just laugh at and enjoy. Ella Cinders accomplishes this.Basically a simple Cinderella story, Moore stars as Ella, a girl who's sadly mistreated by her step-family (a mother and two sisters). The only light in her life seems to be her good guy friend Waite (played by gorgeous Lloyd Hughes). When a Hollywood contest comes to town, looking for a lovely new girl to turn into a star, Ella is determined to win. Everything takes off from there and quickly the story twists, turns, and does cartwheels into one of the funniest comedies of the silent era.Coleen makes the movie a riot with her comedic talent. She really shines during the scene when she goes to have her picture taken and a fly keeps landing on her nose whenever the impatient camera man tries to snap the photo. Priceless. Harry Langdon has a short appearance as himself and is funny as always.The Grapevine video for this movie doesn't have the best print and the organ score doesn't fit the flow of the film at all - but unfortunately it is the only choice we have.Have you had a hard day? Boss nagging you? Homework building up? Pop in Ella Cinders and forget it all. Let it take you away.

ELLA CINDERS (First National, 1926), a John McCormick production, directed by Alfred E. Green, is a star vehicle for Colleen Moore, a popular silent screen flapper of the 1920s, in one of her more notable comedies of her career that has become forgotten through the passage of time. It's a Hollywood story taken from both comic strip character and Cinderella fairy tale, and reminiscent to Mabel Normand performance in THE EXTRA GIRL (1923). Similarities in theme makes it quite easy to confuse these two, especially when both characters are seen disrupting the studio when encountered by a lion. While THE EXTRA GIRL switches to melodrama from time to time, ELLA CINDERS is pure comedy that makes good use of Moore's comedic talents.Opening title card: "The Cinders residence in Roseville - where the first bowl of wax bananas appeared on an American sideboard." Ella Cinders (Colleen Moore) works like a slave for her wicked stepmother (Vera Lewis) and equally wicked stepsisters known as the Pills, Lotta (Doris Baker) and Prissy (Emily Gerdes), waiting on them hand and foot. Her one and only friend is Waite Lifter (Lloyd Hughes), a young man employed for the Union Ice Company, who in reality happens to be George Waite, a football hero and graduate from the University of Illinois as well as being the son of a millionaire (revealed on screen through a close up shot of a newspaper clipping)who disapproves of Ella. During a meeting of the Pollyanna Club held at the Cinders household every second Thursday of the month, where members get to "cheat at cards," Ella overhears her stepmother's intention on having Lotta representing Roseville by entering her in a movie contest sponsored by the Gem Film Company, with the prize being a trip to Hollywood and a chance to appear in a motion picture. Seeing this an opportunity in breaking away from the Pills, Ella earns the extra money needed for entrance fees and studio portrait taken of herself through babysitting. As she is poses to have her picture taken (one point being a strong resemblance of Lillian Gish), the photographer (Harry Allen) snapshots the very moment Ella becomes cross-eyed (like Ben Turpin) as she blows away a fly resting on her nose. It so happens that this is the picture that makes it to the judges. At the ball, where the winner's name is to be announced, to everyone's surprise, Ella's picture is the winner. After a merry send-off from the community (with the exception of the Pills) at the train station where the mayor (Jed Prouty) makes a speech, Ella takes off for Hollywood. Upon her arrival, she taxis over to the studio to find the Gem Film Company shut down and told by a guard that the contest was a scam and the "sharpies" arrested. Now stranded in the land of make-believe, and refusing to go back home in fear of being a laughing stock, Ella makes the best of her situation by "haunting the studio gates," sneaking past the guards and being chased around the lot, disrupting scenes currently in production and driving one of the directors (Alfred E. Green) out of his mind. With much more to follow, it gets better than this. Stay tuned and see what further develops for this Hollywood Cinderella.Amusing at times as it is familiar, ELLA CINDERS, if remembered at all, has all the ingredients for surefire material in the Betty Hutton or Lucille Ball tradition. Funniest scene comes early in the story where Ella studies the method of acting from "The Art of Motion Picture Book," going through the motions with her eyes. An excellent use of special effects done in split screen, her eyes move individually in all directions. This scene alone was certainly one that had audiences laughing out of their seats back in 1926. This is followed by another set in the California bound train where Ella falls asleep, with all passengers getting off and to be awaken later surrounded by Indians, actually actors dressed as Indians who had come on at an earlier stop, being lead to believe the train was attacked. She becomes ill after smoking a cigar offered to her by an "Indian chief." Another highlight is the unbilled guest appearance of comedian Harry Langdon whom Ella mistakes as a wanna-be actor avoiding capture from the studio guards. "There's after me, too," she tells Langdon as he holds on to the door during a movie rehearsal.Of a handful of Colleen Moore features produced during the silent era, ELLA CINDERS is best known due to availability on video cassette from various distributors and sporadic television revivals some decades ago, notably on the weekly public television series "The Toy That Grew Up," from the 1960s, complete with composed organ score, the same one used for the Grapevine Video Company with the running time of 70 minutes. While prints of ELLA CINDERS is in need of restoration, average or not so good prints in circulation don't deprive silent movie lovers from enjoying the misadventures of Miss Ella Cinders. (***)

A better than average comedy of the period that includes a backstage look at Hollywood. It includes a scene with Harry Langdon playing his typical screen character.Best scenes are Ella on the lam backstage at a Hollywood studio; at the photo studio; Ella's first cigar and the eye exercises. Some of the womens costumes and the titles are also very good.