Thursday, March 14, 2013

Cinderella

I am looking for a version of "Fairytale Theatre" that was broadcast way back in the early 80s by Doordarshan, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is NOT (I REPEAT NOT) the production of Ms. Shelley Duvall. I have the complete set of DVDs of Shelley Duvall's production. The thing I particularly remember is the story of Cinderella. In the version that I saw, Cinderella's father was alive. In Shelley Duvall's version he dies at the beginning of the story. Also in the version that I saw, Cinderella's stepsisters are played by two men. The fairy godmother in the version that I saw was a happy-go-lucky type of character totally in contrast to the one in Shelley Duvall's version. Another thing that I distinctly remember is that the fairy godmother in the version that I saw transformed four black mice into four coachmen and the roles were played by Afro-Americans. The version that I saw was more of a musical with a lot of songs and dance sequences. There was also a scene in which the Prince has a conversation with a fox that is dressed in a hunts man's suit. I have tried high and low to get some information about the version that I saw but even Amazon.com do not seem to have any idea about the version. I would be very grateful to anyone who can point a finger in the direction where I can get the DVDs of this particular version if such DVDs exist. Whenever I make a search on the Internet, the only version that turns up is that of Shelley Duvall's production. I recorded the episode on my VCR and had it converted into a DVD but the copy is not very clear and I do not have the part where the cast is listed. The fie is also too large to be attached to this blog. I am trying to find a video editor which I can use to snip of a few scenes from the copy that I have and when I do so, I shall post them in this blog. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me find the old version that I saw.