Abstract:
Lotte Reiniger filmed the fairy tale of Cinderella (Aschenputtel) two separate times: Aschenputtel was created in 1922 at the Institut für Kulturforschung (Berlin), a film marked by its experimental keenness. Opposed to that is the made for television movie Cinderella from 1953/54, which was commissioned by the American broadcasting system RKO. Comparing the two versions, the text brings out their formal differences, which are results of the different respective aims: Aschenputtel, on the one hand, was a silent movie, geared towards an adult audience as a supporting movie of feature films. On the other hand, Cinderella was created as part of a series of fairy tale movies for children. Moreover, Cinderella also reveals how Reiniger adapted her creative means, developed in the 1920s, to the competition of the by now market-leading Walt Disney Company following World War II.