Perhaps, the first film to use photographic dissolves (or fades) as a transition effect. This was done using Melies' method of in-camera editing.
Premiered in America during the Christmas season of 1899.
Albert E. Smith claimed that this was the first foreign film to be acquired by an American company (his company, Vitagraph). Release prints were bought in France for $100 a piece and brought to the US, where a team of workers set about hand coloring every frame. According to Smith, colorizing a film was not attempted again by Vitagraph because it caused too much eye strain for their workers.
The film consists of 20 paintings: Cinderella in the kitchen; fairy, mouse, and lackeys; transforming rat; turning a pumpkin into a carriage; royal ball; midnight; Cinderella's bedroom; Dance of the Hours; Prince and slipper; Cinderella's godmother; Prince and Cinderella; church; wedding of Cinderella and the Prince; Cinderella's sisters; king, queen and courtiers; wedding procession; Ballet Suite; celestial spheres; transformation; the triumph of "Cinderella."
In 1904, the price per copy made from the original negatives in Paris - 61 dollars 50 cents, the price for a copy of the New York dupe - 53 dollars 50 cents.