Ashpet: An American Cinderella (1989)

About the Film

“Ashpet” is an American version of the Cinderella story, set in the rural South in the early years of World War II. The title for Tom Davenport’s film was borrowed from an Appalachian folktale collected by Richard Chase and published in his Grandfather Tales. “Ashpet” derives from the German “Aschenputtel,” which is the title of the Grimm brothers’ version of the Cinderella tale. The term originally designated a lowly, dirty kitchenmaid who tends to the fireplace ashes. There is also an English version called “Ashey Pelt.”

Cast: Kelly Mancini (Ashpet), Susan Tolbert (Thelma), Brilane Bowman (Sooey), Nancy Robinette (Stepmother), Lousie Anderson (Dark Sally), Norman Aronovic (Norman), Timothy White (Herman), Michell Riggs (William)