Swing Shift Cinderella is a 1945 animated short film (7 1/2 minutes) directed by Tex Avery, one of the Tex Avery MGM Cartoons.
The Big Bad Wolf is chasing after Little Red Riding hood in a redux of earlier Avery short "Red Hot Riding Hood". Red points out that they are in the wrong cartoon, so the Wolf decides to look up Cinderella instead. Cinderella has a ball to get to, so she sics her Fairy Godmother on the Wolf. The Fairy Godmother is very attracted to the Wolf, much to the Wolf's horror. Meanwhile, after the Fairy Godmother transforms Cinderella's pumpkin into a station wagon, Cinderella makes it to the ball, but she has to leave by midnight—so she's not late for her shift at the factory.
Tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer: The Fairy Godmother to the Wolf, giving him a taste of his own medicine.
- Accidental Kiss: The Wolf rushes to kiss Cinderella AKA Red Hot Red but accidentally grabs her elderly Fairy Godmother and gives her a long smooch. While the Wolf is repelled by the old lady who has the hots for him he does seem to have enjoyed the kiss, but that changes once he opens his eyes and realizes his mistake! Unfortunately this only deepens the Fairy's lust for the Wolf.
- The Chanteuse: It turns out that Cinderella has a part-time gig singing in a cabaret in the evenings.
- Credits Gag: Red and the Wolf run right past the opening title card. Then Red realizes it was the wrong title, so she pulls it back onscreen, and she and the Wolf confirm that the cartoon is in fact called "Swing Shift Cinderella". Then the real story starts.
- Dirty Old Woman: The Fairy Godmother tries to jump the Wolf's bones. The Wolf does kiss her on the lips once by mistake, only intensifying her lust.
- Expy: Cinderella is a blatant one of Red Hot Riding Hood.
- Eye Pop: Tex Avery characters were the Trope Codifier, and here we see the Wolf's eyes pop out on springs as sexy Cinderella slinks around the stage.
- Fake-Out Opening: Starts out as the Wolf chasing Red Riding Hood before it becomes a completely different story.
- Frying Pan of Doom: What Cinderella uses to club the Wolf after he finally gets entrance into her apartment.
- Incredible Shrinking Man: The Fairy Godmother shrinks the Wolf and puts him in a bird cage while she deals with Cinderella.
- Medium Awareness: After Red points out to the Wolf that they're in the wrong cartoon, he goes after Cinderella instead.
- Love Floats: Towards the end of Red's number, the enamored Wolf floats in the air toward the ceiling before being yanked back down to the table by the Fairy Godmother via the chain attached to their legs.
- Old-Timey Bathing Suit: The Fairy Godmother transforms her dress with a wand to go nightclubbing with the unwilling Wolf. She accidentally ends up in an old-style swimsuit with a beauty contest sash that reads "Miss Repulsive 1893".
- The Reveal: At the end, it's revealed that Cinderella's actually a Rosie the Riveter by night and the reason she had to make it home before midnight was because she has to work the night shift at Lockweed Aircraft Plant.
- Something Else Also Rises: The cartoon gets the idea of male arousal across in a scene where the Wolf goes rigid and shoots to the top of a tree, and a later scene where he floats to the top of the cabaret.
- Squashed Flat: What happens to the Wolf after Cinderella slams a door right in his face as he tries to enter.
- Tempting Fate: After getting on the bus to the construction plant, Cinderella's relieved to get away from the Wolf. But finds the other passengers are identical Wolves, also on their way to work.
- Visual Pun: After the Fairy Godmother gets word that a wolf is at Cinderella's place, she gets excited and immediately leaves. In her place she leaves a sign that says "Gone With The Wand". Then an ear of corn grows behind the sign, because of course the joke is "corny".
- Wartime Cartoon: Cinderella as Rosie the Riveter working in a military construction plant—although as it turns out she works the midnight to 8 am night shift, not the 4 to midnight "swing shift". (This cartoon was actually released only ten days after the war ended.)
- The Fairy Godmother transforming a bunch of old tin cans into an army jeep is a nod at recycling scrap metal for the war effort.
- The motor scooter of the fairy godmother displays an "A" gas ration sticker.
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Like in most versions of the Fairy Tale, the spell disappears at midnight; during this time Red ends up driving a pumpkin with a steering wheel home.
