Veronica Hart is unquestionably the greatest actress all-time in Adult Cinema, but her directorial efforts (post-acting career) are disappointing. "Sinful Rella" is an okay riff on the Cinderella story but lacks inspiration.
Casting Julie Meadows in the title role makes it work, as she is a uniquely affecting blonde ingenue, the likes of which no longer exists today in the gonzo jail-bait typecasting that typifies internet-era porn. Story credited to Hart's fictional scriptwriter "Percy Rock" cuts down to only one stepsister, appealing Black actress named Bronze (new to me, since she's generally just a gonzo performer). She and campy stepmother Brooke Hunter get as much screen time as Julie, and acquit themselves well.
Joey Ray as the Fairy Godfather does an okay Goodfellas impression wearing an odd zoot suit costume, while the rest of the cast is impressively outfitted (by September Dawn) in frilly period wear, heavy on the corsets and terrific hoop undergarments, plus top-notch wigs by Lee Garland. These accoutrements are the most outstanding aspects of the production.
Dale DaBone is perfectly cast opposite Julie as Prince Charming, epitomizing the romantic couples hero of the turn of this century porn era. Humor, with an annoying bit of laugh-track added during Joey's scenes, is fairly lame, though there are some cute anachronistic gags, such as the coach turning into a Honda Civic after midnight. Final line accorded Julie after the Prince's money shot is probably why the screenwriter needed a pseudonym: "I knew someday my prince would come".
Condoms, part of the safe-sex morays of major label porn back then, mightily detract from the period feel, but the sex scenes, including a group-sex offering with the great Anita Cannibal involved are fine. I just wish Hart had taken this seriously as romance instead of settling for a send-up.
Instead of a glass slipper (Julie is finally shown wearing same at the end of the film when she's married to the Prince and humping him outdoors in a gazebo), the story has DaBone sending his valet Ian Daniels (with a Prince Valiant wig) to find the elusive lady who gave him the greatest blow job ever at the ball. This is a stupid substitute, indicative of the feature's stress on silliness.
One mystery remains: she uses Veronica Hart for some credits, Jane Hamilton as producer name, but the odd "Jane Hart" for props, and I have yet to prove that the often credited "Jane Hart" as stylist or title designer is in fact one and the same as Jane Hamilton/Veronica Hart.
