101 Dalmatians ***** (1961, voices of Rod Taylor, Betty Lou Gerson, Cate Bauer, J Pat O’Malley, Martha Wentworth, Ben Wright) – Classic Movie Review 2223

Directors Wolfgang Reitherman, Hamilton S Luske and Clyde Geronimi’s beloved 1961 Walt Disney animated feature-length classic is well above par for the studio’s troubled course from the late 50s through the 60s and the 70s, before their renaissance era of 1989-99. The 17th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, it stars Rod Taylor and Cate Bauer as the voices of Pongo and Perdita, the film’s canine heroes.

Happily Disney find that there’s a perfect literary source in Dodie Smith’s 1956 novel about the kidnapping (dognapping) of Pongo and Perdita’s litter of 15 Dalmatian puppies by Cruella de Vil (voice of Betty Lou Gerson) and the rescue attempt by their dad Pongo (voice of Rod Taylor) and his network of friends. Bill Peet provides the screen story, the first time that the story for a Disney film was created by a single person.

Walt Disney felt that Peet’s original draft was so perfect that he had little involvement in making the film though he was always present at story meetings. Smith, who had secretly hoped that Disney would make her book into a film, wrote to Peet that he had improved her story and that the Disney designs looked better than the illustrations in her book.

Disney artists add to the charming story some highly amusing and stylish animation that includes well-drawn characters, an enjoyable view of London and a rousing chase through the English countryside. Pongo and Perdita make excellent protagonists and Cruella de Vil proves one of cinema’s most memorable villainesses. J Pat O’Malley voices Colonel/Jasper, Martha Wentworth voices Nanny/Queenie/Lucy and Ben Wright voices Roger. Helene Stanley performed the live-action reference for the character of Anita as she did for Cinderella and Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty.

And, all in all, the movie is an absolute delight, and it was a big box-office success, offsetting the worryingly expensive disappointment of Sleeping Beauty (1959). Despite the cost-cutting, animations were very expensive and this cost $4million, but it became the tenth highest grossing film of 1961 in the US and Canada, earning $6,400,000, and with the help of four more cinema releases has now earned $215,880,000 in US domestic box office earnings. 

It took about 300 artists three years to draw it. But Disney employ inexpensive animation techniques such as using xerography during the process of inking and painting traditional animation cels to keep production costs down.

101 Dalmatians unusually features only three songs, with only ‘Cruella De Vil’ playing a big part in the film. The other two songs are ‘Kanine Krunchies Jingle’ (sung by Lucille Bliss), and ‘Dalmatian Plantation, with only two lines sung by Roger at the end of the film. Songwriter Mel Leven wrote written several additional songs that didn’t make the movie.

It was successfully re-issued to cinemas in 1969, 1979, 1985 and 1991. It was remade by the Walt Disney studio as a live-action film in 1996 with Glenn Close, followed by a sequel, 102 Dalmatians, in 2000.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2223

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/