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| One Hundred And One Dalmatians - 1961 |
Coming up next we have 1961's "One Hundred And One Dalmatians", Disney's classic tale about a crazed woman hellbent on obtaining baby Dalmatian puppies so that she can have a fur coat.
The film's voice cast includes Rod Taylor, J. Pat O'Malley, Betty Lou Gerson, Martha Wentworth, Ben Wright, Cate Bauer, David Frankham, Frederick Worlock, and Lisa Davis.
Dalmatian dog Pongo lives with his "pet" Roger in London. Roger is a musician and spends all his time composing songs at his piano. Pongo is looking for a little more to life and so he spends time trying to find suitable mates for them.
The choices are wide and varied, but Pongo isn't satisfied with any of them. Some are too old, too young, too fancy, too stout, and too quirky.
But when a fellow Dalmatian named Perdita arrives on the scene with her "pet" Anita, Pongo knows they will be perfect for Roger and he.
With a clever thought, Pongo gets the two humans together. Initially resistive, they come to like each other. It's love at first sight for Pongo and Perdita.
Both couples are married in a private ceremony. The humans inside the church, the canines listening outside the church.
Life goes from one blissful moment for the next, especially for Pongo and Perdita who are expecting a litter of puppies.
Their idyllic life comes to a screeching halt the day Cruella De Vil arrives on the scene. An old school friend of Anita, she wants the puppies. When told that they have not yet been born, Cruella promises to return to collect them.
Once the puppies are born, Cruella arrives and demands the dogs. Roger stands up to her and says they are not for sale, and she can't have a single one. Furious, Cruella vows to get revenge on Roger and Anita. "You'll be sorry. You fouls. You idiots!" she screams, slamming the door behind her.
Cruella is quickly forgotten, and the dogs slip into a family routine of watching their favorite program on television.
However, Cruella sends her henchmen, Jasper and Horace, to kidnap the puppies. They push past faithful family retainer Nanny, and steal the small dogs while their parents and their humans are out on a walk.
Cruella is beside herself with happiness when she reads the news in the papers. She contacts Jasper and Horace and tells them she wants them to "poison them, drown them, bash them on the head" so that she can make a spotted puppy-skin coat.
Pongo and Perdita get the "twilight bark" going and pass the news that their puppies have been stolen. Word reaches a sheepdog named Colonel and his cat friend Sgt. Tibbs, who find out that the puppies are being held at "the old De Vil Place". They go and scout out the situation.
Sgt. Tibbs is shocked to discover that there are actually ninety-nine Dalmatian puppies being housed in the decaying mansion, all awaiting the same sad fate.
Pongo and Perdita run away from home to rescue their puppies. Meanwhile, the Colonel and Sgt. Tibbs have engineered a "puppy break". All of the dogs meet up with Pongo and Perdita, who begin the job of getting them to safety.
They have to act quickly, because Cruella, Jasper, and Horace are hard on their heels.
And Cruella is in a furious rage. She will stop at nothing to get her hands back on the puppies.
Don't worry. Cruella crashes her car and has a meltdown on the side of the road, allowing the puppies and Pongo and Perdita to escape.
All covered in ash and soot from trying to hide from Cruella, the dogs arrive home safely. Roger and Anita decide to buy a "Dalmatian plantation" and keep all of the dogs. "We'll have a Dalmatian plantation where our population can roam..."
Cast rundown:
Rod Taylor.............................................Pongo
J. Pat. O'Malley......................................Colonel/Jasper
Betty Lou Gerson...................................Cruella De Vil
Martha Wentworth..................................Nanny
Ben Wright............................................Roger
Cate Bauer.............................................Perdita
David Frankham.....................................Sgt. Tibbs
Frederick Worlock...................................Horace
Lisa Davis..............................................Anita
And that's it for One Hundred And One Dalmatians. This film brought a much needed influx of cash to Disney Studios after the failure of "Sleeping Beauty". They were so badly off financially that they had considered scrapping their animation department altogether in favor of live action films. Because of the budget cuts, Disney scaled back on animation and the hard/grainy look of the film became the norm for Disney until 1977's "The Rescuers" brought a return to better animation.
Recognize any of these dogs? They all appear during the "Twilight Bark" sequence. These dogs are all characters in Disney's "Lady And The Tramp". The title characters themselves make a very brief appearance at the end of the scene.
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