One Hundred and One Dalmations

As a child, this was just another Disney film but now I see how unique it actually is. “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” was the first Disney film to have a contemporary setting and this required the design & music of the film to be different than past features. The film has some memorable and very funny story moments as a result. The film has drama as well. The impact of Cruella de Vil extends beyond the animation genre and rightfully so. The film also represents Disney’s constant effort to improve technology but many of the advances on this film were done to save money and not necessarily to improve the animation process.

The biggest memory that I have of watching this movie is when my cousins bought it and were watching it for the first time. I had already seen the film and they kept pressuring me for assurance that the dogs would escape the villains. The story is dramatic but mostly because of the innocence of the puppies. There are also moments in this film that are still hilarious for me today. The book was very recently published when it caught Walt Disney’s attention and it went straight into production. Dodie Smith said that the film version was an improvement on the book that she wrote. The opening credit sequence is very whimsical, modernistic and cinematic. It perfectly establishes the mood and look of the film. Having the film use all the seasons is great for story purposes. We have romance in spring, crisis in the fall, hardship in the winter and it ends during Christmastime. I can relate to the start of the film because I know about the dull nature of a bachelor’s life. Roger and Anita were the most realistic couple in a Disney animated film up to that point due to the contemporary setting. Many of the things that our characters watch on the TV are spoofs of popular television show and commercials. There are even imperfections in the images on the TV screen such as dust or lines and this is noticeable on the DVD. The “Thunderbolt” show is a great way of introducing the puppies like Patch, Roley and Lucky as well as all the puppies. We must care for them in order to feel for their theft. I love it when the TV is turned off during the “Kanine Krunchies” commercial because it reflects what happens when an old TV is turned off. It is exaggerated though as the spokesman freezes in a humorous facial expression and then disappears into the center of the screen. I die laughing every time. Another very funny moment is the man in London yelling: “Will you be quiet!!!” during the twilight bark sequence. The ending is quite suspenseful as were other moments in the film. With the engine almost fixed, we now are under a deadline to get in the moving van. Jasper and Horace discover where the last group of puppies is and they go to the back door when they can’t get in the front. Pongo is about to quickly lead the remaining puppies to the van when the worst thing happens: they jump right in front of Cruella. It is an unexpected scare because our focus was on Jasper and Horace. Cruella has her attention fully on these “Labradors”. It is an extremely intense moment.

When it comes to “One Hundred and One Dalmatians”, the first thing that comes to many peoples’ minds in Cruella de Vil. Not only is she one of the greatest animated villains of all time, she also made it on to an American Film Institute special. According to AFI’s list of the top 50 film villains, the three greatest animated villains are “Man” from “Bambi” (#20), The Queen from “Snow White” (#10) and Cruella who is number 39. It is amazing that she outranks Freddy Krueger and Jack Nicholson’s Joker. The only piece of animation that comes close to Cruella is Roger as he sings her theme song. Roger’s acting before and after Cruella enters the house is entertaining and very funny but it serves a purpose. Cruella’s animation by Marc Davis is unlike anything seen before in feature animation at Disney and Roger’s animation in the scene helps us with the transition. Despite the lack of songs in this film when compared to other films in the past from Disney, it contains one of the most famous songs in Disney history: “Cruella de Vil”. I believe that it is Roger’s performance that makes the song so memorable. Cruella is so skinny but yet her coat makes he look huge. What a funny but artistic choice for the character. Davis actually had fun animating Cruella and as usual when you have fun, it comes right through to the audience. It was his last work also on an animated feature and in my opinion there was no better way to leave the field. Cruella gets our attention immediately with the way she drives her car. Lady, you watch your driving if you don’t want the attention of the police. It is yet another really funny quirk in the film. I also love how Horace and Jasper’s truck is the complete opposite of Cruella’s car. Probably one of my favorite Cruella moments is when she loses her patience with her pen. I tend to love moments when characters explosively vent their built-up feelings. It’s a treat to see the moment when Cruella finally has had it with her pen. All this built up anger from unseen past moments is let out. We can relate and it is funny because we didn’t see it coming. During an intense, dramatic climax to the film, Cruella’s obsession turns to outright madness. Fittingly enough, her vehicle also changes to reflect this. It is so well animated and portrayed that it is more humorous than scary. If you were laughing at her car before, you almost can’t stop laughing at the “doom machine” it turns into. I would love to own that ride.

The more I learn about the production of “One Hundred and One Dalmatians”, the more it entertains me. When I was a kid, it seemed to me that Disney animation from the 30's to the 50's looked better than the animation that was done during the 60's and 70's. Now I understand that starting with this film, the studio began to change the way that the animation was put up on the screen. The “Xerox” process was used in the entire production for the first time in a Disney animated feature. I prefer to call it “photocopying”, being a Canadian. Instead of tracing the animation onto plastic cells, the animation would be photocopied onto them. This new process was good news and bad news for the studio. The ink and paint department was eliminated and that was an art form unto itself. On the other hand, an animator’s work could now be seen completely on the screen with no middle man tracing their work. This new technology allowed the studio to build models of the vehicles seen in the film and then film them in motion on a specially built course to match the road in the cartoon world. These film frames would then be photocopied onto the animations cells to capture physical objects moving realistically. When you see Cruella’s car, you are watching the 1960’s motion capture as it were. The backgrounds we see match the innovative photocopied animation. The film score was another thing that differed from past scores in that it was modern too. Walt Disney showed humility in letting people at his studio make a movie like this. He loved the storybook romantic style as seen in “Snow White” & “Cinderella” and this film reflected 20^th Century art. He also was more interested in the theme parks, television and live-action films at this time. Walt Disney disliked Ken Anderson’s design work on this film. Walt really did not want to lose the romantic style that he loved but before Walt died, he and Anderson were silently able to make amends. Art is in the eye of the beholder and Disney had to accept that. The rest of the world had no problem with Anderson’s work as production designer and art director.

I still remember my cousins and I rolling around on the floor laughing at parts of this movie. It is funny, modern, dramatic and currently my favorite film of 1961. “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” represents Disney’s attempt to push technology further in his field. “The Sword in the Stone”, which was also a success, followed this film but Walt Disney after that movie saw the need to give more of his attention to the animation department. He died after producing “The Jungle Book”. “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” showed that modern art and thinking was being introduced at the Disney studio. This kind of style became staple after the death of Walt Disney up until the “Disney Renaissance”.

4 Stars