101 Dalmatians – 101 Dalmatians (1961)

Directed by: Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wolfgang Reitherman | 79 minutes | animation, comedy, family | Original voice cast: Rod Taylor, Betty Lou Gerson, Cate Bauer, Lisa Daniels, Ben Wright, Frederick Worlock, Lisa Davis, Martha Wentworth, J. Pat O’Malley, Tudor Owen, Tom Conway, George Pelling, Thurl Ravenscroft, David Frankham, Ramsay Hill, Queenie Leonard, Marjorie Bennett, Barbara Beaird, Mickey Maga, Sandra Abbott, Mimi Gibson, Barbara Luddy, Paul Frees, Lucille Bliss, Bob Stevens, Max Smith, Sylvia Marriott, Dal McKennon, Rickie Sorensen, Basil Ruysdael, Don Barclay , Jeanne Bruns, Bill Lee, Helene Stanley, Paul Wexler, Mary Wickes | Dutch voice cast: Tuffie Vos, Stan Limburg, Marcel Maas, Beatrijs Sluijter, Gerrie van der Kleij, Rudi Falkenhagen, Paul van Gorcum, Lies de Wind, Hero Muller, Ger Smit, Olaf Wijnants, Kim Roest, Nick Lommerse

‘101 dalmatiers’. The live action films that appeared in 1996 and 2000 – starring Glenn Close – make you almost forget that the first film version is an animated film from 1961, in turn based on Dodie Smith’s novel of the same name. It was a break with what came before in several ways. The story and setting were more modern, the animation style was less colorful and romantic, and there were hardly any songs, with the exception of the memorable “Cruella De Vil”, while the background music was jazzy rather than lyrical. And of course there were suddenly more than a hundred characters who played a central role in the film. Just see how it integrates economically and compellingly into the story. All this may take some getting used to, but all the style choices turn out well. And the story may not be as gripping as it could have been, with all those cute dogs and the amusing villain Cruella De Vil, ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’ is a Disney film, stylistically as well as emotionally appealing.

Hundreds and one dalmatians on screen at once: what an impossible task to animate them all; not only sitting quietly together, but also in action scenes. Not to mention the millions of black dots. At that time, there was no Massive computer program with which characters could be multiplied but with which each individual figure could be given its own will. Fortunately, the animators of ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’ were able to use another, revolutionary technique at the time: xerography, with which the original drawings were printed directly on the cell and could be easily reproduced. The advantage was that not every drawing had to be traced separately and that the artists themselves saw their original work directly on the screen, right down to the last “imperfect” sketch line. Despite Walt Disney’s initial objections that it isn’t tight enough, this adds charm to the animations, as if the characters are literally emerging right before the eyes of the viewer. Disney was also not initially enthusiastic about the backgrounds of the idiosyncratic painter Walt Peregoy, who worked with coarse areas of color in which lines were later drawn to represent the objects. But rather than characterizing this style as dull or easygoing, as some film critics do, it should clearly be seen as an artistic choice. Surely this two-dimensional look has an interesting abstract quality to it.

The setting and the period of the film are modern and for once there has been no recourse to fairy tales and stories with princes and princesses. The story of ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’ (mostly) takes place in the city and the human protagonists are ordinary citizens walking down the street with their dogs. The situations and problems are also recognizable. The characters just watch TV in their row houses and have to deal with break-ins. Of course, Cruella De Vil’s desire to make a fur coat of Dalmatians is quite unusual and her character is larger-than-life but that’s normal in these kinds of movies. Cruella is a delightful villain, who comes into the room with a lot of bombast and clad in an extravagant fur cloak, puffing heavily on her cigarette while a large cloud of yellow smoke hangs around her. She is also superbly voiced by Betty Lou Gerson who takes great pleasure in shaping her mocking smile and condescending attitude.

Then, of course, there are the dogs themselves. Roger’s dog Pongo – whom he calls his pet – is disarming from the start with his enthusiastic look and tongue hanging out of his mouth. His behavior is especially contagious, especially when he follows the passing Dalmatian Perdita and her mistress in the park to arrange a kind of double date. He tries to walk nonchalantly with Roger along the bench where Anita is sitting with Perdita in order to be noticed by his love object(s). And this works: both Anita and Perdita carefully follow Roger and Pongo with their eyes and then quickly look ahead again when they look back at the passers-by. Classic infatuation behavior. And the fun animation makes the viewer feel compassion. Pongo’s cheerful looks, Perdita’s kiss/lick when Pongo worries about the puppies and the drooping eyelids, and the slow drop of Pongo’s paw down to Roger’s knee as he tries to resuscitate a presumed stillborn puppy… it’s all very subtle and beautifully animated. Furthermore, the scenes with the fifteen puppies are very cute. It is very amusing when they all watch their favorite adventure series with the shepherd Thunderbolt in the lead and the little dogs fully empathize with the main character – then hiding behind a chair or barking furiously at the screen when the villain is on screen. And of course the dog alarm – “the twilight bark” – is very much liked. The dogs from all over the city (and beyond), and even some farm animals, are brought in to find the kidnapped puppies, just like what happened to the cats in ‘Minoes’. This sequence also features some dogs from other Disney movies, including the Lady and the Tramp.

However, not everything about the film is equally captivating. The human “heroes” are of little interest as characters, although the scene where Cruella first enters Roger and Anita and Roger from his attic is irritating Cruella with his stamping and blowing his trumpet is very amusing. The story is also very brief and has few surprises. The dogs are kidnapped and need to be rescued, all in a fairly straightforward fashion. This shouldn’t be a problem if you were really tense as a viewer, but this is never really the case. The threat of Cruella’s henchmen is not made tangible and the dogs are rarely in real danger. Fortunately, Cruella herself still makes the viewer sit up, because her manic behavior really makes you believe that she is capable of atrocities. But she too cannot generate enough tension.

Fortunately, the overall tone of the film, including George Bruns’ smooth jazzy music, is appealing and the dogs are funny and endearing – after all, who can resist the pathetic puppy Lucky, who, on his journey in the snow, notices to his father that he is completely frozen? is: his nose, his tail, his toes… all “froze”. ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’ has not become a classic like ‘Snow White’ or ‘Pinocchio’, but it is certainly a successful animation film. Disney has taken a bold new direction in the film’s story context and style, and another timeless villain has been added to the list of memorable Disney villains in the form of the sarcastic, flamboyant Cruella De Vil.