One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske & Wolfgang Reitherman. Starring (voices) Rod Taylor, Ben Wright, Cate Bauer, Lisa Davis, Betty Lou Gerson, J. Pat O’Malley, Frederick Worlock, Martha Wentworth, David Frankham, Tudor Owen, George Pelling, Thurl Ravenscroft. [G]

Dodie Smith’s children’s book about a bounty of spotted pups being kidnapped for their beautiful coats makes for a charming Disney adventure, if not always consistent. The evil plot is, of course, on the barmy and barbarous side—over a hundred Dalmatians stolen and murdered to make a luxurious fur coat for a woman who personally knows the caretaker of more than a dozen of them?—but the puppies are cute and the slinky sadist, Cruella de Vil, is one of the most flamboyant and selfish baddies in the studio’s history, so just go with it. At its best when 101 are just 17, and even better when it’s just one, as the extended prologue showing Dalmatian father-to-be Pongo scheming to get his master a mate is its most endearing sequence; the stuff with the bumbling burglars is an old hat brand of slapstick, and the rescue led by varied animals with colorful personalities comes off sometimes as just a rehash of similar bits from Lady and the Tramp. Comes together at the end with an exciting chase sequence, but gentle humor and black & white values and furry coats are where this little winner shines. Although cost-cutting measures were implemented to avoid the same initial financial failure of Sleeping Beauty, this picboasts one of the most stylish title sequences among the Disney animated classics. Followed many years later by multiple video store sequels, television series, and live-action remakes starring Glenn Close, the first of now many cross-media remakes from Disney. Cruella de Vil also got her own live-action spinoff “origin story” in 2021 with (what else?) Cruella.

75/100