101 Dalmatians (1961)

When a litter of Dalmatian puppies are abducted by the minions of Cruella de Vil, the parents must find them before she uses them for a diabolical fashion statement.

Directors:

Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske (as Hamilton S. Luske)

Writers:

Bill Peet (story), Dodie Smith (novel)

Stars:

Rod Taylor, Betty Lou Gerson, J. Pat O'Malley

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rod Taylor	...	Pongo (voice)
J. Pat O'Malley	...	Colonel / Jasper (voice)
Betty Lou Gerson	...	Cruella De Vil / Miss Birdwell (voice)
Martha Wentworth	...	Nanny / Queenie / Lucy (voice)
Ben Wright	...	Roger (voice)
Cate Bauer	...	Perdita (voice)
David Frankham	...	Sgt. Tibs (voice) (as Dave Frankham)
Frederick Worlock	...	Horace / Inspector Craven (voice) (as Fred Worlock)
Lisa Davis	...	Anita (voice)
Tom Conway	...	Quizmaster / Collie (voice)
Tudor Owen	...	Towser (voice)
George Pelling	...	Danny (voice)
Ramsay Hill	...	Television Announcer / Labrador (voice)
Sylvia Marriott	...	(voice)
Queenie Leonard	...	Princess (voice)

Storyline

Pongo and Perdita have a litter of 15 puppies. Cruella De Vil takes a fancy to the pups, and wants to get hold of them, as well as more pups, to make herself a lovely dalmatian skin coat... Cruella hires some thugs to kidnap the pups and hold them at her mansion. Will Pongo and Perdita find them in time ?

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Plot Keywords:

puppy | dalmatian | dog | bark | rescue | 

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Taglines:

Walt Disney's new all-cartoon feature

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 January 1961 (USA)

Also Known As:

101 Dalmatians

Filming Locations:

Walt Disney Studios, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,389,226, 22 December 1985

Gross USA:

$144,880,014

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$215,880,014

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rod Taylor was one of the first voices cast.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 17 mins) In the final scenes everyone is hugging. When Roger and Anita hug there is no soot on Anita's back and yet Roger is covered.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Pongo: My story begins in London, not so very long ago. And yet so much has happened since then, that it seems more like an eternity.

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Crazy Credits

There are no end credits for this feature film. However, the credits are at the beginning.

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Connections

Referenced in Cheers: The Peterson Principle (1986)

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Soundtracks

Cruella De Vil
Written by Mel Leven
Performed by Bill Lee

User Reviews

This is the movie that introduced me to dalmatians

The 17th animated Disney classic is a less ambitious film comparing to earlier top Disney classics, but it is enjoyable enough anyway.

"Sleeping Beauty" nearly bankrupted the Disney studio. Perhaps because of this and also because other extremely expensive Disney classics were initially a failure, the Disney studio needed to make cheaper animated films in a try to recover financial costs. This one is cheaper and more simple in everything: story, designs, sceneries/backgrounds, colors, picture quality, characters, etc...

It certainly doesn't have "that" magic and attention to detail which makes Disney so legendary, but it doesn't deserve to be judged too hardly. It isn't Disney at its worst, very far from that! The animation is great as usual on Disney and this one also has lots of fun, entertainment, danger, adventure, darkness, classic humor and even some touching and depressing moments. The happy ending is another sign that it follows the Disney tradition.

Although the artwork is way cheaper-looking than in the most artistic Disney tales, is still in a good and acceptable level in many ways. It is basically the same artstyle we see in "The Sword in the Stone" and "The Jungle Book", for example. Simple and not extraordinary, but not as poor-looking as in "Oliver & Company". Just for the record, I consider "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" a better movie than "Oliver & Company", "The Jungle Book" and "The Sword in the Stone".

However, there is one thing which the artwork of this movie is brilliant: a brief scene which we can see the sparkling stars at night, with an impressing resemblance to the fabulous artwork of the best Disney classic ever, "Pinocchio".

The characters are very enjoyable in general. The most enjoyable are Roger, the Colonel, Sargent Tibs, Pongo, Perdita and those adorable 99 dalmatian puppies. All of the puppies are adorable.

By the way, the first time I saw dalmatians was in this movie. I didn't know that dog breed before, but ever since then they became one of my favorite dog breeds. They're such cute spotty dogs! I love dalmatians since I was a kid.

Returning to the conversation about the characters, Cruella DeVil isn't one of my favorite Disney villains and I personally don't consider her one of Disney's best villains, but she's one of the most eccentric and original. I like her red car, nevertheless. She's got a beautiful and fine automobile! Jasper and Horace are Cruella's sidekicks and they are funny in many moments. They are just as cruel and heartless as Cruella, but more comical. There are several hilarious moments with these two guys. It's so funny how the dalmatians (with the help of other animals) make their lives miserable, considering that they definitely deserve it. This only accents the comical effect.

Pongo, Roger, the Colonel and Sargent Tibs are equally humorous characters. In fact, Sargent Tibs (the cat) has always been one of my favorite characters from this movie. He's funny, smart, clever, well-mannered and cool.

This movie takes place in England. It takes us not only to London, but also to other places that must be not very far from London... or maybe they are. But wherever they are, those are all nice places, at least judging by the movie's perspective.

About the soundtrack, it is generally great too. "Cruella DeVil" is a delightful song (a perfect song for Cruella DeVil, describing her in perfection). "Dalmatian Plantation" is a catchy one. "Kanine Kruchies Jingle" is a lovely and cute song.

"One Hundred and One Dalmatians" had a "remake" in 1996, but as a live-action version. The live-action version/remake has amazing similarities to the animated version, being very faithful to it. Although the live-action version is okay, I rather the animated version with its simple and old-fashioned charm.

Overall, a charming Disney classic which might not be their best, but deserves its attention too. It also features the voice talents of many well-known Disney artists.

This should definitely be on Top 250.