101 Dalmations (1961)
 This
full-length cartoon from the Walt Disney studios is a beautifully
animated version of Dodie Smith's classic children's tale.
The adorable spotty dogs of the title, and a host of other
animals, cause havoc in London and the countryside as they try to
escape from Cruella de Vil, the most memorable Disney female
villain since the witch in Snow White.
Our canine hero and narrator is a spotted pooch named Pongo,
who lives with his songwriting human, Roger Radcliff. The two men
need love, and Pongo spots potential mates in the lovely Anita and
the equally fetching Dalmatian Perdita.
Pongo forces a rendezvous in the park that culminates with a
spill into a nearby brook, and soon the two couples are wed.
Married life brings happiness for Roger and Anita and a litter
of fifteen puppies for Pongo and Perdita. The Dalmatianlings are
an adorable lot, but Roger's meagre earnings won't support such a
huge family.
Enter Cruella de Vil, a cigarette-smoking toothpick of a woman
with a huge fur coat and a half-black/half-white coif. The
sneering society gal offers to take the puppies off the Radcliffs'
hands, but Roger smells a skunk-haired rat. Undeterred, Cruella
sends henchmen Horace and Jasper to pilfer the pups while the
adults (except the spirited but overpowered Nanny) are away.
When Pongo and Perdy discover their brood is missing, they send
out a "Twilight Bark", a relay system of woofs that
reaches the ears of country canine The Colonel. Together with a
horse called The Captain and a cat named Tibbs, The Colonel finds
the pups, along with eighty-four other stolen Dalmatians, whose
pelts the wicked Cruella is planning to sew into a fur coat.
Dog, horse, cat and Dalmatian parents team up for a daring
rescue, only to find themselves caught in a life-or-death chase
with Cruella and her thugs.
101 Dalmatians was a mammoth hit for Disney, finding
eager new Dalmatian disciples with each re-release.
The multiple pup effects were achieved by means of the new (at
the time) technology of Xeroxography, which allowed animators to
duplicate pups rather than hand draw the entire legion.
Although the movie featured fewer songs than most Disney
animated features, Roger's improvised Cruella de Vil
(actually written by Mel Leven) provided some musical oomph to the
proceedings.
More importantly, the music wasn't really necessary, as Ms. De
Vil herself could carry the weight of the entire production on her
own bony shoulders. The masterfully deranged aristocrat was an
inspired invention, one that provided the model for countless
villainesses that followed.
In 1996, Disney released a live action version of the film,
with Glenn Close in the villainess role. The following year
brought the debut of 101 Dalmatians: The Series, which took
the Radcliffs and pups to the countryside for weekly comic
adventures.
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