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One Hundred and One Dalmatians

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:This article is about the animated film. See The Hundred and One Dalmatians for the original novel.

One Hundred and One Dalmatians
Directed byClyde Geronimi
Hamilton Luske
Wolfgang Reitherman
Written byDodie Smith (novel "The One Hundred and One Dalmatians")
Bill Peet (story)
Produced byWalt Disney
StarringRod 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 Baird
Mickey Maga
Sandra Abbott
Mimi Gibson
Barbara Luddy
Paul Frees
Music byGeorge Bruns
Mel Leven (songs)
Distributed byWalt Disney Pictures
Release dates
January 25, 1961
Running time
79 min
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4,000,000 USD (estimated)

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (often shortened as 101 Dalmatians) is the seventeenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. It was made and produced by Walt Disney Productions, and originally released to theaters on January 25, 1961 by Buena Vista Distribution. It is based on the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. It also appeared in 1961 as a Walt Disney comic book based on the animated film.

The film features Rod Taylor as the voice of Pongo, the first of the Dalmatians, and Betty Lou Gerson as the voice of the villainous Cruella De Vil. The plot centers on the fate of the kidnapped puppies of Pongo and Perdita.

History

Production

The film signaled a change in the graphic style of Disney's animation. This occurred with the introduction of Xerography which eased graphic reproduction requirements, but at the price of being unable to deviate from a scratchy outline style because of the new (and time and money saving) technology's limitations, recognizable by its thick black lines. This happened at the same time when there was cuts in the animation department at Disney after the economical failure of the very expensive Sleeping Beauty, resulting in a staff on 500 reduced to under 100 and less resources to be put into the movies. Although Walt Disney, who at this point had started to direct his attention more against television and his amusement park and less against his animated features, disliked this development, the look would be the norm for years until the technology improved prior to the release of The Rescuers to allow a softer look. By the time of The Black Cauldron, the Xeroxed lines could be printed in many different colors.

Re-release schedule and home video

The film was one of the studio's most popular films of the decade, and was re-issued in 1969, 1979, 1985, and 1991, the last re-issue being one of the top 10 films of the year at the box office in a year when the studio had few hits. The film was released on video in 1985 (using 1983 WDHV logo), 1992 (using 1988 Classics logo; it was also the first movie to have a new "Feature Presentation" graphic, with a lilac blue gradient background and white handwriting) and 1998 (using 1993 WDHV logo), and on DVD in 1999.

101 Dalmatians theatrical release history

Characters

  • Pongo: The protagonist and the father of the Dalmatian puppies
  • Perdita: Pongo's mate and the mother of the Dalmatian puppies
  • Roger: Pongo's owner, a struggling songwriter
  • Anita: Perdita's owner and Roger's wife
  • Cruella De Vil: The villain of the film; an eccentric rich woman who has the puppies kidnapped, so that she can turn them into fur coats
  • Jasper and Horace Badun: Cruella's henchmen, who carry out the kidnapping
  • Nanny: Roger and Anita's maid
  • Patch and Lucky: Two of the 99 Dalmatian puppies. Patch has a black eye; Lucky is obsessed with TV
  • Roly: Another puppy, always hungry
  • The Colonel, the Captain, and Sargeant Tibbs: A dog, a horse, and a cat who help mastermind a rescue mission to save the puppies from Cruella

Plot

After Roger and Anita (and Pongo and Perdita) get married, Perdita gives birth to 15 Dalmatian puppies. Cruella De Vil, a friend of Anita from their school years, offers the human couple a large sum of money in return for the puppies so that she can make dog-skin coats out of them. The human couple refuses, but Cruella, who won't take no for an answer, hires Jasper and Horace Badun to kidnap the puppies. Once the puppies are kidnapped, it is up to Pongo and Perdita (with the help of some animal friends they meet along the way) to rescue them along with the 84 other puppies in Cruella's possession.

Trivia

  • Much as clownfish were later popularized in Finding Nemo, the movie popularized the Dalmatian breed. Many families sought Dalmatians, although Dalmatians are not known for being particularly good with children (they are very high-energy and require a lot of exercise), so many were returned or abandoned. The breed also suffered due to backyard breeders looking to profit from the trend.
  • Cruella's car in this film was not a Panther De Ville Convertible. Although they look similar, the car was not produced until 12 years after the film's release.
  • Cruella De Vil's name is a play on words to sound like her personality: Cruel Devil.
  • When the Baduns are talking on the phone to Cruella, they are holding a newspaper. The only headline on the front page (minus the dognapping) is CARLSEN SPEAKS, and a picture of a capsized ship. This helps us to date the story, since the Carlsen in question is Henrik Kurt Carlsen, captain of the freighter Flying Enterprise, which sank after a prolonged struggle in the Atlantic. This was the media event of the year in January 1952.
  • Cruella was designed as a manic take-off on the flamboyant actress Tallulah Bankhead, as well as some of her personality quirks.
  • The puppies can be seen watching What's My Crime?, a parody version of What's My Line? on television when Pongo and Perdita arrive to rescue them.
  • Two of the local yokels of Westport from the Disney short, The Saga of Windwagon Smith, which was released the same year as this film, resemble the Baduns.
  • In the film, there were seven occasions in which someone is called an idiot: Cruella calls Roger and Anita idiots, Cruella calls the Baduns idiots twice, Jasper calls Horace an idiot twice, Anita calls Roger an idiot, and Roger calls Pongo an old idiot — not to mention the use of various other insults, including "witch", "devil", "clod", "blockhead", "fool", "imbecile", "twerp", "lummox", "weasel", "scoundrel", "horrid man", and "crazy woman driver".
  • Unlike other Walt Disney Animated Features, One Hundred and One Dalmations only features one song in it, "Cruella De Vil." Even then, this song isn't sung to its entirety. The only other one that comes close is Dalmation Plantation, which only contains two lines and is sung as a closer.
File:101dvdcover.jpg
1999 DVD cover of 101 Dalmatians.
  • In the Squaresoft game Kingdom Hearts, the Dalmatian's world has been destroyed, and Pongo and Perdita are, at first, the only residents in the mansion where they stay in Traverse Town. The puppies are scattered throughout the worlds inside treasure chests, and every time a bunch are brought back, they give rewards for the help.

Titles in different languages

  • Cantonese: 寶貝歷險記
  • Catalan: 101 Dàlmates
  • Croatian: 101 dalmatiner
  • Danish: 101 Dalmatinere - Hund og hund imellem
  • Dutch: 101 Dalmatiërs
  • Finnish: Lupsakkaat Luppakorvat (later re-named 101 Dalmatialaista)
  • French: Les 101 Dalmatiens
  • German: 101 Dalmatiner (also known as Pongo und Perdita)
  • Greek: 101 Σκυλιά Δαλματίας (literally 101 Dogs of Dalmatia)
  • Hungarian: 101 kiskutya (literally 101 little puppies)
  • Italian: La Carica dei 101
  • Japanese: 101匹わんちゃん (Hyaku-ippiki Wan-chan)
  • Mandarin Chinese: 101忠狗 (101 loyal dogs)
  • Norwegian: En sjarmør i pels (later 101 Dalmatinere: En sjarmør i pels)
  • Portuguese: Os 101 Dálmatas
  • Polish: 101 Dalmatyńczyków
  • Russian: 101 далматинца
  • Serbian: 101 Dalmatinac
  • Spanish: 101 Dálmatas (Spain); 101 Dálmatas: La Noche de las Narices Frías, or Night Of The Cold Noses (Latin America)
  • Swedish: Pongo och de 101 dalmatinerna (re-released as Pongo och valptjuvarna)
  • Turkish: 101 Dalmaçyalı

Voice cast

File:Movies cruella.jpg
Cruella DeVil, Jasper, and Horace.
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