Sleeping Beauty almost closed Walt Disney Animation studios. It was an expensive film that made big losses. With higher revenue coming from live action films that were cheaper to make, a major change needed to happen if animation was to stay alive.
From this necessity, a pioneering technique known as the Xerox process was introduced. What followed was cheaper looking films but profits once again returned. 101 Dalmatians changed the style of animation for decades to come, but it enabled the studios to continue working, even if it meant a loss of nearly 80% of its staff.
The Plot
When Pongo decides that his human needs a companion, he does his best to match him up with a dog owner. After checking out a few different breeds, he tangles his lead around a fellow Dalmatian owner. With the humans, Roger and Anita, falling in love, their Dalmatians, Pongo and Purdita, do the same.
It isn’t long before the dogs give birth to puppies, 15 in total. During the birth one of the puppies struggles to live but Roger manages to revive the pup and he is called Lucky.
It isn’t long before news gets out of the puppies arrival and an old school friend of Anita’s, Cruella De Vil, arrives. She is offended that the puppies do not have their own spots but is told that they come later. Upon hearing this she offers to buy all 15 puppies. Roger orders her out of the house and tells her the pups are not for sale.
Over the coming months, the puppies find their spots and enjoy their life around the house. That is, until one night whilst Roger and Anita are away, two men enter. They lock up Nanny who is looking after the house and dogs. When she gets out, she finds the puppies gone.
With the need to find their young, it isn’t long before Pongo and Purdita run away. They use a system called the twilight bark. Various dogs pass on the message as they howl into the night. Eventually the message arrives at a farm.
The animals at the farm recall barking from the old De Vil house. With the puppies’ lives at stake, they form a rescue party.
Within the house, the dogs are watching television with the two kidnappers. Cruella enters and orders that the puppies be killed to make her a fur coat.
After a nasty chase around the house, the puppies manage to escape, however, rather than the 15 mentioned in the Twilight bark, there are now 99.
Pongo and Purdita arrive to help and they agree to take the puppies back with them.
At the farm, the dogs feed from the milk of cows and nestle down in the hay. The weather begins to get bad as it is the middle of winter and the next morning they continue their journey.
Arriving at a small village, the dogs soon find out that Cruella and her henchmen are there too. Advised by a Labrador that there is a moving van travelling to the Dalmatian’s home town, they devise a plan. Disguising themselves as Labradors with black soot, the dogs nearly get away with loading up the puppies on the truck. It is unfortunate that the melting snow washes off the soot, revealing their true breed.
Cruella is furious and chases the moving van in her car. With a dangerous pursuit of the van, a mad Cruella is run off the road by her bumbling henchman.
Back at home, Anita and Roger are amazed when a large group of Labradors enter the house. AS the true breed is revealed, they count the dogs. Will 99 puppies and 2 adult dogs, it brings the total to 101 Dalmatians. Roger, being a songwriter, has written a hit song and he uses royalties to purchase a larger house to run a Dalmatian Plantation.
Before the Film
It is quite unusual for Disney to produce a film which is set in a contemporary setting. Dumbo was the first, as shown by newspaper clipping within the film, 101 Dalmatians became the second. The film is based on a book by Dodie Smith, released in 1956. A year later, Walt read the book and immediately went about getting the film rights. Smith had secretly hoped that Disney would make her book into a film and was delighted that the option had been taken up. Bill Peet became the writer and in doing so, became the first solitary writer for a Disney Animated film.
Many changes were made to the original story, Cruella no longer had a husband or a cat and Purdita was actually a merger between two female dogs. The original manuscript was hand written as Peet didn’t know how to use a typewriter. When the screenplay was finished it was ultimately typed for Disney who commissioned Peet to start Storyboarding the film. Walt’s attention had wavered from animated features, he had just opened Disneyland in California and his live action films were gaining momentum. With this being said, he still attended storyboard meetings for the animated films. Smith was sent some drawing of the characters, which she loved, claiming they were better than the ones in the book. With everything ready in regards of characters and story, all that remained was how the film would be made.
A New Process
Sleeping beauty had crippled the studios, producing animation was expensive as it was and the level of detail that Disney required of his films only pushed costs up. If animation was to continue, a cheaper way needed to be found. Ub Iwerks had been experimenting with a new process that copied animators’ drawing directly onto the cell. This reduced the need for the inkers. The process was used in Sleeping Beauty but for a very limited amount of work. Although saving time and money, it did cost jobs and the thick lines that came from the inkers were replaced by a grainy and jiggered line. This meant that the style of animation needed to be altered slightly; the once curved lines were now replaced with sharper edges. The process also kept all of the sketch marks that the artists left behind. Normally these would be removed in the inking process, in later years the sketches would be rubbed out before the Xerox process.
The new process worked for this film, a story about fashion and relevant trends benefited from the stylised character designs and the style of the background worked alongside the late 1950s-early 1960s art movement.
The Cast
Pongo appears to be the lead in the film, although there is a series of characters that are pushed to the forefront throughout the film. Rod Taylor, who voiced the narrating canine, was on his way to building a strong career at the time of the film’s release. Being born in Australia, his CV was built up of various mediums in the country. His work won him an award that gave him a ticket to London via LA, a trip he didn’t complete as he stayed on in Los Angeles. On television, he went on to appear on some of the bigger shows of the time including The Twilight Zone. After 101 Dalmatians, his career continued, appearing in the Alfred Hitchcock film ‘The Birds’. He was also offered the role of the first James Bond but turned it down as he felt it beneath him, in interviews he stated he regretted the decision every time a new Bond film became a blockbuster hit.
Pongo’s partner, Purdita, is voiced by Cate Bauer. Her career is not as varied or as big as Taylor’s. Her most noticeable role is that of Purdita. Playing the puppies, Rolly and Lucky are Texas born Barbara Baird, and Mimi Gibson. Both have appeared in other films as children and remain two of the few surviving cast members.
J. Pat O’Malley is one of those recognisable voices from this era of Disney Animated films. Appearing as the Colonel and Jasper in 101 Dalmatians, his vocal talents can be heard in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad, Alice in Wonderland, Song of the South, The Jungle Book and finally Robin Hood. He also provided voices for Mary Poppins. It is stated by Dick Van Dyke that O’Malley was his vocal coach for the film. O’Malley would appear on The Dick Van Dyke show later. Born in England to an Irish Family, O’Malley travelled to America as part of a band, when that fell through he found work as a character actor. He passed away in 1985.
Sergeant Tibbs is played by David Frankham, continuing the tradition; Frankham was also born in the UK. He worked in many roles such as Directing, Producing, New Reader and writer before moving to America. His work included appearances in many well known shows such as The Waltons and Star Trek. He appeared in a few films but rarely worked for Disney.
Tudor Owen appeared as Towser in the film, his film work was extensive at the time and he would work on a future Disney Animated film, The Sword in the Stone.
Away from the Animals, cast members for the human characters included Lisa Davis as Anita. Davis appeared in 26 films throughout her career, her final film role was the uncredited voice of Woody Woodpecker in Disney’s ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ Ben Wright voiced Roger; he starred in many films and television programs other than 101 Dalmatians. Roles in US hits such as Bonanza, The Twilight Zone and Cleopatra put his face into the public eye. His most famous onscreen role is perhaps that of Herr Zeller in The Sound of Music. He returned to Disney in The Jungle Book and for his final film role, Grimsby in The Little Mermaid. He died in 1989 before the release of the latter.
The stereotypical housemaid, Nanny, was surprisingly played by one of the few American actors in the film. Martha Wentworth played two other roles in 101 Dalmatians, Lucy the Goose and Queenie the Cow. She returned to Disney two years later in, what would become her final role, Madame Mim in The Sword in the Stone.
Betty Lou Gerson was a well known radio performer, appearing in many dramas and soap operas at the time. Her first involvement with Disney came when she played the Narrator in Cinderella. Eleven years later, she voiced a character that would result in her being honoured as a Disney Legend in 1996. The heavy smoking, dog murdering, fashion conscious Cruella De Vil would become one of the highly regarded Disney Villains. The character would become a cult figure and will have her own live action film. On the television program ‘What’s My Crime?’ Gerson also provides the voice of Miss Birdwell. Gerson would return to Disney one further time, in Mary Poppins as an old crone.
The Dogs
Animating Dalmatians would have seemed like a nightmare, however a plan of action was developed that took guidance from the stars. Each dog would have a defining spot, then, much like a constellation of stars, the others would be added around this spot. The Xerox process made it easier to complete this as cells from certain puppies could be reused for others, this saving more time and money. Chuck Jones comments how these methods combined saved money and made the project achievable.
Cruella
As with previous animations, live actors were employed as references for the characters. Walt insisted that this happed as it took out an element of mistakes that would cost time and money. This process was not new, in fact, Helene Stanley, who performed as Anita, had already been references for Cinderella and Princess Aurora. Mary Wickes, who was the live reference for Cruella, was more noted for her roles as prim and professional women. She was no stranger in film and television, having supporting roles throughout the time; she even appeared in a Mickey Mouse Club episode.
Some animators were not fond of this way of animating but others agreed later that it was the right thing to do.
Marc Davis was the sole animator for Cruella De Vil. He is remembered as one of the 9 old men, and his talent goes beyond the animation of characters. He also designed rides for the Disney parks and searched for stories for Walt to make into films. He states that Cruella was based on a few women but mainly Bette Davis, he also took further influence from the voice actress Betty Lou Gerson. He described her voice as the greatest thing he has ever had to work with. Cruella’s image was based on the illustration within the book; however the hair was adapted along with the exaggerated coat. Davis claims that he used red for the lining as ‘there’s a devil image involved.’
Cruella would influence other animators and characters; it is well known that she inspired the look of Madam Medusa in The Rescuers. She continues to be one of the scariest characters in a Disney film and is well known by many, often being imitated at Halloween.
Other Animation Techniques
The film reused stock footage of snowflakes originally filmed for Bambi. The footage is actually Corn Flakes falling. The footage was filmed in slow motion and in black and white; it was then turned into a negative so the black corn flakes appeared white. This footage appears in many Disney Animated classics and can certainly be found in any snowy scene for nearly the first 50 years.
Polystyrene also took the place of snow when Cruella’s car crashes into the snow drift. A card cut-out of the car with black lines around the edges was filmed driving into a mound of Polystyrene. With some movie trickery and the rest of the picture being coloured in, the scene fits seamlessly into the film. However, the snow does look a lot blacker than normal when the snow falls over the car.
The Date
The majority of the film is set in winter. At the beginning of the film; October is stated as the month the puppies were born. There is also a newspaper article that states the year as 1959. With the time taken for Dalmatians to grow their spots and the snow, it can be assumed that the film mainly takes place in the December of 1959.
Controversy
Killing puppies to make them into a coat does seem a little bit farfetched by today’s standards however at the time the book was written, fur coats were still the height of expensive fashion, being seen as a symbol of status. Whilst this seems the most likely candidate for worry by the production, it wasn’t. The scene where the dogs are seen to get married alongside their owners may have caused offence in its original format. Instead the ceremony was dumbed down and many religious aspects removed.
The Songs
Unusually for a Disney film, 101 Dalmatians has very little songs. Other than ‘Cruella De Vil’, the only other two songs featured are the jingle for Kanine Krunches and the two lines sung by Roger of Dalmatian Plantation. Further songs were written, one that would be sung by the dogs as part of their struggle to get home and another when they escape Cruella by van, as well as a further one sung by the henchmen as they plan to kill the puppies at the mansion. All were removed. The Cruella De Vil song was composed in 45 minutes through a meeting with Walt after the other two versions of the song didn’t meet the mark. Kanine Krunches is sung by Lucille Bliss, the voice of Anastasia in Cinderella.
Hidden Mickeys
Although Mickey doesn’t turn up in the film, many characters for Lady and the Tramp do. Both Titular Characters appear in the streets of London, Peg makes an appearance in a shop window and Trusty and Jock are part of the Twilight Bark. This makes a lovely cameo appearance for all the characters; however, the time difference between the settings of the two films would mean these dogs shouldn’t be alive in 101 Dalmatians. The cartoon that Horace and Jasper watch is actually a Disney Silly Symphony short.
After the Film
101 Dalmatians is one of Disney’s most loved and well utilised films. Appearances within the parks may be scarce, usually Cruella appears for meet and greets and parades, but the other elements rarely show up other than in gardens. However, they have been the most popular in terms of what has been done with the franchise since. A straight to video sequel was released in 2003; it focused on one of the puppies, Patch, meeting his hero. The film has mixed reviews. The style for the animation of the film, updated to fit trends of the time, is taken from the 1990s television series. It follows directly after the original 101 Dalmatians film.
A further television series was made in 2019; 101 Dalmatian Street is loosely based on elements from the original film. The main Characters, Dylan and Dolly, are descendants of Pongo and Perdita. They both look after their 97 younger siblings.
The 1990s were a reboot, not only for Disney Animation, but for 101 Dalmatians as well. Alongside the television series, the original film was re-released in cinemas, had VHS releases and a live action remake.
The remake, starring Gwen Close as Cruella, retold the story with very few tweaks to the overall story, however, none of the animals spoke. The success of the film gained the franchise a live action sequel in 2000, 102 Dalmatians.
Disney haven’t done either, they announced that there would be a live action spin off film starring Emma Stone as Cruella De vil. The film was set for release in 2020 but has been pushed back and is set to star Emma Thompson, Paul Walter Hauser and Joel Fry.
The Disney Channel Original Movie, Descendants, and its two sequels, features the children of Disney’s most loved Villains. All three films feature Carlos, the son of Cruella.
Release and Reception
The film turned around the huge losses from Sleeping Beauty and became one of the best loved Disney Animated films of all time. Reviews at the time were extremely high and continue to get highly regarded reviews to this day. Walt Disney was not a fan of the background art or the animation style. At the time of the making the film he concluded that the artist, Ken Anderson, would not return to do another film. However, years later, when that artist met Walt, Walt said very little but Anderson understood that he was forgiven. Walt left and never returned as he died shortly after. Dodie Smith, however, praised the background work and the animation. She and Walt began a correspondence throughout the film process and the relationship between the two was as dear friends and colleagues. The film became the most popular that year in France, it also ranked 10th on their all-time list. Including inflation and all re-release figures, the film falls short of making $1Billlion, coming in at $900,254,400. This makes it within the top 50 highest grossing films of all time.
Cruella was voted 39th on the AFI list of 100 Heroes and Villains.
Video Games
Six video games have been released in total. The first in 1997, 101 Dalmatians Print Studio, was part of a series of games released by Disney Interactive. Two games were created that linked into the Live Action remake of 1996, Disney’s Animated Storybook: 101 Dalmatians was the first, released in 1997. The storybook range retold the story but with interactive games and songs. The second, also by Disney Interactive was called 101 Dalmatians: Escape from De Vil Manor. This game was based on the live action film; however the animation designs were based on the original 1961 film. Disney then released 2 games based on the Live action sequel, 102 Dalmatians. Both released in 2000, they were called 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the rescue and 102 Dalmatians Activity Centre. The latter was part of Disney’s Activity Centre range. The former was released on Sega Dreamcast and Sony Playstation.
Exclusive to North America in 2003, the final game released was 101 Dalmatians 2: Patch’s London Adventure. This was not developed by Disney Interactive and only released on Playstation. The game focused on the Direct to Video Sequel released in the same year.
The Books
Although the film is based on the original 101 Dalmatians book by Dodie Smith, there is a sequel available that hasn’t been picked up. 11 years after the original book’s release, and 6 years after the film, The Starlight Barking is a completely different story to the original. It does feature the characters from 101 Dalmatians but takes a more SciFi approach. With all the humans in a deep sleep, the dogs take it upon themselves to find out what is going on. After checking on Cruella, they arrive at Nelson’s Column, only to find Sirius, lord of the Dog Star. The dogs work together to avoid a nuclear war, the humans wake up and the strays decide to take refuge in Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. Although both the Animation and the Live Action both have sequels, Disney has not used elements from this book in either. Walt had expressed an interest in doing another project with Smith’s writing, although there is no known evidence that the sequel book was ever picked up by the company or if Disney was aware of it before his death a year before its publication.
Merchandise
Throughout the parks and the stores, merchandise for the dogs and Cruella can be found in various different forms. Most commonly a plush item, variations of the puppies have been made over the years. Cruella can be found on various different Villains merchandise. In the 1990s a range of plastic Dalmatians were released in McDonalds Happy Meals. Fans could pick up the normal versions of the puppies or the Christmas alterations released later. 101 figures were released, also from McDonalds, a selection of Snow globes were also for sale in 1996.
The film is noted as being one of the most loved family films of all time. Often played on television over Christmas, the fun and excitement has been enjoyed by new generations. The lack of songs has meant it hasn’t been as prominent as other films from the studios in music releases but Cruella De Vil is a song known by all. The Change of animation divides fans, some like the style and do not mind the sketch lines showing through, whereas other prefer the crisp pictures. Many of the sketch lines have been taken out for DVD and Bluray releases, this leaves behind a clearer picture. Without this new animation technique, Disney animation could have stopped at Sleeping Beauty. The process would be perfected further over the next two decades and the new animation style would be synonymous with the era. Disney animation was saved, but there would be a stormy future ahead. Walt Disney was within the last 5 years of his life, his health and enjoyment of projects elsewhere would take him away from animation. The following stories made before his death, The Sword in the Stone and The Jungle Book would be the end of an era for Disney. The Disney Dark Ages were looming closer and closer, many people feel the Xerox process was the beginning of this time.
Families have enjoyed the film, sequels, spin offs and remakes for years to come and it is a true testimony, not only to Walt, but to his team of pioneers, animators, directors and songwriters that this film remains a success. It is also down to the simple yet imaginative story by Dodie Smith that started it all, the dogs in this film will always be the pinnacle of Disney Dogs and Cruella will always be one of the scariest villains of all time.