One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1971)
"Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians" is delightful, cheerful and a joy to experience all the way." -Vincent Candy of New York Times, December 15th 1971
"One Hundred and One Dalmatians wold work better if it was fully animated, the live-action humans don't work well with the animated animals." -Pauline Kael of The New Yorker, December 18th 1971
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In 1961, Walt was in negotiations to purchase P.L Travers' Mary Poppins books for a live-action/animation hybrid feature. Because previous attempts to do so were shot down horrendously by Travers herself, Walt was uncertain that he would succeed. Even though Travers would allow Walt to produce a Mary Poppins feature, a back-up plan was created in case Travers say no once more. The children's novel "The One Hundred and One Dalmatians" by Dodie Smith was published in 1956, the novel was brought to Walt's attention in 1957. Walt subsequently purchased the rights to the novel but couldn't figure out a proper re-work for the film in time. Walt shelved the film for a later date and decided that "Peter Pan" would take the 1961 release window instead. Meanwhile "The One Hundred and One Dalmatians" will be brought up sparingly as a potential back-up plan in case Mary Poppins never comes to reality.
Despite the film being shelved for almost a decade, the first story meetings actually took place during the late 1950s. Storyboards and the first few songs were composed before Walt ultimately halted production. Walt wasn't as enthusiastic as he was with "Mary Poppins", to quote Richard Sherman "Disney had fell asleep in his chair during one of our meetings, he might have been tired that day." By April 1966, Walt put "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" back into production as live-action/animation hybird. Walt's involvement in "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" was minimal, he only supervised the live-action scenes and had no involvement with animation at all. 8 months later, Walt died and production had to carry on without him.
After Walt's untimely death, production once again stalled and halted. By 1968, the contract with the Sherman Brothers was running out and development had to continue lest the film was to be scrapped entirely. Through 1969 to 1971, the Sherman Brothers re-worked most songs and included scrapped song from "Mary Poppins" which had released in 1964 well before "One Hundred and One Dalmatians". Live-action filming took place during mid-1970 in Dorset England, as well as other locations such as London. All animal characters (1) which included the titular dalmatians themselves were animated, all animated work was complete in June 1971, and remaining work in general wrapped up by August, two months before the film's premiere.
The story was as follows: Songwriter Roger Radcliffe desperately needs a big hit. Radcliffe and his dalmatianPongo walk at the park one day for inspiration and run into Anita and her dalmatian Missis. They fall in love and soon Pongo and Missis are expecting a litter of 15 puppies. All this only attracts Anita's high school classmate Cruella De Vil, who demands that she purchases the puppies to make a unique fur coat. Cruella wouldn't take no for an answer and she soon employs burglars Jasper and Horace to kidnap the puppies. When the humans couldn't track down the puppies, Pongo and Missis alert canine gossip patrol Twilight Bark and its leader sheep dog Colonel as well as feline assistant Sergeant Tibbs to save the puppies. Tibbs and Colonel track down De Vil and find 86 more dalmatin puppies. What happens next is a series of battles and chases which leads to a car chase between Cruella and the dalmatians who stow away on a truck.
"One Hundred and One Dalmatians" premiered in October of 1971. Receptionwise, the film received postive to mixed reviews. The film's story and songs received praise, msot notably about its balance of family-friendliness and melodramatic chase scenes. Most criticisms were directed to the mix of live-action and animation, fans today generally give praise to the animated segments and believe that the film would've been better if the film was strictly animated with no live-action scenes. Cruella De Vil would gain immense popularity and would become one of the most iconic Disney villains, making frequent appearances in Disney Parks and performances. Despite not being a part of the Animated Canon, "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" is a classic in its own right.
Release Date: October 7th 1971
Live-Action Cast:
Roddy McDowall (Roger Radcliffe)
Lisa Davis (Anita Radcliffe)
Angela Lansbury (Nanny)
Betty Lou Gerson (Cruella De Vil)
Animated Cast:
Rod Taylor (Pongo)
Debbie Reynolds (Missis)
J Pat O'Malley (Jasper) (1)
Mel Blanc (Horace, Colonel) (1)
David Frankham (Sergeant Tibbs)
Notable Songs:
Cruella De Vil (sung by Roger to mock Cruella, also composed by Roger in-universe)
The Beatiful Briny (sung by Pongo and Missis at the end of the film)
(1) Jasper and Horace are animated unlike the other humans
Notes: Before I re-arranged everything on the list of films, One Hundred and One Dalmatians was originally slated to be a 1990s film. Here it's a live-action/animation hybrid, with the animals plus Jasper and Horace being animated while everything else is live-action. I decided to include Missis from the original novel here and keep Cruella De Vil as a villain song due to how iconic it is.
"One Hundred and One Dalmatians wold work better if it was fully animated, the live-action humans don't work well with the animated animals." -Pauline Kael of The New Yorker, December 18th 1971
---
In 1961, Walt was in negotiations to purchase P.L Travers' Mary Poppins books for a live-action/animation hybrid feature. Because previous attempts to do so were shot down horrendously by Travers herself, Walt was uncertain that he would succeed. Even though Travers would allow Walt to produce a Mary Poppins feature, a back-up plan was created in case Travers say no once more. The children's novel "The One Hundred and One Dalmatians" by Dodie Smith was published in 1956, the novel was brought to Walt's attention in 1957. Walt subsequently purchased the rights to the novel but couldn't figure out a proper re-work for the film in time. Walt shelved the film for a later date and decided that "Peter Pan" would take the 1961 release window instead. Meanwhile "The One Hundred and One Dalmatians" will be brought up sparingly as a potential back-up plan in case Mary Poppins never comes to reality.
Despite the film being shelved for almost a decade, the first story meetings actually took place during the late 1950s. Storyboards and the first few songs were composed before Walt ultimately halted production. Walt wasn't as enthusiastic as he was with "Mary Poppins", to quote Richard Sherman "Disney had fell asleep in his chair during one of our meetings, he might have been tired that day." By April 1966, Walt put "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" back into production as live-action/animation hybird. Walt's involvement in "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" was minimal, he only supervised the live-action scenes and had no involvement with animation at all. 8 months later, Walt died and production had to carry on without him.
After Walt's untimely death, production once again stalled and halted. By 1968, the contract with the Sherman Brothers was running out and development had to continue lest the film was to be scrapped entirely. Through 1969 to 1971, the Sherman Brothers re-worked most songs and included scrapped song from "Mary Poppins" which had released in 1964 well before "One Hundred and One Dalmatians". Live-action filming took place during mid-1970 in Dorset England, as well as other locations such as London. All animal characters (1) which included the titular dalmatians themselves were animated, all animated work was complete in June 1971, and remaining work in general wrapped up by August, two months before the film's premiere.
The story was as follows: Songwriter Roger Radcliffe desperately needs a big hit. Radcliffe and his dalmatianPongo walk at the park one day for inspiration and run into Anita and her dalmatian Missis. They fall in love and soon Pongo and Missis are expecting a litter of 15 puppies. All this only attracts Anita's high school classmate Cruella De Vil, who demands that she purchases the puppies to make a unique fur coat. Cruella wouldn't take no for an answer and she soon employs burglars Jasper and Horace to kidnap the puppies. When the humans couldn't track down the puppies, Pongo and Missis alert canine gossip patrol Twilight Bark and its leader sheep dog Colonel as well as feline assistant Sergeant Tibbs to save the puppies. Tibbs and Colonel track down De Vil and find 86 more dalmatin puppies. What happens next is a series of battles and chases which leads to a car chase between Cruella and the dalmatians who stow away on a truck.
"One Hundred and One Dalmatians" premiered in October of 1971. Receptionwise, the film received postive to mixed reviews. The film's story and songs received praise, msot notably about its balance of family-friendliness and melodramatic chase scenes. Most criticisms were directed to the mix of live-action and animation, fans today generally give praise to the animated segments and believe that the film would've been better if the film was strictly animated with no live-action scenes. Cruella De Vil would gain immense popularity and would become one of the most iconic Disney villains, making frequent appearances in Disney Parks and performances. Despite not being a part of the Animated Canon, "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" is a classic in its own right.
Release Date: October 7th 1971
Live-Action Cast:
Roddy McDowall (Roger Radcliffe)
Lisa Davis (Anita Radcliffe)
Angela Lansbury (Nanny)
Betty Lou Gerson (Cruella De Vil)
Animated Cast:
Rod Taylor (Pongo)
Debbie Reynolds (Missis)
J Pat O'Malley (Jasper) (1)
Mel Blanc (Horace, Colonel) (1)
David Frankham (Sergeant Tibbs)
Notable Songs:
Cruella De Vil (sung by Roger to mock Cruella, also composed by Roger in-universe)
The Beatiful Briny (sung by Pongo and Missis at the end of the film)
(1) Jasper and Horace are animated unlike the other humans
Notes: Before I re-arranged everything on the list of films, One Hundred and One Dalmatians was originally slated to be a 1990s film. Here it's a live-action/animation hybrid, with the animals plus Jasper and Horace being animated while everything else is live-action. I decided to include Missis from the original novel here and keep Cruella De Vil as a villain song due to how iconic it is.