Written by Erdman Penner & Joe Rinaldi & Ralph Wright & Don DaGradi & Joe Grant
Directed by Clyde Geronimi & Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske
Lady: "Haven't you a family?"
Tramp: "One for every day of the week. The point is, none of them have me."
As we head into the month of Christmas, I thought I'd start the last day of this month with a Disney movie that I really loved as a child and even as an adult, it holds up really well. Also as a dog lover, it's really hard not to love this movie.
You know the drill: one Christmas we see a family, the Darlings get an adorable cocker spaniel puppy they name Lady (Barbara Luddy) and as the movie goes on, we see Lady grow up and worry about her place in the family when the Darlings are expecting a baby.
By the time the baby arrives, Lady feels protective towards the new bairn but with the Darlings going on a trip and the baby being looked after by the truly awful Aunt Sarah and her equally awful Siamese cats (Peggy Lee) - sorry feline fans, things get a bit complicated for Lady, especially when she befriends the rather rough Schnauzer mix, Tramp (Larry Roberts) who gets Lady to embrace her rebellious side with mixed results.
Together, the two of them break into a zoo to get a muzzle removed with the help of a beaver, explore the many places that Tramp likes to call, bag themselves a free romantic meal at a restaurant but between chasing chickens and Lady getting caught by the dog catcher and learning more about Tramp's other female friends, things do take something of a sour note between the lovestruck pair.
Of course, the presence of a rat in the house does help to earn Tramp a redemptive arc and by the end of the movie, he's been adopted by the Darlings and of course, both him and Lady are proud parents to their own potential little tearaways. Unless you have a heart of absolute stone, there's no way you can't watch this film and not be moved.
Both title characters are fantastic protagonists but this review would be remiss without mentioning Lady's other friends - slightly crotchety Scottish terrier Jock (Bill Thompson) and former crime dog/bloodhound, Trusty (Bill Baucom) whose sense of smell isn't as great. Both of them are fantastic characters to watch as are the other dogs in the pound, even if we don't get to spend a lot of time with them. Oh and in case, I didn't emphasise it enough earlier, Aunt Sarah is the absolute worst.
- Bill Thompson who voiced Jock in this movie would then go to voice other roles in Sleeping Beauty and The Aristocats.
- I really loved that this film both opened and ended with Christmas, even though the majority was set in warmer months.
- Standout music: Bella Note, What A Dog/He's A Tramp and The Siamese Cat Song / What's Going On Down There.
- Chronology: I'm guessing perhaps the 1950s with it's release, and the setting was partly inspired by Walt Disney's boyhood hometown of Marceline, Missouri.
Lady And The Tramp is a bonafide Disney classic. It's a beautiful movie from start to finish with lovely character bits, great songs, great animation. If you loved it as a child, then I don't doubt that you still will as an adult. Over 50 years later, an animated sequel and a Disney+ live action reboot and this movie still has a lasting impact.
Rating: 9 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment