The 15th of Disney’s animated feature films was the company’s most romantic film to date and, thanks to more memorable songs than we’d been used to in recent Disney animations, it remains one of their best loved. Charm oozes from every frame and it was one of Disney’s finest animated films of the period, a combination of stunning animation, beautiful design and those songs – The Siamese Cat Song may not pass muster today but the unusually seductive He’s a Tramp (both sung by Peggy Lee) is a Disney classic.
The story opens with a Josh Billings quote: “In the whole history of the world there is but one thing that money can not buy… to wit the wag of a dog’s tail” before plunging us into a gorgeous, wintry opening scene, a bravura camera track through the snowy streets of a small American town (modelled on Walt Disney’s hometown of Marceline, Missouri) on Christmas Day, 1909. We alight on the home of a young married couple, who are only ever referred to by the pet names they give each other – Jim Dear (Lee Millar) and Darling (Peggy Lee) – where he presents her with a late-in-the-day present, a cocker spaniel puppy, which she names Lady (Barbara Luddy). At first, Lady’s life seems a blessed one – she has two good friends, the Scottish terrier Jock (Bill Thompson) and the bloodhound Trusty (Bill Baucom) and falls for a brash but good-hearted stray named Tramp (Larry Roberts) who is, in his own words “footloose and collar-free.” But Lady’s owners are soon expecting a child and things are starting to change for her – when the baby is born, the couple decide to get away for a few days (a bizarre idea that may well have modern audiences scratching their heads), leaving Lady, the baby and the home in the care of the dog-hating Aunt Sarah (Verna Felton) who moves in with her two Siamese cats, Si and Am (Lee again). The cats cause mayhem which they blame on Lady, who ends up being muzzled. A trip to the zoo with Tramp removes the muzzle but Lady is soon captured by the dog catcher and brought to the local dog pound. It’s up to Tramp, Jock and Trusty to mount a daring rescue and get her back…
Technically, the film is the triumph you’d expect it to be. The animals are more realistic than the ones that we’d seen in earlier Disney films and the animators had to make sure that their movements seem natural to sell the illusion, much as they had done on Bambi (1942). And Lady and the Tramp was not only Disney’s first widescreen animated feature, but the first full length film made using the form by anyone and although it caused problems for the animators who had to adapt to the new format, the result is often breath-taking. The dedication to the film was reflected in Walt Disney’s decision to recall the layout team to reconfigure their work so that a second version in normal Academy Ratio when he learned that not all cinemas in the States (let alone beyond) were set up to show CinemaScope films.
For some, the film might just prove to be a too cute (is there anyone who hasn’t seen the spaghetti scene by now, a scene that Walt was originally minded to cut for looking “silly”), though as with a lot of Disney films there are several moments that abandon the (very mild) schmaltz for something a bit darker – there’s a brief moment of horror, for example, when it appears that Trusty may have been killed while trying to rescue Lady. There’s some wry humour aimed and the mum and dads too – the shadows from the bars in the cells of the dog pound fall over their inmates like the stripes on old fashioned prison uniforms and Lady’s early attempts to escape her bedroom and the resulting frustration for her owners will be instantly familiar to any sleep-deprived pet owner in the audience. While the kids were lapping up the cuteness of the moment, one suspects that most adults were heaving a weary sigh of recognition.
As with all Disney films of the period, there are elements that will give some pause for thought today. The Siamese are not the only to be subjected to national and racial stereotyping for example – the Scottish (Jock has a truly terrible accent), the Italians and the English might all have reason to feel miffed at the mangling of their accents and characteristics. But there’s more than enough going on elsewhere to ensure the film’s longevity and reputation as one of the most appealing of Disney’s 50s animations – it was given no fewer than four theatrical re-releases, in 1962, 1972, 1980 and 1986.
It’s been such a firm favourite, and deservedly so, that a direct-to-video sequel, Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure, followed in 2001, but as it focussed more on lady and Tramp’s son, it didn’t really go down well with fans who wanted to see more of the main characters. The almost inevitable live-action remake followed in 2019, released to Disney’s streaming platform Disney+ instead of getting a theatrical release. Critics were no more kind to it than they were to Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure.
Crew
Directors: Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson; © 1955 Walt Disney Productions; Walt Disney present a Walt Disney production. Distributed by Buena Vista Film Distribution Co., Inc.; Associate Producer: Erdman Penner; Story: Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ralph Wright, Don Dagradi; From the Story by: Ward Greene; Directing Animators: Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, Eric Larson, Hal King, Les Clark; Character Animators: George Nicholas, Hal Ambro, Ken O’Brien, Jerry Hathcock, Eric Cleworth, Marvin Woodward, Ed Aardal, John Sibley, Harvey Toombs, Cliff Nordberg, Don Lusk, George Kreisl, Hugh Fraser, John Freeman, Jack Campbell, Bob Carlson; Effects Animators: George Rowley, Dan Macmanus; Special Processes: Ub Iwerks; Layout: Ken Anderson, Tom Codrick, Al Zinnen, A. Kendall O’Connor, Hugh Hennesy, Lance Nolley, Jacques Rupp, McLaren Stewart, Don Griffith, Thor Putnam, Collin Campbell, Victor Haboush, Bill Bosche; Background: Claude Coats, Dick Anthony, Ralph Hulett, Al Dempster, Thelma Witmer, Eyvind Earle, Jimi Trout, Ray Huffine, Brice Mack; Film Editor: Don Halliday; Musical Score by: Oliver Wallace
Voices
Peggy Lee (Darling/Si/Am/Peg); Barbara Luddy (Lady); Larry Roberts (Tramp); Bill Thompson (Jock/Bull/policeman at zoo/Dachsie/Joe); Bill Baucom (Trusty); Stan Freberg (Beaver); Verna Felton (Aunt Sarah); Alan Reed (Boris); George Givot (Tony); Dallas Mckennon (Toughy/Professor/Pedro); Lee Millar (Jim Dear/dog catcher); The Mello Men (dogs)
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