It's the 350th in Dog Years

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the Walt Disney animated feature 101 Dalmatians. This has always been one of my favorite animated films. The story of two dalmatians' (Pongo and Perdita) harrowing quest to find their puppies after they have been stolen by the sinister Cruella De Vil to be made into coats!

In addition to being a really great film, it is also a landmark film in the process of cartoon making. Up to this point, animators would make their drawings on paper and then an inker would would trace the drawings onto the clear celluloid. And even though, the idea was that the line would be identical, animators were always aware of changes that had been made to their lines. This is especially annoying to an animator. After all in animation the slightest "adjustment" of a line makes a difference in the final movement or even emotion of the character.

After years of tinkering with the technique, animation technician and animator Ub Iwerks was finally able to introduce the process of Xeroxing the drawings directly onto the cells. This had two major benefits. One, the final product would show the actual drawings made by animators, and two, this was a tremendous time and money saver since now inkers were no longer required to trace these lines.

Though some people have spoken against this style over he years, saying that it gives the films a "sketchy" quality, I personally appreciate the less-than-polished style. I think it gives the films more character. As a fan of this style, I certainly also appreciate the recently Oscar Nominated film The Illusionist, which incorporates the same style of Xeroxing technique.

I would of course be remiss in not mentioning the stellar voice cast in 101 Dalmatians as well. You will recognize Disney veterans J. Pat O'Malley (Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland) and Thurl Ravenscroft (Haunted Mansion Attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean Attraction) in there. Also Ben Wright, who plays Roger might also be recognized years later as Grimsby in The Little Mermaid. And of course Rod Taylor (Pongo) is recognizable as the male lead Mitch in Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller The Birds, and recently as Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds.

This has always been one of my favorite movies. Not only is the story sweet, Cruella De Vil one of the greatest movie villains of all time, and the animation technique a breakthrough, there is a personal connection to this movie as well. When I was ten years old I saved up my allowance money and bough the VHS version when it came out, after having seen it in a theatrical re-release months before. This was the first movie I ever bough with my own money, and I still have that VHS.

So happy 50th anniversary to this film, and in tribute do as I did and go out and make an article of clothing out of your own college roommate's pets. Wait, is that the point of this movie? I might be wrong. You know what, just watch the movie. I might have some apologizing to do.

CG