Classic Movie Dogathon: 101 Dalmatians

101 Dalmatians ranks easily as my favorite Disney animated feature. It puzzles me that it’s rarely mentioned among the Disney classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi, and Pinocchio. While I admire those films, they fail to blend the critical animated film elements—well-developed characters, quality artwork, and strong narrative—with the ease of 101 Dalmatians. (Admit it, both Snow White and Pinocchio have their share of slow spots.)

Set in London, the well-known plot traces the courtship and marriage of Dalmatians Pongo and Perdy (and their human “pets” Roger and Anita). It’s a happy home until Anita’s wealthy “friend” Cruella De Vil pays a visit and decides that Perdita’s puppies would make “such perfectly beautiful coats.” Hiding her intentions, Cruella tries to buy the puppies. When Roger and Anita refuse, Cruella has her bumbling goons Horace and Jasper kidnap the pups.

It’s a lively, entertaining story rich with fully developed characters. Even the puppies get memorable personalities, with my favorite of the litter being the plump Rollie who spouts classic lines like: “I’m so hungry I could eat an elephant” and (a few minutes later) “I’m hungry, Mother…I really am.”

Anyone who has loved a dog will appreciate the care with which the animators have captured canine traits. Pongo drags Roger mercilessly on walks, shakes off water vigorously when wet, and sticks his butt in the air when getting playful.

Indeed, the entire film exhibits a delightful fondness for little details. Like all parents, Pongo and Perdy spell out certain words in front of their children—important canine words like W-A-L-K. As with many children, the puppies are glued to the TV screen for their favorite show (the adventures of the heroic dog Thunderbolt). The TV show is even sponsored by a children’s food (Kanine Krunchies). And when the the spotted dogs are pursued by Horace and Jasper, they roll into coal dust to disguise themselves as black Labradors. My favorite little touch, though, is the “twilight bark,” a canine telegraph system in which dogs howl important messages to one another each evening.

Technically, 101 Dalmatians boasts splendid animation. The London buildings and the rural countryside are painted with charm and detail (to include a flashing neon billboard for Kanine Krunchies). The use of shadows and silhouettes brings depth to the images. Even the direction is imaginative, as evidenced by the clever scene of Roger and Anita’s wedding. As the “camera” pulls back through a church window, we see that Pongo and Perdy are holding paws as part of their own matrimonial ceremony.

In my opinion, 101 Dalmatians was the last great American-made animated film until Disney revived the genre in the 1990s with Broadway-style musicals like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.


Be sure to check out the rest of the films in the Classic Movie Dogathon. Click here for the full schedule.

Classic Movie Dogathon: Courage of Lassie

A litter of beautiful Collie puppies is running around and playing in a forest that borders on a lake. They are fearless and happy and occasionally kept in place by their mother. A boat arrives, driven by Frank Morgan, and collects the mother and pups, taking them away with him, except for one who has gone off on an adventure of his own. We follow this little guy as he plays with other animals and then realizes he has been away from his pack for a long time. We share his angst as he realizes they are traveling far away on the boat and he cannot get to them. This begins to instill the courage that the pup will need to survive.

Courage of Lassie was the second of three Lassie films helmed by Fred M. Wilcox. It is fascinating in that it is truly a dog's tale, as opposed to being a story that focuses on people who happen to have a dog. This work introduces us to a remarkable pup who ends up being tried in court. Wilcox had a gift for focusing on the visual aspect of film. The opening scene is devoid of people and dialogue for several minutes until Morgan arrives. Then the dialogue ceases again until the pup has grown over a few months, is almost drowned, and is shot by two boys. This is when the Collie meets a lovely young girl named Kathie, Elizabeth Taylor in her second Lassie film, who nurses him, loves him dearly, and names him Bill.  Kathie's family is hard working and she trains Bill to herd the family's sheep.

This dog's life is not an easy one and he undergoes many harrowing moments including making rescues in a blizzard and on a battlefield (he has been renamed Duke at this point). Courage of Lassie is a movie that draws the viewer in and keeps him firmly planted in his seat. It is frightening to see the Collie's actions on trial when he cannot speak for himself. Frank Morgan tries to speak for him but doesn't know or understand many of the circumstances that have brought Bill to this point.

Courage of Lassie tugged at my heartstrings especially in two ways. First, in many scenes in which the dog couldn't just say "My name is Bill and I live with Kathie. Won't you take me home, please?" Had anyone put a collar on him with a phone number or address it would have communicated this for him. Second, it highlighted the fact that war dogs can suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder just like human veterans.

Pal is the wonderfully talented male Collie who played Bill/Duke. He starred in all seven Lassie films and played Lassie in four of them. In The Painted Hills he was named Shep. Pal actually played Laddie in The Son of Lassie.


Be sure to check out the rest of the films in the Classic Movie Dogathon. Click here for the full schedule.

Classic Movie Dogathon: Greyfriars Bobby

In 1865, on Cauldbrae Farm, sheepherder Old Jock (Alex Mackenzie) travels to Edinburgh, since the family he works for can no longer afford to pay him. The family dog, a Skye Terrier named Bobby, has taken a liking to Old Jock, and the fiercely loyal canine follows the man for the 20-mile distance to Greyfriars Place. Old Jock, however, is an ailing man, and he succumbs to pneumonia. He’s buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, where Bobby evades the cranky caretaker, Mr. Brown (Donald Crisp), and sleeps atop Old Jock’s grave.

Before long, Bobby has his routine down: He spends his nights in the kirkyard, and his days in the city, some of the hours spent at a diner that Old Jock frequented. The restaurant owner, Mr. Traill (Laurence Naismith), already acquainted with the terrier, feeds him each day – at Bobby’s own table. Bobby wins over everyone, from Mr. Traill to the city’s children and even Mr. Brown and his wife, who appreciate the terrier killing the rats in the kirkyard. It seems that everyone wants to claim Bobby as their own, but eventually it’s a matter of specifying ownership: the local authorities wish to identify an owner to pay an expensive licensing fee, or the stray dog will be taken away.

Greyfriars Bobby (1961), directed by Don Chaffey, is a Walt Disney film based on Eleanor Atkinson’s 1912 novel of the same name, from a true story about a dog in 19th-century Edinburgh who slept on his master’s grave for 14 years. Chaffey does a superb job of presenting Bobby as the film’s protagonist, keeping the camera at the dog’s level, particularly when no humans are around. Bobby is an adorable ball of fur, and there are endless shots of the dog sprinting across open land, a wonderful and delightful sight.

The movie is not as depressing as the plot might suggest. It’s an inspiring tale, not only of a dog’s loyalty and devotion, but also of the good which he instills into the people he surrounds. There’s a remarkable scene when the children, all of poor families, bring Bobby to Mr. Traill for a promised shilling. The man first feeds Bobby, and the kids are unquestionably envious that a dog is eating stew made with real chicken. Mr. Traill takes the children to the kitchen, and they have what he calls a picnic, an act which sparks a genuine relationship between the diner owner and kids. Likewise, the barely restrained animosity between Mr. Traill and Mr. Brown progressively dissipates the more time they spend with Bobby.
Highlights of the film: Old Jock sneaking Bobby into a lodging house in a knapsack; Mr. Brown’s never-ending allusions to the kirkyard regulation of “No Dogs Permitted” (even picking up Bobby at one point so that the wee dog, presumably, can read it for himself); Mr. Traill’s obvious unhappiness at the family taking Bobby back to the farm; and Mr. Brown’s wife coaxing her husband, who doesn’t hide his aversion for the terrier, into giving Bobby a bath.

Bobby steals the film, but the performances from the humans are solid all around. Naismith is especially good, particularly his scene in which he makes an argument in court against any person being Bobby’s owner and refuses to pay the fee out of principle. It’s also a treat to watch two patrons of the diner, both of whom make snide remarks about Bobby, being put in their place by Mr. Traill – including a veiled threat against a man who suggests striking the dog.

A kirkyard is not technically a graveyard, but a churchyard. This is why, in the movie, Old Jock’s former employer believes it “grand” that he’s buried there – it’s consecrated ground. (It’s chosen for the sheepherder because it’s the closest place for a proper burial.)
Crisp started in Hollywood as an actor and became a director during the silent era. He later returned to acting full time and had a successful career, earning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for How Green Was My Valley (1941). Naismith was a regular on the TV show, The Persuaders! with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis, and also had a small part in the 007 film, Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

Chaffey is perhaps best known for his fantasy films, including Jason and the Argonauts (1963, featuring Naismith as Argos, whose ship is the Argonauts’ namesake), One Million Years B.C. (1966) and Creatures the World Forgot (1971). He also directed episodes of notable TV series, such as The Prisoner (including the first episode), Danger Man (aka Secret Agent), The Avengers, Fantasy Island, Charlie’s Angels and T.J. Hooker.
Atkinson’s book also provided the basis for the 1949 film, Challenge for Lassie. Interestingly, actor Crisp appears in the film as Jock, companion to Lassie, the Bobby substitute. Another adaptation was released in 2006 as The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby. Bobby in this movie is a West Highland White Terrier, chosen in lieu of a Skye Terrier for purely visual reasons. Christopher Lee has a small but significant role in the film.

It’s very difficult not to associate a dog’s hanging tongue with a smile. When dogs are happy, the panting commences, and tongues invariably fall out. The canine hero of Greyfriars Bobby spends much of the film’s duration flashing his doggie smile, and it seems impossible not to smile along with him. Bobby is always by Old Jock’s side, despite not being the man’s dog, because as Mr. Traill says, “a dog chooses his own master.” Is the title of the movie a reference to everyone in the city as Bobby’s owners? It’s more likely that Bobby owns the city, from the people’s hearts to a monopoly on cuteness.

Click here to see the full schedule for the Classic Movie Dogathon.