Over the next few months, we’ll be watching all of the Disney animated features and recapping the experience. We’ll also finish with a subjective definitive ranking and discuss any big picture thoughts about Disney’s legacy in Hollywood storytelling and culture in general. Each movie is randomly chosen; some have been seen many times since childhood while others we haven’t seen a frame of before.
Lady and the Tramp
1955
15 of 55
Let’s face it – this is the only thing you remember about this movie!
Story: In an idyllic town in the Midwest, the young cocker spaniel Lady is adopted by doting owners. But Lady’s pampered existence is disrupted by a newborn’s arrival and a lengthy vacation. Left in the care of the stern Aunt Sarah, a disillusioned Lady escapes and meets Tramp, a stray dog with raffish good looks. Will Lady make it back home, and will her romance with Tramp survive the class barriers between them?
2016 Viewing Notes: Lady and the Tramp bears more than a striking resemblance to 1961’s 101 Dalmatians. Both revolve around the antics of domesticated dogs and associated pets, but they also reflect very mid-century norms of white American (or English) culture and storytelling, in ways that feel grown-up but also a little safe boring. The opening third of this movie is quite charming, using Lady as a child-viewer surrogate learning to engage with her world in fun and scary ways. The romance story that drives the rest of the movie is a standard “opposite sides of the track” template, contrasting her comfortable conformity with Tramp’s impoverished authenticity. Tramp is a charmer for sure (he looks like George Clooney in mutt form), but he’s never really as dangerous or alluring as everyone in the movie seems to treat him. Maybe that’s the point – the neighborhood Lady and her condescending neighbors live in is literally called “Snob Hill”, so it’s pretty easy to deflate their stuffy conventionalism. There’s also the awkward racial insensitivities we’ve come to expect from classic Disney; in this case it’s the Siamese cats whose appearance and voicing are blatant stereotypes. (Italians are also given the same treatment, but at least it’s comically overdone in a way that is easier to laugh off.) The animation stands out as more realistic than usual. This is also the first Disney film to use widescreen, though it’s not clear to what benefit, compared to something like Sleeping Beauty.
Okay, maybe you also remember these racist cats.
Will it hold up for children? Maybe -Lady’s confusion about the baby is a clever and organic way for kids to deal with their own mess of emotions from sharing parental attention with a new sibling. But that first third suggests a Pixar-style growing up tale that really doesn’t emerge.
Will it hold up for adults who aren’t Disney obsessives? Adults will get more out of the social dynamics than kids, but it may test your tolerance for predictable romances.
Lady’s neighbors, Jock and Trusty, are gossipy paternalistic idiots.
NEMO Score (measures likelihood of traumatizing parents worse than children): 1 out of 5. There’s a creepy moment with a rat in the nursery, but it’s kind of cheap in it’s manipulation.
Music Department: Lady and the Tramp features handful of songs sung by Peggy Lee (how mid-century can you get?), none of which I’d call classic. “The Siamese Cat Song” is cringe-inducing, and the lullabies are just kind of weird. “He’s a Tramp” is a rip-off of a Sinatra number that’s oh-so-similarly named to this film. Let’s face it – the main reason to see this movie is the one ingenious piece of animation in the “Bella Notte” sequence. But that’s what YouTube is for!
Ranking: Lady and the Tramp has some clever moments and mature story ideas, but it’s just not executed with the joie de vivre of the best Disney films. For now it’s situated a few spots below it’s dog-focused companion.
- Pinocchio (1940)
- Sleeping Beauty (1959)
- Bambi (1942)
- Lilo & Stitch (2002)
- Aladdin (1992)
- The Lion King (1994)
- Frozen (2013)
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
- Alice in Wonderland (1951)
- Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
- Tarzan (1999)
- Fantasia 2000 (2000)
- 101 Dalmatians (1961)
- Brother Bear (2003)
- Dinosaur (2000)
- Lady and the Tramp (1955)
- Dumbo (1941)
- The Jungle Book (1967)
- Make Mine Music (1946)
- The Sword in the Stone (1963)
- Home on the Range (2004)
Next time, the Disney animators literally take us to South America in the travelogue Saludos Amigos.
Post-Critical 