Classic Films in Focus: 101 DALMATIANS (1961)

Walt Disney adapted 101 Dalmatians (1961) from the popular novel by English writer Dodie Smith, and by all accounts Smith was much happier with the experience than Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers. Smith might have been pleased because 101 Dalmatians is, in fact, a fairly faithful adaptation of the original story, with some key alterations, of course, but with most of its best material firmly intact. For dog lovers, 101 Dalmatians ranks right up there with Lady and the Tramp (1955) as one of Disney’s best canine tales, while classic movie fans will appreciate the vocal performance of leading man Rod Taylor as the heroic Pongo as well as the sly send-up of Tallulah Bankhead embodied in the fantastically campy Cruella De Vil.

The story follows handsome Dalmatian Pongo (Rod Taylor) and his human pet, Roger (Ben Wright), as they meet and set up housekeeping in London with their mates, Perdita (Cate Bauer) and Anita (Lisa Davis). Soon the canine couple welcome a litter of puppies, but their happiness is spoiled by the intrusion of Cruella De Vil (Betty Lou Gerson), who tries to buy the puppies as soon as they are born. Roger rejects Cruella’s money, but the puppies are later stolen by Horace and Jasper Baddun (J. Pat O’Malley and Frederick Worlock), working on Cruella’s orders. Determined to rescue their children, Pongo and Perdita set off on a dangerous journey through the snowy English countryside to find the puppies and bring them home.

One of the nicest parts of this story is its emphasis on two parents working together to save their family. Both Pongo and Perdita are active, brave, and capable; Disney movies often come up short in the maternal department, so Perdita’s role is especially refreshing, even if Pongo tends to take the lead. With the focus on perilous adventure, this is actually one of Disney’s least musical classics, but the naughty appeal of “Cruella De Vil” makes up in quality what the movie lacks in quantity of songs. Cruella herself would be absolutely terrifying if she weren’t so ridiculous, especially since her dream is to make dog skin coats out of the plethora of Dalmatian puppies she has stashed away at her crumbling country manor. She’s at her scariest when she gets behind the wheel of her car and tries to chase the dogs down after their escape, although the inevitable joke about women drivers sounds pretty lame to twenty-first century ears.

Unlike some other Disney pictures, 101 Dalmatians mostly relies on voice actors who aren’t particularly well known today, with Rod Taylor the obvious exception. Still, the movie offers a few tidbits for classic movie fans, particularly in Betty Lou Gerson’s outrageous parody of fellow Southerner Tallulah Bankhead in the voice of Cruella. Gerson really captures the notorious star’s manner of speaking, while the animation emphasizes the campier aspects of Bankhead’s persona in Cruella’s appearance and behavior. The Disney Cruella is still tamer than Smith’s original, who appears to be much more literally what her name implies, although some well-bred Alabama ladies might have said the same about Huntsville’s most infamous daughter. Interestingly enough, prolific character actress Mary Wickes provided the live-action reference performance for Cruella, which gives the character another layer of classic Hollywood significance. Wickes is also credited as providing an unspecified voice for the picture, and she’s joined in the large background cast by Thurl Ravenscroft, Barbara Luddy, and Dal McKennon. Sharp ears might also pick out The Falcon star Tom Conway as the voice of the Quizmaster and the helpful collie. If you think that collie sounds like a much more familiar classic actor, it’s because Tom Conway was really Tom Sanders, the brother of Oscar-winning star George Sanders.

Be sure to watch for quick cameo appearances by several of the canine characters from the earlier Lady and the Tramp. With its action leading up to a Christmas climax, 101 Dalmatians makes for good holiday family viewing. Disney has since made a live action version of the story and some sequels, but the original movie is still the best of the lot. For Rod Taylor’s most memorable roles, see The Time Machine (1960) and Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic thriller, The Birds (1963). Betty Lou Gerson also provides the voice of the narrator in Cinderella (1950), but you can catch her in live action in The Fly (1958). Check out Tom Conway in The Falcon films of the 1940s and in Val Lewton horrors like Cat People (1942) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943). Finally, be sure to read Dodie Smith’s wonderful novel; it offers even more characters and scenes than the movie has room to include.

Classic Films in Focus: THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS (1966)

Why does Hollywood love nuns? For an industry generally obsessed with sex and skin, the motion picture business has produced a remarkable number of movies about those black clad, celibate sisters over the years, including serious dramas like The Song of Bernadette (1943) and Doubt (2008), romantic musicals like The Sound of Music (1965), and even wacky comedies like Sister Act (1992). The Trouble with Angels (1966) falls somewhere in the middle between drama and comedy; it is by turns serious and silly, and its view of the cloistered characters changes throughout the film, depending upon the moment and viewpoint being perceived. Those who feel a certain affection for nuns, the Catholic Church, or girls' boarding schools will find these institutions treated with respectful humor in The Trouble with Angels, although anyone looking for riveting drama or brashly provocative comedy had better skip this lightly handled tale of girls coming of age under the watchful eyes of their holy guardians.

Hayley Mills stars as Mary Clancy, a new student at St. Francis Academy for Girls, who arrives ready to give the nuns plenty of trouble in return for their efforts. She quickly recruits another new student, Rachel Devery (June Harding), as her best friend and co-conspirator, and the two of them proceed to stir up the well-regulated lives of the students and their teachers. They replace the nuns' sugar with bath salts, smoke in the bathrooms and the basement, and give the other students tours of the nuns' private quarters. Over time, however, Mary begins to see the nuns in a new light, especially the stern Mother Superior (Rosalind Russell).

There are both strengths and weaknesses in director Ida Lupino's approach to this tale. The plot of the film ranges over a period of several years, but the summers are treated as blank time, with the students shown departing the school in the spring and then returning each fall, a little older and a little different as a result of their months away. This tactic keeps the movie rolling along, and it does not feel very long, even though it runs 112 minutes from beginning to end. The scenes that we see are like snapshots taken at different moments over the course of this journey; we look in on Mary, Rachel, and the nuns at key points in their lives and then move on. This long view keeps the tension of the plot at a very low level, since we don't stay long enough in a particular moment for there to be much development. It may seem at times that the film is, indeed, just wandering along its path, stopping to look at items of interest now and then, but without much of a destination in mind. Mary, however, is a dynamic character, although her maturation over the course of the story is generally quite subtle. We can only understand how much she has grown and changed when we see the film's conclusion, and I don't want to give too much of that away.

I normally find that a little Hayley Mills goes a very long way, meaning that The Parent Trap (1961) has always struck me as sadistic in its insistence on twice as much Mills as any person could reasonably withstand, but Lupino has a very good sense of her women's stories, and perhaps it is her influence as the director that helps Mills give one of her most truthful and interesting performances. Mills' Mary also gets support from Rosalind Russell's strong presence as the Mother Superior; she gives us a very believable woman, never a caricature or a stereotype, but a real person who struggles to keep the school afloat and treats her students with patience, dignity, and love. June Harding has comparatively little to do as Rachel; her character remains static and functions primarily as Mary's sidekick, but the other nuns make up an interesting group. Mary Wickes brings her trademark comedy to the cloister as Sister Clarissa (she would play nuns several more times and even appeared in Sister Act and its sequel in the 1990s), and Marge Redmond brings gentle humor and goodwill to the role of Sister Liguori. Look for Binnie Barnes, Camilla Sparv, and Dolores Sutton among the other sisters at St. Francis. The most amusing small part in the film has to be that of Gypsy Rose Lee as a special teacher brought in to educate the girls about feminine "grace." The very idea of Gypsy Rose Lee setting foot inside a Catholic girls' school is enough to justify the entire film's existence.

If you are not familiar with Ida Lupino's work as an actress, be sure to check out films like They Drive by Night (1940), High Sierra (1941), and The Man I Love (1947). Having created moving, complicated female characters onscreen herself, she was the perfect director for a picture like The Trouble with Angels, which focuses so delicately on the lives of the women and girls of St. Francis. Her other directorial efforts include Not Wanted (1949), The Hitch-Hiker (1953), and many episodes of various television series. For more of Hayley Mills, try Pollyanna (1960), In Search of the Castaways (1962), and That Darn Cat! (1965). Four-time Oscar nominee Rosalind Russell is best remembered today for His Girl Friday (1940), Auntie Mame (1958), and Gypsy (1962). Last but not least, don't miss the very funny Mary Wickes in the holiday standard, White Christmas (1954).

An earlier version of this review originally appeared on Examiner.com. The author retains all rights to this content.