101 Dalmatians (1996 film)

1996 film by Walt Disney PicturesTemplate:SHORTDESC:1996 film by Walt Disney Pictures[[Category:**Script error: No such module "pagetype".** with short description]]**Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".****Expression error: Unexpected < operator.****Script error: No such module "SDcat".**

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### **Produced by**

* John Hughes
* Ricardo Mestres

### **Based on**

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### **Starring**

* Glenn Close
* Jeff Daniels
* Joely Richardson
* Joan Plowright

### **Production company(s)**

* Walt Disney Pictures
* Great Oaks Entertainment

### **Release date(s)**

* November 27, 1996 (1996-11-27) (United States)

### **Box office**

$320.7 million

***101 Dalmatians*** is a 1996 American adventure comedy film. The film is a live-action adaptation of Walt Disney’s 1961 animated film of almost the same name, itself an adaptation of Dodie Smith's 1956 novel *The Hundred and One Dalmatians.* Directed by Stephen Herek and co-produced by John Hughes and Ricardo Mestres, it stars Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson, Joan Plowright, Hugh Laurie, Mark Williams, and Tim McInnerny. Unlike the 1961 film, none of the animals have speaking voices in this version.

*101 Dalmatians* was released on November 27, 1996. It grossed $320 million in theaters against a $67 million budget, making it the sixth highest-grossing film of 1996. Close was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, while the film was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Makeup and Hair. A sequel, *102 Dalmatians*, was released on November 22, 2000, with Close and McInnerny reprising their roles while a reboot, *Cruella*, directed by Craig Gillespie was released on May 28, 2021.

## Plot

 File:Glenn Close Wig And Costume Fitting For 101 Dalmatians.png
American video game designer Roger Dearly lives with his pet Dalmatian Pongo in London. One day, Pongo sets his eyes on a female Dalmatian named Perdy. After a frantic chase through the streets of London that ends in St. James's Park, Roger discovers that Pongo likes Perdy. Her owner, Anita Campbell-Green falls in love with Roger when they meet. They both fall into the lake as a result of their dogs chasing each other, but they return to Roger's home and Anita accepts his proposal. They get married along with Perdy and Pongo. Anita works as a fashion designer at the House of de Vil. Her boss, the pampered and very glamorous Cruella de Vil, has a deep passion for fur, going so far as to have a taxidermist, Mr. Skinner, skin a female white tiger named Su-Ling at the London Zoo to make her into a rug for her. Anita, inspired by her Dalmatian, designs a coat made with spotted fur. Cruella is intrigued by the idea of making garments out of actual Dalmatians, and finds it amusing that it would seem as if she was wearing Anita's dog.

Anita soon discovers that Perdy is pregnant and is then informed that she (Anita) is too, much to her shock. Sometime later, Cruella visits their home and expresses contempt upon meeting Roger. Her initial disgust at them having a baby turns to excitement when she finds out Perdy is expecting too. Several weeks later, she returns when a litter of 15 puppies are born and offers Roger and Anita £7,500 for them, but they refuse. Enraged, Cruella dismisses Anita and vows revenge against her and Roger. One winter evening, she has her henchmen, Jasper and Horace, break into their home and steal the puppies, while Roger and Anita are walking in the park with Pongo and Perdy. Along with 84 other Dalmatians that were previously stolen, they deliver them to her ancient country estate, De Vil Mansion. Cruella also asks Skinner to kill and skin them to create her coat.

With the family devastated at the loss of their puppies, Pongo uses the twilight bark to carry the message via the dogs and other animals of Great Britain, while Roger and Anita notify the Metropolitan Police. A dog who had witnessed the stolen puppies follows Jasper and Horace to the mansion, and finds all of them inside, before helping them escape under the duo's noses. They make their way to a nearby farm, where they are later joined by Pongo and Perdy. Cruella arrives at the mansion and soon discovers what has happened. Angry with the thieves' failure, she decides to carry out the job herself, while Jasper and Horace attempt to search for them also. After several mishaps, Jasper and Horace discover nearby police on the hunt for Cruella and her henchmen and hand themselves in, joining Skinner who was beaten earlier while trying to kill Lucky (one of the 15 puppies), who had been left behind. Meanwhile, Cruella tracks the puppies to the farm where they are hiding and tries to retrieve them. However, the animals outwit her, causing her to fall into a vat of molasses and get thrown through a window into a pigpen. Shortly afterwards, the fleeing dalmatians (including Lucky) are found and sent home via the Suffolk Constabulary, while the cops were looking for Cruella at the farm, where they finally arrest her. In the police van, she berates Jasper, Horace, and Skinner for their incompetence before they are all sprayed by a skunk which she had mistaken for her purse. Pongo, Perdy and their puppies are reunited with Roger and Anita.

After being informed that the remaining 84 puppies have no home to go to, as they have not yet been claimed by their original owners, they decide to adopt them, bringing the total to 101. Roger designs a successful video game featuring dalmatian puppies as the protagonists and Cruella as the villain and they move to the countryside with their millions. Roger and Anita have a baby daughter, and a year later the puppies have grown up with puppies of their own.

## Cast

* Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil
* Jeff Daniels as Roger Dearly
* Joely Richardson as Anita Campbell-Green-Dearly
* Joan Plowright as Nanny
* Hugh Laurie as Jasper
* Mark Williams as Horace
* John Shrapnel as Mr. Skinner
* Tim McInnerny as Alonzo
* Hugh Fraser as Frederick
* Zohren Weiss as Herbert
* Brian Capron as Television News Reporter
* Frank Welker as Pongo and Perdy (creature sounds)
* Tom Juddy as Pongo (speaking)
* Julie Moorthie as Perdita (speaking)
* Billy Neltane as Lucky
* Michael Bantel as Kipper
* Craig DeSeve as Sergeant Tibbs
* Giselle Neith as Cow
* Henry Banvali as Pig
* Phil LaHerr as The Captain

## Production

The animatronic creatures used in the film are provided by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Producer Edward S. Feldman guaranteed the adoption of every puppy used on the film. Over 300 Dalmatian puppies were used over the course of filming, because "we could only use them when they were 5 or 6 weeks old and at their cutest." Filming took place at Shepperton Studios in London.

Sigourney Weaver was offered the role of Cruella de Vil, while Cathy Moriarty did a screen test for the role but was later deemed too frightening for a children's film. John Hughes, who wrote the film's screenplay, approached Glenn Close for the role, but she initially turned it down. The film's costume designer Anthony Powell, who was working with Close on the Broadway show *Sunset Boulevard*, then convinced her to take it.

Minster Court was used as the exterior of Cruella de Vil's fashion house. Sarum Chase was used as the exterior of her home. Cruella's car is a modified 1976 Panther De Ville.

## Release

### Box office

*101 Dalmatians* was released on November 27, 1996. The UK premiere of the film was held on December 4, 1996, at the Royal Albert Hall, London, and the exterior of the Hall was lit with dalmatian spots.
It grossed $136.2 million in North America and $320.7 million worldwide.

### Home media

*101 Dalmatians* was released on VHS for the first time on April 15, 1997, Laserdisc in early 1997, and on DVD on April 21, 1998. It was re-released on September 16, 2008.

### Video game

* An Handheld LCD Game based on the film was released on 1996 by Tiger Electronics.
* A video game based on the film entitled *101 Dalmatians: Escape from DeVil Manor* was released in May 1997.

## Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, *101 Dalmatians* has an approval rating of 41% and an average rating of 5.32/10, based on 37 reviews. The site's critic consensus reads: "Neat performance from Glenn Close aside, *101 Dalmatians* is a bland, pointless remake." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

## Controversy

Animal rights organizations protested the film's release, saying that Dalmatian sales shot up after the premiere, fueled by impulsive purchases of puppies by parents for their children. Being ill-prepared to care for a relatively difficult breed of dog past puppy-hood, many of these new owners eventually surrendered their animals to pounds, where many dogs ended up being euthanized.

## Sequel and reboot

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A sequel, *102 Dalmatians*, was released on November 22, 2000. Close returned in her role. The film's early working title was *101 Dalmatians Returns.***Script error: No such module "Unsubst".**

Disney planned a live-action Cruella de Vil reboot film on the title character's origins titled *Cruella*. Glenn Close acted as an executive producer. Emma Stone played the title role. The film was released on May 28, 2021.

## References

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## External links

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* **Script error: No such module "Official website".****Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".**
* *101 Dalmatians* at IMDb**Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".**
* 101 Dalmatians at Rotten Tomatoes
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* *101 Dalmatians* at AllMovie**Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".****Script error: No such module "Error".**
* *101 Dalmatians* at Box Office Mojo

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Template:101 Dalmatians
Template:Disney's live-action adaptations of animated franchises
Template:Stephen Herek
Template:John Hughes
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1961 animated film by Walt DisneyTemplate:SHORTDESC:1961 animated film by Walt Disney[[Category:**Script error: No such module "pagetype".** with short description]]**Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".****Expression error: Unexpected < operator.****Script error: No such module "SDcat".**

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### **Directed by**

* Wolfgang Reitherman
* Clyde Geronimi
* Hamilton Luske

### **Based on**

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### **Starring**

* Rod Taylor
* Cate Bauer
* Betty Lou Gerson
* Ben Wright
* Bill Lee (singing voice)
* Lisa Davis
* Martha Wentworth

### **Editing by**

* Roy M. Brewer, Jr.
* Donald Halliday

### **Box office**

$303 million

***One Hundred and One Dalmatians*** (also simply known as ***101 Dalmatians***) is a 1961 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the 1956 novel *The Hundred and One Dalmatians* by Dodie Smith. The 17th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi and Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Bill Peet, and features the voices of Rod Taylor, Cate Bauer, Betty Lou Gerson, Ben Wright, Lisa Davis, and Martha Wentworth. The film's plot follows a litter of Dalmatian puppies who are kidnapped by the villainous Cruella de Vil ("deVille"), who wants to make their fur into coats. Their parents, Pongo and Perdita, set out to save their puppies from Cruella, in the process of rescuing 84 additional ones that were bought in pet shops, bringing the total of Dalmatians to 101.

The film was originally released in theaters on January 25, 1961, and was a box office success, pulling the studio out of the financial slump caused by *Sleeping Beauty*, a costlier production released two years prior, and became the eighth highest-grossing film of the year in the North American box office. Aside from its box-office revenue, the employment of inexpensive animation techniques—such as using xerography during the process of inking and painting traditional animation cels—kept production costs down. Disney later released a live-action remake titled ***101 Dalmatians*** in 1996 and its sequel *102 Dalmatians* in 2000. A direct-to-video animated sequel to the 1961 film titled *101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure* was released in 2003. A live-action reboot titled *Cruella* directed by Craig Gillespie was released on May 28, 2021, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access simultaneously.

## Plot

Aspiring songwriter Roger Radcliffe lives in London, in a bachelor flat with his pet dalmatian dog, Pongo. Deciding both of them need a "mate", Pongo watches women and their dogs in the street. Noticing Anita and her Dalmatian Perdita, he drags Roger to the park to arrange a meeting. Roger and Anita fall in love, and soon marry, with Pongo and Perdita attending.

The pair hires a nanny and moves to a small townhouse near Regent's Park. After Perdita becomes pregnant with a litter of 15 puppies, Anita's spoiled, fur-obsessed former schoolmate, Cruella de Vil, arrives and arrogantly demands to know when the puppies will arrive. Roger responds by writing a jazzy song mocking her. When the puppies are born, Cruella returns, demanding to buy them. Roger firmly denies her request; Cruella swears revenge, and storms out.

A few months later, Nanny puts the puppies to bed after a night of watching television, while Pongo and Perdita go for a walk with Roger and Anita at the park. Brothers Horace and Jasper Baddun, two burglars secretly hired by Cruella, pose as repair men from an electric company and steal the puppies. The Radcliffes respond by enlisting Scotland Yard and putting out newspaper advertisements. Roger immediately suspects Cruella, but a police investigation offers no evidence against her.

During a walk in the park, Pongo contacts Danny the Great Dane at Hampstead, who forwards his request for help to dogs all over England via the Twilight Bark gossip chain. In Withermarsh Green, Old Towser the bloodhound notifies the Colonel, a Sheepdog, and his cat friend Sgt. Tibbs. Both investigate the nearby "Old De Vil Place," where puppies had been heard barking two nights earlier. Tibbs sneaks inside, learns the truth, and flees, narrowly escaping being killed by Jasper. The Colonel sends word back to London that the puppies are found; Pongo and Perdita leave through a back window and begin a long cross-country journey, crossing an icy river and running through the snow towards Suffolk.

Meanwhile, Cruella tells the Baddun brothers that the police suspect the truth, and orders them to kill and skin the puppies by dawn. After she leaves, Tibbs helps the puppies escape through a hole in the wall, but the Baddun brothers notice and give chase. The Colonel meets up with and notifies Pongo and Perdita, who attack the Badduns, destroying part of the house and giving the puppies time to flee. Pongo and Perdita reunite with their litter at Colonel and Tibbs' home farm, only to discover there are 84 more puppies with them. After Tibbs explains that Cruella intends to make fur coats out of the puppies, Pongo and Perdita decide to take all 99 home with them.

The Dalmatians start their homeward trek, pursued by the Baddun brothers. They shelter from a blizzard in a dairy farm with a friendly collie and some cows, then make their way to Dinsford, where they meet a Black Labrador waiting for them in a blacksmith's shop. Cruella and the Baddun brothers catch up, so Pongo has his entire family roll in a sooty fireplace to disguise themselves as other Labradors. The Labrador helps them board a moving van bound for London, but melting snow falls on Lucky and exposes his spots. Cruella pursues and tries to ram the moving van off the road. The Baddun brothers, in their truck, attempt the same thing, but accidentally ram Cruella's car instead, sending both their vehicles into a ditch. The moving van continues to London as Cruella throws a tantrum, with an exasperated Jasper telling her to be quiet.

In London, a melancholy Nanny and the Radcliffes try to enjoy Christmas, and the wealth they have acquired from the song about Cruella, which has become a big radio hit. The soot-covered Dalmatians suddenly flood the house. Upon removing the soot and counting the massive family of dogs, Roger chooses to use his songwriting royalties to buy a big house in the country, forming a "Dalmatian Plantation." All the dogs and animals of London begin barking and cheers and roars and sounding, celebrating the return of the Dalmatians.

## Cast

* Rod Taylor as Pongo, Roger's pet, Perdita's mate, and the father of 15, and adopted father of the eighty-four orphaned puppies.
* Lisa Daniels and Cate Bauer as Perdita, Anita's pet, Pongo's mate, and the mother of 15 and adopted mother of 84 orphaned puppies. She is an amalgamation of the characters "Perdita" and "Missis" from the original novel.
* Betty Lou Gerson as Cruella de Vil, a spoiled heiress who "worships fur" and hates being denied or disobeyed. She drives a burgundy car similar to a Mercedes-Benz 500K Cabriolet.
	+ Gerson also voiced Miss Birdwell, a panelist on the show "What's My Crime?".
	+ Mary Wickes served as Cruella's live-action model.
* Ben Wright as Roger Radcliffe, Pongo's owner and Anita's husband. He works as a songwriter and later creates a hit song about Cruella de Vil, whom he dislikes and does not trust.
	+ Bill Lee provided Roger's singing voice.
* Lisa Davis as Anita Radcliffe, Perdita's owner and Roger's wife. She is, like Perdita, a gentle person. She feels inclined to give Cruella the benefit of the doubt, as they went to school together.
	+ Helene Stanley served as Anita's live-action model.
* Frederick Worlock as Horace Baddun, one of the Baddun brothers. He is more intelligent than his brother (he figures out all the dogs' plots) but completely cowed by Jasper's overwhelming personality into thinking he is stupid. He loves "What's My Crime?", a spoof of the then-popular TV gameshow *What's My Line?*.
	+ Worlock also voiced Inspector Graves, a panelist on the show "What's My Crime?".
* J. Pat O'Malley as Jasper Baddun, one of the Baddun brothers. He is a fast talker and aggressive bully who completely disregards the possibility of intelligence in dogs. He also loves "What's My Crime?" and drives a brown van with loose/broken fenders.
	+ O'Malley also voiced the Colonel, an Old English Sheepdog who is part of the Twilight Bark. He, Tibbs, and Captain allow the Dalmatian family to stay in their barn one night and attack the Badduns to buy Pongo and Perdy time to escape.
* Martha Wentworth as Nanny, the Radcliffes' elderly cook and housekeeper. She is very maternal and fussy, detests Cruella, and is very attached to the puppies.
	+ Wentworth also voiced Queenie, one of three cows who allow the puppies to stay in their barn and drink their milk.
	+ Wentworth voiced Lucy the White Goose as well. Lucy is a friend of Old Towser.
* Thurl Ravenscroft as Captain, a gray horse who aids Pongo, Perdy, Sergeant Tibbs and Colonel.
* David Frankham as Sergeant Tibbs, a tabby cat who is the first to discover the puppies' whereabouts and masterminds their escape from the Old de Vil Place.
* Mimi Gibson as Lucky, one of Pongo and Perdita's litter, who has a horseshoe of spots on his back. He loves watching TV and struggles the most on the journey home.
* Barbara Beaird as Rolly, a puppy who is always hungry and is shown as pudgier than the rest of the puppies. He even risks stealing food from Horace and is usually in some trouble.
* Mickey Maga as Patch, a puppy who loves Thunderbolt and has a spot on his eye. Patch is often seen barking and growling at threats. He is the main character of *101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure*.
* Sandra Abbott as Penny, a puppy whose name likely references the original novel, which describes Dalmatians's spots being "about the size of a two-penny piece".
* Tudor Owen as Old Towser, a bloodhound who helps spread the news about the stolen puppies.
* George Pelling as Danny, a Great Dane who aids Pongo and Perdita and is one of the first dogs to answer Pongo's Twilight Bark message.
* Junius Matthews as Scottie, Danny's terrier friend.
* Queenie Leonard as Princess, one of the three cows who help the puppies.
* Marjorie Bennett as Duchess, one of the three cows who help the puppies.
* Barbara Luddy as Rover, one of the 84 Dalmatian puppies that Cruella bought.
* Rickie Sorensen as Spotty, one of the 84 Dalmatian puppies that Cruella bought.
* Tom Conway as the Collie, who offers the Dalmatians shelter for the night at a dairy farm.
	+ Conway also voiced the Quizmaster, the host of "What's My Crime?".
* Ramsay Hill as the Labrador Retriever in Dinsford, who helps load the puppies into the moving van.
* Paul Wexler as the Mechanic who fixes the van.
* Basil Ruysdael as the driver of the moving van.
* Paul Frees as Dirty Dawson, the villain in the "Thunderbolt" TV show. Frees has no spoken dialogue in the film, only laughter.
* Lucille Bliss as TV Commercial Singer, who sings the "Kanine Krunchies" jingle.

## Production

### Story development

Dodie Smith wrote the book *The Hundred and One Dalmatians* in 1956. When Walt Disney read it in 1957, it immediately grabbed his attention, and he promptly obtained the rights. Smith had always secretly hoped that Disney would make it into a film. Disney assigned Bill Peet to write the story, which he did, marking the first time that the story for a Disney animated film was written by a single person. Writing in his autobiography, Peet was tasked by Disney to write a detailed screenplay first before storyboarding. Because Peet never learned to use a typewriter, he wrote the initial draft by hand on legal paper.

He condensed elements of the original book while enlarging others, some of which included eliminating Cruella's husband and cat, as well merging the two mother Dalmatians, birth mother Missis and adopted mother Perdita, into one character. Another notable character loss was Cadpig, the female runt of Pongo and Missis' puppies, whose traits were transferred between Lucky and the newly established Penny in the film (although it is never indicated outright that Cadpig was dropped); the Colonel's cat assistant was re-gendered from being a female by the name of Lieutenant Willow in the book, and Horace Baddun was renamed from Saul to presumably make him sound more akin in tone to Jasper. Bill Peet did retain a scene in which Pongo and Perdita exchange wedding vows in unison with their owners, by which the censor board warned that it might offend certain religious audiences if the animals repeated the exact words of a solemn religious ceremony. The scene was reworked to be less religious with Roger and Anita dressed in formal clothes.

Two months later, Peet completed the manuscript and had it typed up. Walt said the script was "great stuff" and commissioned Peet to begin storyboarding. Additionally, Peet was charged with recording the voice-over process. Although Disney had not been as involved in the production of the animated films as frequently as in previous years nevertheless, he was always present at story meetings. When Peet sent Dodie Smith some drawings of the characters, she wrote back saying that he had improved her story and that the designs looked better than the illustrations in the book.

### Animation

#### Art direction

After *Sleeping Beauty* (1959) disappointed at the box-office, there was some talk of closing down the animation department at the Disney studio. During the production of it, Disney told animator Eric Larson: "I don't think we can continue; it's too expensive." Despite this, he still had deep feelings towards animation because he had built the company upon it.

Ub Iwerks, in charge of special processes at the studio, had been experimenting with Xerox photography to aid in animation. By 1959, he had modified a Xerox camera to transfer drawings by animators directly to animation cels, eliminating the inking process, thus saving time and money while preserving the spontaneity of the penciled elements. However, because of its limitations, the camera was unable to deviate from a black scratchy outline and lacked the fine lavish quality of hand inking. Disney would first use the Xerox process for a thorn forest in *Sleeping Beauty*, and the first production to make full use of the process was *Goliath II*. For *One Hundred and One Dalmatians*, one of the benefits of the process was that it was a great help towards animating the spotted dogs. According to Chuck Jones, Disney was able to complete the film for about half of what it would have cost if they had had to animate all the dogs and spots.

Ken Anderson proposed the use of the Xerox on *Dalmatians* to Walt, who was disenchanted with animation by then, and replied "Ah, yeah, yeah, you can fool around all you want to". For the stylized art direction, Anderson took inspiration from British cartoonist Ronald Searle, who once advised him to use a Mont Blanc pen and India ink for his artwork. In addition to the character animation, Anderson also sought to use Xerography on "the background painting because I was going to apply the same technique to the whole picture." Along with color stylist Walt Peregoy, the two had the line drawings be printed on a separate animation cel before being laid over the background, which gave the appearance similar to the Xeroxed animation. Disney disliked the artistic look of the film and felt he was losing the "fantasy" element of his animated films. In a meeting with Anderson and the animation staff concerning future films, Walt said, "We're never gonna have one of those goddamned things" referring to *Dalmatians* and its technique, and stated, "Ken's never going to be an art director again."

Ken Anderson took this to heart, but Walt eventually forgave him on his final trip to the studio in late 1966. As Anderson recalled in an interview:

> He looked very sick. I said, "Gee, it's great to see you, Walt," and he said, "You know that thing you did on *Dalmatians*." He didn't say anything else, but he just gave me this look, and I knew that all was forgiven and in his opinion, maybe what I did on *Dalmatians* wasn't so bad. That was the last time I ever saw him. Then, a few weeks later, I learned he was gone.
>
>

#### Live-action reference

As with the previous Disney films, actors provided live-action reference in order to determine what would work before the animation process begun. Actress Helene Stanley performed the live-action reference for the character of Anita. She did the same work for the characters of Cinderella and Princess Aurora in *Sleeping Beauty*. Meanwhile, Mary Wickes provided the live-action reference for Cruella de Vil.

#### Character animation

Marc Davis was the sole animator on Cruella De Vil. During production, Davis claimed her character was partly inspired by Bette Davis (no relation), Rosalind Russell, and Tallulah Bankhead. He took further influence from her voice actress, Betty Lou Gerson, whose cheekbones he added to the character. He later complimented, "[t]hat [her] voice was the greatest thing I've ever had a chance to work with. A voice like Betty Lou's gives you something to do. You get a performance going there, and if you don't take advantage of it, you're off your rocker". While her hair coloring originated from the illustrations in the novel, Davis found its disheveled style by looking "through old magazines for hairdos from 1940 till now". Her coat was exaggerated to match her oversized personality, and the lining was red because "there's a devil image involved".

### Casting

Before starring in high-profile roles such as *The Birds* and *The Time Machine*, Australian actor Rod Taylor had extensive radio experience and then was cast as Pongo. The filmmakers deliberately cast dogs with deeper voices than their human owners, so they had more power. Walt Disney originally had Lisa Davis read for the role of Cruella De Vil, but she did not think that she was right for the part, and wanted to try reading the role of Anita. Disney agreed with her after the two of them read the script for a second time.

Betty Lou Gerson, who was previously the narrator for *Cinderella*, auditioned for the role of Cruella De Vil in front of Marc Davis and sequence director Wolfgang Reitherman, and landed it. While searching for the right accent of the character, Gerson landed on a "phony theatrical voice, someone who's set sail from New York but hasn't quite reached England". During the recording process, she was thought to be imitating Tallulah Bankhead. However, Gerson disputed, "Well, I didn't intentionally imitate her...I was raised in Birmingham, Ala., and Tallulah was from Jasper, Ala. We both had phony English accents on top of our Southern accents and a great deal of flair. So our voices came out that way". In addition to voicing Mrs. Birdwell, Gerson finished recording in fourteen days.

### Music

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To have music involved in the narrative, Peet used an old theater trick by which the protagonist is a down-and-out songwriter. However, unlike the previous animated Disney films at the time, the songs were not composed by a team, but by Mel Leven who composed both lyrics and music. Previously, Leven had composed songs for the UPA animation studio in which animators, who transferred to work at Disney, had recommended him to Walt. His first assignment was to compose "Cruella de Vil," of which Leven composed three versions. The final version used in the film was composed as a "bluesy number" before a meeting with Walt in forty-five minutes.

The other two songs included in the film are "Kanine Krunchies Jingle" (sung by Lucille Bliss, who voiced Anastasia Tremaine in Disney's 1950 film *Cinderella*), and "Dalmatian Plantation" in which Roger sings only two lines at its closure. Leven had also written additional songs that were not included in the film. The first song, "Don't Buy a Parrot from a Sailor," a cockney chant, was meant to be sung by Jasper and Horace at the De Vil Mansion. A second song, "Cheerio, Good-Bye, Toodle-oo, Hip Hip!" was to be sung by the dalmatian puppies as they make their way into London. A third song titled "March of the One Hundred and One" was meant for the dogs to sing after escaping Cruella by van. Different, longer versions of "Kanine Krunchies Jingle" and "Dalmatian Plantation" appear on the Disneyland Records read-along album based on the film.

The Sherman Brothers wrote a title song, "One Hundred and One Dalmatians", but it was not used in the film. The song has been released on other Disney recordings, however.

## Release

*One Hundred and One Dalmatians* was first released in theaters on January 25, 1961. The film was re-released theatrically in 1969, 1979, 1985, and 1991. The 1991 reissue was the 20th highest-grossing film of the year for domestic earnings.

### Home media

*One Hundred and One Dalmatians* was first released on VHS on April 10, 1992, as part of the Walt Disney Classics video series. By June 1992, it had sold 11.1 million copies. At the time, it was the sixth best-selling video of all time. It was re-released on March 9, 1999, as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection video series. Due to technical issues, it was later released on LaserDisc and was delayed numerous times before its release on DVD. The film was re-released on VHS, and for the first time on DVD, in December 1999, as a Walt Disney Limited Issue for a limited 60-day time period before going into moratorium. A two-disc Platinum Edition DVD was released on March 4, 2008. It was released on Blu-ray Disc in the United Kingdom on September 3, 2012. A Diamond Edition Blu-ray of the film was released in North America on February 10, 2015. A Limited Edition from Disney Movie Club was released on Blu-ray and DVD combo on November 6, 2018. Then it was re-released on HD digital download and Blu-ray on September 24, 2019, as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection.

## Reception

### Box office

During its initial theatrical run, the film grossed $14 million in the United States and Canada, which generated $6.2 million in distributor rentals. It was also the most popular film of the year in France, with admissions of 14.7 million ranking tenth on their all-time list.

The film was re-released in 1969, where it earned $15 million. In its 1979 theatrical re-release, it grossed $19 million, and in 1985, the film grossed $32 million. During its fourth re-release in 1991, it grossed $60.8 million.

Prior to 1995, the film had grossed $86 million overseas. In 1995, it grossed $71 million overseas bringing its international total to $157 million. The film's total domestic lifetime gross is $145 million, and its total worldwide gross is $303 million. Adjusted for inflation, and incorporating subsequent releases, the film has a lifetime gross of $900.3 million.

### Critical reaction

In its initial release, the film received critical acclaim from critics, many of whom hailed it as the studio's best release since *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* (1937) and the closest to a real "Disney" film in many years. Howard Thompson of *The New York Times* wrote, "While the story moves steadily toward a stark, melodramatic "chase" climax, it remains enclosed in a typical Disney frame of warm family love, human and canine". However, he later opined that the "[s]ongs are scarce, too. A few more would have braced the final starkness". *Variety* claimed that "While not as indelibly enchanting or inspired as some of the studio's most unforgettable animated endeavors, this is nonetheless a painstaking creative effort". *Time* praised the film as "the wittiest, most charming, least pretentious cartoon feature Walt Disney has ever made". *Harrison's Reports* felt all children and adults will be "highly entertained by Walt Disney's latest, a semi-sophisticated, laugh-provoking, all cartoon, feature-lengther in Technicolor." Dodie Smith also enjoyed the film where she particularly praised the animation and backgrounds of the film.

Contemporary reviews have remained positive. Reviewing the film during its 1991 re-release, Roger Ebert of the *Chicago Sun-Times*, while giving the film three stars out of four, asserted that "it's an uneven film, with moments of inspiration in a fairly conventional tale of kidnapping and rescue. This is not one of the great Disney classics - it's not in the same league with *Snow White* or *Pinocchio* - but it's passable fun, and will entertain its target family audiences." *Chicago Tribune* film critic Gene Siskel, in his 1991 review, also gave the film three stars out of four. Ralph Novak of *People* wrote "What it lacks in romantic extravagance and plush spectacle, this 1961 Disney film makes up for in quiet charm and subtlety. In fact, if any movie with dogs, cats, and horses who talk can be said to belong in the realm of realistic drama, this is it". However, the film did receive a few negative reviews. In 2011, Craig Berman of MSNBC ranked it and its 1996 remake as two of the worst children's films of all time, saying that, "The plot itself is a bit nutty. Making a coat out of dogs? Who does that? But worse than Cruella de Vil's fashion sense is the fact that your children will definitely start asking for a Dalmatian of their own for their next birthday".

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Cruella de Vil ranked 39th on AFI's list of "100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains".

### Legacy

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#### Live-action remake and its sequel

Since the original release of the film, Disney has taken the property in various directions. The earliest of these endeavors was the 1996 live-action remake, ***101 Dalmatians***, which starred Glenn Close as Cruella De Vil. Unlike the original film, none of the animals had speaking voices in this version. Its success in theaters led to *102 Dalmatians*, released on November 22, 2000.

#### TV series

After the first live-action version of the film, an animated series titled *101 Dalmatians: The Series* was launched. The characters' designs were stylized further to allow for economic animation and to appeal to contemporary trends.

*101 Dalmatian Street* is the second TV series with a plot in the 21st century, with a new art style and a concept loosely based on the source material. Set 60 years after the original animated film, the show focuses on Dylan and Dolly, (who are both descendants of Pongo and Perdita) caring for their 97 younger siblings who all live without a human in Camden Town.

#### Sequel

*101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure*, the official sequel to the original animated film, was released direct-to-video on January 21, 2003.

#### Live-action reboot

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In 2021, Disney released another live-action film that focuses on the origin of Cruella de Vil. Emma Stone plays Cruella and Alex Timbers was in negotiations to direct the film, but he left directing duties for *Cruella* due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by the *I, Tonya* director Craig Gillespie in December 2018. Emma Thompson portrays Baroness von Hellman, while Paul Walter Hauser joined the project, revealed to be as Horace, with Joel Fry cast as Jasper. The film was originally scheduled to be released on December 23, 2020, but was delayed to May 28, 2021.

## See also

* List of highest-grossing animated films
* List of highest-grossing films in France
* List of American films of 1961
* List of animated feature films of the 1960s
* List of Walt Disney Pictures films
* List of Disney theatrical animated features
* **Script error: No such module "Section link".**

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## Notes

1. ↑ **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 **Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".**
3. ↑ Disney-produced 1961 advertising used the "deVille" spelling."101 Dalmatians" (Orpheum Theater advertisement). Madison (WI) Capital Times, 7 April 1961.
4. ↑ **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".****Script error: No such module "Unsubst".****Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".**
5. ↑ **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
13. ↑ **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
15. ↑ **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
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23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
24. ↑ **Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".**
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27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
28. ↑ **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
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## External links

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* **Script error: No such module "Official website".****Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".**
* **Script error: No such module "String".** ***Script error: No such module "String".*** at AllMovie**Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".****Script error: No such module "Error".**
* **Script error: No such module "String".**/ ***Script error: No such module "String".*** at IMDb**Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".**
* **Script error: No such module "Wd".**/enwp ***Script error: No such module "String".*** at the TCM Movie Database**Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".**
* **Script error: No such module "String".** **Script error: No such module "String".** at Rotten Tomatoes**Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".**
* **Script error: No such module "String".**.htm ***Script error: No such module "String".*** at Box Office Mojo**Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".**

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