The Redefinition of Disney Animation
OK, readers, prepare yourselves for a shock. In 1959, Walt was seriously considering shutting down Disney’s animation department.
Now, in retrospect, you can’t blame him; a handful of Disney filmls had been financially successful, but most of them had been disasters. Granted, that was mostly because of WW2, but the underwhelming performance of Sleeping Beauty had lost the studio thousands and Walt started wondering if it was time to throw in the towel. But animation was in his blood. It was what brought him to Hollywood in the first place and animated shorts as well as films were the very foundation of the whole company. So shutting down the animation department was impossible. Plus, Disneyland was now a huge success and more characters and films were needed for future attractions. So, Walt knew that if he was to keep producing animated films, many changes would have to be made. Specifically, changes that would allow financial conservation and ensure that those films could still make money back. The days of big budget movies were over, along with intricate, detailed backgrounds, which may have looked very nice, but were just too pricy.
Walt decided it was best to focus on films that had animals as the main characters and end the practice of adapting fairy tales. The studios mostpopular characters were almost all animals and Walt felt that movies would succeed better if the characters played to the studio’s strengths. The one thing waylaying a new animated film was the time and money that would go into hand - drawing and colouring of each individual cell. Walt’s inker department alone was an army of people, mostly women, who did meticulous work to give each film their aesthetic. But that work was also more expensive than Walt was comfortable with.
Luckily, a solution came from Ub Iwerks, who had been at the studio since it had began, animating characters way back in the Silly Symphonies days and pionered many SFX techniques like the combining of live - action with animation. But his latest invention revolutionised the animation industry when he modified a Xerox photocopier which could transfer drawing directly on to the cels, eradicating the need for any expensive ink process and allowed the drawings to be displayed on screen for the first time. The Xerox eliminated the lavish styles of inking, so characters were only outlined in strong, black lines. If an animator did remove their pencil marks from the outlining process, the Xerox would include them in the drawing. By using the Xerox, the process lacked the intricacies of detailing that only the human hand and eye could produce, ending up with something cost effective, but not as sophisticated as in previous years.
Walt balked at this process because he thought the product to be crude and it reminded him of the shorts from the 20s and 30s. But the animation team was struggling to make films that would turn profits, so Walt had no choice but to replace the entire inking department with this new machine, which saved the studio millions and ensured that every film released over the next few decades would at least break even. As luck would have it, the premiere of Ub’s new machine would be a property that would otherwise have cost millions and likely been another financial disaster, because in 1957, Walt bought the rights to the Dodie Smith novel The Hundred & One Dalmatians.
THE STORY
In 1960’s London, Pongo the Dalmatian and his “pet” Roger are in their bachelor’s pad on a Spring day, which is apparently a tedious time for bachelors. Roger is doing his work writing songs, so Pongo is just lazing around until after five when they walk down to Regent’s Park. But, while Pongo’s just looking out at the passing parade, he gets the idea to set Roger up with an attractive mate, his words, not mine. So he stares out at the passing parade and in a stroke of luck, he sees a really pretty lady with her equally lovely human respectively named Perdita and Anita. So he gets Roger down to the park, and after a bit of stirring things up, they meet, hit it off, fall in love and eventually get married. A few months later, Perdita becomes pregnant. Unfortunately the news catches the ear of Anita’s old schoolmate, Cruella de Vil, who proclaims fur as her only true love and is eager for the puppies to arrive, so she can buy them, sparing no expense and make them into a pretty new spotted fur coat. I assume most of you will be able to see from there where this goes, even if you haven’t seen the film.
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The cost of animating 101 Dalmatians, and their spots, likely would have pushed the budget for this film up into Sleeping Beauty territory, but thanks to the Xerox, the dogs could be photocopied and save a lot of money. So with that sorted, the film was greenlit and titled One Hundred & One Dalmatians, with a release date sometime in 1961. Senior “story man” Bill Peet was assigned to adapt the book on his own, which was the first time in studio history that one man would write a whole screenplay. Bill condensed many elements of the book and eliminated several characters to keep the production cost low and luckily, it only took him two months to do it all. So his script was finished and approved immediately. Walt was becoming less and less involved with the production of animated films so Peet was put in charge of storyboards and voiceover recordings. And it’s actually quite incredible how closely the final film ended up resembling his storyboards.
In a departure from tradition, this film has no true musical sensibilities, because Walt felt it was time for the studio to modernise its animated films and go with something contemporary and unique. Which makes this film the first animated film to be set in the present day without any of the usual fantastical elements. Though Walt still wanted music to at least have a role, so Roger, a "financial wizard" in the book, was changed to a down - and - out jazz and blues musician and songwriter, allowing the score to be more contemporary and less orchestral. Composer Mel Leven also wrote many songs, but only two ended up in the film. The swinging “Cruella De Vil” and the slightly silly “Kanine Krunchies”, played in a TV ad in the film.
In following decades, Cruella would become one of the most popular Disney villains with her outlandish personality and unique design, which is apparently far more like the book than anything Disney could have come up with; I say this having never yet read the book. But the task of animating her became much simpler for animator and Old Man Marc Davis, who usually had to pull ideas out of thin air. But he still crafted her with the typical villain flair, so she steals focus in every scene. Apparently, he was inspired by the likes of Bette Davis, among others. When Betty Lou Gerson was cast in the role, Cruella was given cheekbones to match Betty’s. With an exaggerated and over the top personality, she was also given a fur coat with blood - red lining to match her outlandish disposition and hint at her Satanic nature. Plus she’s always smoking through a long, green holder, which is what now gives this film a disclaimer about tobacco product use.
MY VERDICT
Knowing what I know now, I am slightly disappointed that this film needed to be so watered down from the past simply to save money. I understand why they had to do it, but it’s still saddening that they had to. With that said, the songs are excellent, the plot is good and the villain is one of Disney most memorable. Plus, again, I have personal memories of this one, because when I was at my dad’s place as a kid, I frequently watched this film and always enjoyed it.
Is One Hundred and One Dalmatians a Disney Classic? It saved the animation studio from being completely dismantled. It’s not the prettiest of Disney’s films, but it’s more than entertaining and memorable enough to be called a Disney Classic.
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