Movie Info
Movie Name: Lady and the Tramp
Studio: Walt Disney Productions
Genre(s): Animated/Romance/Musical/Family
Release Date(s): June 22, 1955
MPAA Rating: G
Damn Lady, you lookin’ fine!
Jim Dear and Darling have brought a new dog into their home. Lady (voiced by Barbara Luddy) becomes the light of Jim Dear and Darling’s life. When Darling is expecting a child, Lady is warned by Tramp (voiced by Larry Roberts) that things are going to change at their home. When the baby arrives, Lady finds herself sideline but learns to love the change. When Jim Dear and Darling decide to go on vacation, Aunt Sarah and her Siamese cats drive Lady to the streets and where only the Tramp can help her.
Lady and the Tramp was directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske. It is number fifteen in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series (it was preceded by Peter Pan in 1953 and followed by Sleeping Beauty in 1959). It was shot in CinemaScope, a first for an animated feature, and has a nice widescreen feel. The movie was panned by critics but was one of Disney’s biggest moneymakers and has since been considered a classic.
We are Siamese if you please!
The story concept came from Joe Grant who liked the idea of a dog displaced by a baby. The story is based on “Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog” by Ward Greene, but only the Tramp aspect comes from this short story which was featured in Cosmopolitan Magazine (and yes the idea of calling Tramp “Tramp” was debated because of what is inferred by the name).
The art of Lady and the Tramp is fantastic. The dogs (and the Siamese cats) all have great designs and personalities (granted they are based on ethnic stereotypes tied to the breed), but they are still fun for a kid. I remember loving Lady and the Tramp because we had a Scottish terrier and Jock was like watching our dog. It is associations like these that help kids get into this movie and make it pretty enjoyable, but it avoids the current Disney standard of having a wise cracking sidekick throughout the whole movie.
If these were real dogs, they would start fighting
Lady and the Tramp actually is ranked highly as a romance. The scene where Lady and Tramp visit the Italian restaurant is classic and perfectly designed. The great combination of music and the clever decision with the sharing of the spaghetti is just a classic moment not only in Disney history but in cinematic history.
Lady and the Tramp, I think is one of Disney’s better films. It has some sentimentality, but it is a nice, short (but not too short) concise story. The art is great, the characters are great, and the few songs in the movie are good. The art has a classic feel but it is cleaned up enough from earlier Disney movies that it is an improvement but is better than later movies from the 1960s and 1970s. Check out Lady and the Tramp and have your kids check it out also. Lady and the Tramp was followed in 2001 by the straight-to-DVD Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure (you can also see Jock, Trusty and Peg show up for a cameo in Disney’s Oliver & Company).
