Cinema Tuesdays Review

The Wide, Wonderful World of Dogs
By Nathan Cone

Groundbreaking in more ways than one, "Lady and the Tramp" is arriving on home video in a deluxe "Platinum Edition" DVD that is not as expansive as previous Disney packages, however the features it does include are well produced. The film itself, celebrating its 50th anniversary with this DVD set (about eight months too late -- the movie was released in 1955), makes no bones about being a simple story of how two dogs meet and fall in love.

After drawing on plays, books, and fairy tales for its animated fare, "Lady and the Tramp" was the first original story Disney brought to the screen. It's actually a pretty adult movie, with some characters expressing mistrust and hurt. And there's a noticeable lack of zany jokes and cute sidekicks. Even the songs, co-written by Peggy Lee, are short, and not a major focus of the film. In fact, nearly 30 minutes elapse before the first, "What Is a Baby?/La La Lu," is performed.

Nevertheless, the movie also works for kids, and not just because of the cute dogs. Any child may be able to relate to Lady as the new baby arrives in her household. "When a baby moves in, the dog moves out," Tramp warns Lady. While the older sibling may not exactly get moved to the doghouse, they may feel that way, as attention is lavished upon the new arrival. The classic Disney films are masterful in the way they prey upon childhood fears of loss and danger, only to reassure you as the movie draws to its happy conclusion.

Besides its story, "Lady and the Tramp" broke new ground with its use of the widescreen Cinemascope frame. In 1955, television was scaring the pants off Hollywood types, and so the wide Cinemascope format was devised to bring folks back in the theaters to see something new. Disney jumped on board with this movie and its follow-up, "Sleeping Beauty." For "Lady and the Tramp" the widescreen frame works perfectly. As is pointed out on a documentary about the film included on this DVD set, when you are at a dog's-eye level, the whole world looks horizontal! The background painters and animators used this idea to help plan their shots, and if you watch the movie with this in mind, it seems perfectly natural.

Another tidbit of information revealed in the documentary is that the famous spaghetti scene was not originally part of the story, and that Walt Disney himself did not like the idea of the scene until he saw it animated. Conspicuously absent from the documentary, however, is the fact that Peggy Lee, who did such a great job with the songs and four voices in the movie, successfully sued Disney much later for residuals from home video sales. The DVD set also includes excerpts from the "Disneyland" television shows, and in an incredible display of hipness on the producers' part, actor Fred Willard, so funny as a clueless dog show commentator in "Best In Show," is employed for one short featurette that explains the major dog breeds.

Looking and sounding great at 50 years, "Lady and the Tramp" is a tight, 76-minute feature that is a good choice for dog lovers and animation lovers. And lovers of any breed, for that matter.

2/23/06

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