Lady and the Tramp (DVD)

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The first time Disney released "Lady and the Tramp" on DVD, it was a bare-bones affair, with the movie and little else. This time out, they have provided the movie with a deluxe, two-disc Fiftieth Anniversary Platinum Edition, improving the picture quality in a full restoration and a higher bit-rate transfer, the sound quality in a special Dolby Digital 5.1 home-theater mix, and the extras in a second disc worth of goodies. It's about time, although I have to wonder why they chose "Lady and the Tramp" for special treatment ahead of "Pinocchio."

I read somewhere that "Lady" is currently the most common name given to female dogs. This is due, no doubt, to the continued popularity of Disney's 1955 cartoon, "Lady and the Tramp." In fact, my wife and I owned a sheltie named Lady. The movie proves as endearing today as the first time it appeared so many years ago. Maybe not in the absolute top echelon of Disney classics, "Lady and the Tramp" nevertheless ranks high on the list of best animated films of all time.

The moviemakers preface the film with the following remark from nineteenth-century American humorist Josh Billings: "In the whole history of the world there is but one thing that money can not buy...to wit--the wag of a dog's tale." And then from Disney, "So it is to all dogs...be they ladies or tramps that this picture is dedicated."

It's the first half of the movie that gets to you. Lady (voiced by Barbara Luddy) is a beautiful, pampered, little brown-and-white cocker spaniel raised from a puppy by an upper-middle-class American couple--"Jim Dear" (Lee Millar) and "Darling" (Peggy Lee)--during a simpler age at the turn of the twentieth century. Lady's best friends are the neighbor dogs, a Scottish terrier named Jock (Bill Thompson) and old bloodhound named Trusty (Bill Baucom). Everything goes swimmingly for the Lady and the family until an intruder shows up. Lady's masters have a new baby, and Lady feels left out. Further complications arise when a foolish old biddy, Aunt Sarah (Verna Felton), and her two fiendish cats ("We are Siamese, if you please") show up to baby-sit for a few days. Lady runs away from the house and takes refuge with a charming rascal named Tramp (Larry Roberts), a stray mongrel who shows her a new world well outside her previously coddled existence. Needless to say, romance, as well as adventure, ensues.

The film's second half bogs down a bit in a lot of chasing and running around, but the movie's music and lyrics help it immeasurably. The highlight is "Bella Notte," an attractive, mock-Neopolitan ballad that the owners of Tony's Restaurant sing to Tramp and his new girlfriend over a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Other tunes include "Peace on Earth," "What Is A Baby?," "The Siamese Cat Song," and Peggy Lee's all-too-brief "He's a Tramp." Additional voices are provided by Stan Freberg as the beaver, Alan Reed as Boris, George Givot as Tony, Dal McKennon as Toughy, and Thurl Ravenscroft as Al the alligator; with direction by Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, and Wilfred Jackson.

Not only is "Lady and the Tramp" one of Disney's sweetest films, it's one of their loveliest to look at. The animation combines Disney's early technique of ultrarealistic watercolors plus a slightly sparser, more angular 1950s' style. It works well representing the early 1900s, with gaslights, horse-and-buggies, vintage automobiles, and big Victorian houses. The movie is brief at only seventy-five minutes, and it's one of the few Disney features I wish had been longer. Still and all, it holds up well for children and adults, so who's to complain?

Video:
This was Disney's first animated release in CinemaScope, and Buena Vista Home Entertainment preserve most of its widescreen aspect ratio; indeed, this is one of the widest ratios you'll find on any disc anywhere. (On the keep case, Disney claims the movie's original theatrical-release dimensions were 2.55:1, and I believe it from what I see here.) The colors are more vibrant and well defined than in the movie's first DVD edition, thanks to an all-new restoration and an anamorphic, high-bit-rate digital transfer. The image quality is exceptionally clean, with virtually no visible grain, and black levels are strong enough to provide plenty of contrast for the rest of the hues. This is about as good as standard-definition TV gets.