Review: Lady and the Tramp (1955)

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Lady and the Tramp

Rating

Director

Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske

Screenplay

Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ralph Wright, Don DaGradi, Don Christensen, Joe Grant, Dick Huemer, Louis Pollock, Frank Tashlin, Sam Cobean

Length

1h 16m

Starring

Peggy Lee, Larry Roberts, Bill Baucom, Verna Felton, George Givot, Lee Millar, Barbara Luddy, Bill Thompson, Stan Freberg, Alan Reed, Dallas McKennon, The Mello Men

MPAA Rating

Basic Plot

A spoiled cocker spaniel finds out what life is truly all about when she finds herself lost on the streets.

Review

Disney once again taps into the kid-friendly, if not pathetically predictable, film market.

“Lady in the Tramp” opens on a young man who has purchased a puppy, Lady, for his bride. They try to keep her in the kitchen at night, but she whines and yelps and eventually gets out of the kitchen and crawls into bed with them. Years later, she’s still doing it.

When the couple decides to go on a vacation, they ask their Aunt Sarah to come and take care of the house, baby and dog. When she arrives, she brings her two Siamese cats that provide the best comic relief in the film and are all too briefly present.

After Lady gets into a fight with the cats (one they instigated no less), she is banished to the yard where she sulks in exile.

She eventually winds up on the streets where she meets a mixed-breed named Tramp. He shows her around the city and teaches her the ways of the streets as best he can.

The voice-overs are on par with Disney’s previous efforts and the animation style is consistent with the time period, however the plot is atrociously simple and the film hinges on an end that is both pathetic and unreassuring.

While “Lady and the Tramp” is enjoyable, it pales in comparison to both Disney’s earlier and later works. Kids will love it, but parents beware…it is a little sappy and occasionally bland.