Seeing the Story – Walt Disney’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

One Hundred and One Dalmatians movie poster on a blue-green background | Poster Image Source: Wikipedia

Seeing the Story/ Review of Book to Screen Adaptation

Released by Walt Disney in 1961

All screen adaptations will be referred to in the following format “Title (Date).”

3.75/5 In search of something lighter and more whimsical, I chose The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith as “Back in the 1950s” Book for the Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC). I admit I saw this movie way back in my own day along with many of my peers in elementary school, well before I cracked the cover of the book. Still and all, the details of my first viewing of the adaptation are vague. I only recall associating super villain Cruella de Vil with a substitute teacher who wouldn’t let any of us kids in class near her fabulous white fur coat (I can laugh now). Anyway, after reading the book, I treated myself to watching One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) in 2022.

Click here for check out my Starlight Book Review of Dodie Smith’s The Hundred and One Dalmatians.

Click here to learn more about the Back in the Day SRC.

“Pongo and Perdita have a litter of 15 puppies. Cruella De Vil takes a fancy to the pups, and wants to get hold of them, as well as more pups, to make herself a lovely Dalmatian skin coat. Cruella hires some thugs to kidnap the pups and hold them at her mansion. Pongo and Perdita enlist the help of the local dogs London to find and rescue them.”—Colin Tinto cst@imdb.com

I actually liked One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) on its own. Pongo, Perdita, and all the pups held true appeal for me. The animation charmed me as well. The fascination of the characters — canines, humans, other creatures — with the “Telly” seemed… forgive me for saying so in a review of media featuring dalmatians… spot on. The music delighted me; Roger Radcliffe’s ditties remain in my head. As a friend of a number of felines, I appreciated the camaraderie of the pups with Sergeant Tibbs. Cruella lived down to my girlhood nightmares of the villainess. I sliced off some stars on my rating because, while I get the challenge of screen adaptation, I wished some of the characters of the book appeared in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). In addition, Missis and Perdita became merged into one character in the film. Besides that, this fun romp brought about something simultaneously old and new for me. Other readers of the book may enjoy One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), recalling that author Smith herself delighted in this film.

Quotes come from description on IMDb and are featured on color blocks. Click here to access this webpage.

Starlight Book Review – Dodie Smith’s The Hundred and One Dalmatians

Cover of The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith on a gray background |
Cover Image Source: Goodreads

Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 1950s

Published 1956

4.1/5 After some serious, thought-provoking reads for the Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC), I determined I wanted lighter fare. I discovered that Dodie Smith’s The Hundred and One Dalmatians hit shelves in the 1950s. I saw a Disney adaptation of The Hundred and One Dalmatians as a child but had yet to read the book. I determined to remedy that by reading Smith’s book to satisfy my Back in the 1950s entry for this SRC.

“When Missis and Pongo’s puppies go missing, the two Dalmatian parents know the scary Cruella de Vil has had something to do with it. After all, she adores furs, and the Dalmatians have such beautiful coats… The dogs’ pets, Mr and Mrs Dearly, don’t understand them, so it is up to Pongo and Missis to rescue their pups.”

I consider The Hundred and One Dalmatians a charming delight. I imagine readers in the 1950s loved the whimsy of dogs possessing fantastic infrastructures and humans lacking. I enjoyed how The Hundred and One Dalmatians resolved, too. Cruella de Vil dazzled in a deliciously wicked way as the demented villain of this piece. If Smith wrote this book in the 2020s rather than the 1950s, I think she might approach some of how Pongo’s talk and address of Missis in a different way. I deducted a partial star for some parts that took the “scenic route” through this canine caper fantasy but regard this a a worthwhile classic to read in the Twenty-first Century.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.