1955’s Lady and the Tramp, or Everything I Learned About Romance I Learned From 2 Dogs. Beauty and the Beast is often sighted at the first Date Movie released from Walt Disney Animation Studios but I tend to feel that this is more appropriate. Sure there were princess falling in love at first sight and even twitterpated deer, but never has a relationship been developed from meet-cute to making babies before Lady and the Tramp. And of course there is the iconic spaghetti scene that is synonymous with a perfect date.
This is your typical uptown girl and wrong side of the tracks (literally) guy fall for each other but told through the eyes of a dog. What I really love about the way this story is told is that they don’t like each other at first. Lady learns that her family will soon welcome a baby and as the Tramp simply strolls into the conversion she is having with her neighbors Jock and Trusty, uninvited. Noting that life will never be the same once the baby arrives, Lady takes immediate dislike to him and he just leaves. Throughout a series of events they meet up again and eventually fall in love.
Tramp has a wonderful arc from a carefree bachelor to a family man. He’s got this great speech where he looks onto the world as a big place to be explored as a opposed to being tied down the leash of one family. And Lady could have actually used a little more devolvement. She learns to like the Tramp, but she didn’t really learn much else. This is very much more Tramps story than hers.
Trusty and Jock are a great set of supporting characters. I have a Scottish Terrier, and they got the personality of the little Scottish Die Hard down pact. He’s a loyal friend but as protective as Hell to Lady. There is an odd innuendo where they infer that Lady might have gotten pregnant by Tramp and Jock steps up to the plate to offer his paw in marriage. Despite watching this movie many times as a kid I didn’t realize what this interaction was until I was much older. And I still find it kind of strange. And then there’s old Trusty the Blood Hound. He has a great running gag about him regaling stories about his uncle, Old Reliable, but never remembering if he has mentioned him before. Trusty has lost his sense of smell in his old age. At the climax of the movie, the Tramp is redeemed in the eyes of Jock and Trusty after killing a rat that entered the house and threatened the baby but is apprehended by the dog catcher shortly after and it’s Trusty who is able to track down the truck, nearly sacrificing himself, and save the Tramp.
I also really appreciate the lack of a defined protagonist in the film. Aunt Sarah is more of a busy body and her cats, Si and Am, are just mischief makers. Neither of them are really trying to get anything out of their dislike for Lady or the Tramp. And a rat is introduced as more a plot convenience than a villain.
Animation wise, the artist are still at the height of their game. As I mentioned, I am a dog lover, and I’ve seen my own dogs make so many of the same expressions that the characters on screen make, only my pets never had the defined eyebrows. I strike that, my Scotty has very pronounced, old man eyebrows. This was also the first Disney Animated feature presented in Cinemascope so the backgrounds are gorgeous and rich with detail. One of my favorite being the neighbor where Lady lives, with Lady and her family living in a quaint Victorian home, Jock living a brick Tudor style home, and Trusty living in an southern plantation style manor. It reflects their background and it’s something that didn’t really have to be there. Not to mention many of the Disney Artist were probably rushing to complete Disneyland, which would open not even a month after the release of the film, so to put out this caliber of art on film at the time was quite an accomplishment.
I know that there are plenty of romantic comedy clichés, but it’s really hard for me not to love this movie. Next time you want to cuddle up with your loved one, be it human or canine, I would highly recommend putting this gem of a movie on and make it a perfect bella notte. Spaghetti and Chianti bottle candle holder not included.
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