--- title: "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" year: 1961 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/one-hundred-and-one-dalmatians" fi1m_score: 82 critics_score: 75 critics_reviews: 12 published: "2026-09-17T06:10:56.039114+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T06:10:56.363085+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske · 1h 19m · MPA G · Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family **Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 75 from 12 reviews *In a sentence:* Fifteen puppies, one woman with a cigarette holder, and a coat she is entirely frank about wanting > Disney’s dog-napping caper is short, dry and drawn in a rough pencil line that still looks modern, and it has a villain nobody at the studio has bettered. The puppies are the least interesting thing in it, and there are a great many of them. ## Synopsis London, the present day of 1961. Pongo (Rod Taylor), a dalmatian, lives in a bachelor flat with Roger (Ben Wright), a songwriter he regards as his pet, and decides they both need a wife. From the window he spots Perdita (Cate Bauer) walking her owner Anita (Lisa Davis) to Regent’s Park, drags Roger after them and gets them all soaked in the pond. Two weddings later the household has a Nanny (Martha Wentworth) and, one stormy night, fifteen puppies. Then Anita’s old schoolfriend Cruella De Vil (Betty Lou Gerson) arrives in a fur coat and a cloud of cigarette smoke, offering to buy the entire litter. Roger refuses. Cruella hires Jasper (J. Pat O’Malley) and Horace (Frederick Worlock), and the puppies vanish. ## Review Dodie Smith’s novel about a London dog whose puppies are stolen for a coat reached the screen in 1961, at 79 minutes, with one writer credited for the story and three directors sharing the chair. That is short for a studio that had spent the previous decade on castles and forests, and the shortness is the first good thing about it. Bill Peet’s story keeps to the bone: a marriage, a litter, a theft, a rescue. Nothing is sung twice. It is the driest film the studio had made, and we recommend it, with the caveat that the puppies are the weakest thing in it. The look was new. Ken Anderson’s design puts the animators’ pencil lines straight onto the screen, by way of a photocopier rather than an inker’s brush, so every outline is a little rough and the colour sits under it like a wash. London is grey brick, black railings and a wet park; Roger’s flat has a piano and a bus going past the window. The reviews have said for years that Walt Disney, who produced it, did not care for any of this, and you can see why. It looks like a sketchbook. It has also dated less than anything else the studio made that decade. Then there is Cruella. Betty Lou Gerson gives her a voice that starts in a drawl and ends in a shriek, and the animators give her a face that is all cheekbone and a coat that is all fur. She arrives at the flat trailing green smoke, calls Anita “darling” while insulting her, and asks to buy the puppies before they are born. Roger (Ben Wright) says no. We were frightened of her as children and uneasy again now, and not because of the shrieking. She says exactly what she wants, out loud, in a sitting room, and nobody present knows how to make her stop. Roger writes a rude song about her to cheer himself up, and the film uses it as its theme. The middle hour belongs to the dogs. Pongo, voiced by Rod Taylor in a tone that ought to be reading the shipping forecast, sends word of the theft by barking at dusk, and the message crosses London one dog at a time, out through the suburbs to a farm in the country. It moved us more than a relay of barking has any right to. Every dog in the chain is a stranger doing a favour, and the film shows the whole city at nightfall to make the point. At the far end are the Colonel, an old sheepdog voiced by J. Pat O’Malley, who also plays the thief Jasper, and Sergeant Tibbs (David Frankham), a cat who does the work. Their scenes in the derelict house where the puppies are held are the funniest in the film, because Jasper and Horace (Frederick Worlock) would rather watch a quiz show than guard anything. What does not work is the puppies. There are fifteen of them and later many more, and they have two personalities between them: one is hungry and one wants to watch television. When the dogs sit down in front of a set, the film sits down with them. Roger and Anita (Lisa Davis) are pleasant and thin, and Nanny (Martha Wentworth) is there to shout. George Bruns’s score is brassy and quick in the chases and sticky in the nursery. The last stretch, which we will not describe beyond saying it involves snow, goes on a beat or two past the point where we had stopped worrying. Against the studio’s own standards it has less polish than [*Sleeping Beauty*](https://film.one/film/sleeping-beauty), two years earlier, and more nerve. The studio drew this way for the next twenty years, mostly less well. Donald Halliday and Roy M. Brewer Jr. cut it so that nothing outstays its welcome except the television, which is presumably the joke. It is a U certificate and it was made for children, but the smaller ones will need a hand during the drive through the snow. So might you. Sit them close and let Cruella do the rest. *Fi1m score 82, published 17 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (12) - **Radio Times**, Andrew Collins (5/5): The review describes it as a hardy perennial from Disney with deft mix of cute animals and foolish humans. It singles out the draughtsmanship and personalities of the dalmatians plus the poignant twilight bark sequence. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-cox65i/one-hundred-and-one-dalmatians/) - **Empire**, Phil Thomas (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film one of Disney's finest and most underrated, praising its witty, scary, beautifully paced and brilliantly animated qualities as the timeless Disney formula at its best. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/one-hundred-one-dalmatians-review/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Charles Solomon (90/100, inferred): Thirty years after release, the 1961 Disney film remains fresh, funny and thoroughly entertaining in re-release, with a clean simplified design reflecting early '60s graphics. Cruella de Vil is genuinely menacing and outrageously funny as the first of Disney's comic villainesses. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-12-ca-2075-story.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Eric Henderson (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as one of Disney's best for its compelling take on family and aesthetics, highlighting Cruella De Vil as a tour-de-force villain who embodies fashion-as-death with her striking design, voice, and menace. The review singles out the gritty Xerox animation process and Cruella's mundane yet terminal evil for praise while noting the film's embrace of destructiveness. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/101-dalmatians/) - **Time Out**, RP (80/100, inferred): The critic calls the film brilliant entertainment and Disney at his finest. It highlights the voice-over narration by Pongo and the mix of thematic concerns around the dognapping plot. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/101-dalmatians) - **Sight and Sound** (70/100, inferred): The review praises the film's discretion in handling sentimental material and the engaging plot from the kidnapping onwards. It singles out the lovingly detailed backgrounds and the distinct, engaging personalities of the dogs for particular praise. [Read](http://old.bfi.org.uk/features/ultimatefilm/chart/details.php?ranking=66) - **The New York Times**, Howard Thompson (70/100, inferred): Walt Disney's latest animated feature spins a cozy and sentimental yarn about Dalmatians threatened by a dognapping villainess, with the dogs proving cute and friendly. The film should appeal especially to younger children despite the menacing female antagonist. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1961/02/11/archives/disney-film-on-dogs.html) - **Variety** (70/100, inferred): The painstaking creative effort is not as indelibly enchanting as some prior Disney animated films but should amuse even hardened adults with several passages in its story of puppies rescued from Cruella De Vil. The canine sleuthing network is a highlight of the London-set yarn. [Read](https://variety.com/1960/film/reviews/one-hundred-and-one-dalmatians-1200419931/) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (65/100, inferred): The 1961 Disney animated film is an uneven but passable family entertainment in its 1991 re-release, with moments of inspiration amid a conventional kidnapping-and-rescue tale. It is not among the studio's greatest classics, but the character of Cruella De Vil stands out as first-rate. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/101-dalmatians-1991) - **The Times**, Louise Cohen (65/100, inferred): The 1961 Disney animated feature is beautiful though it lacks the cosy fantasy of earlier classics. The bonus disc of extras on this DVD re-release makes it worth revisiting, with details on animation techniques and historical context. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/101-dalmatians-k99jvnj5n8n) - **The New Yorker**, Edith Oliver (30/100, inferred): Disney's full-length cartoon contains ingenious ideas but suffers from the studio head's focus on both kids and the box office, resulting in more failures than successes. The story of Cruella kidnapping puppies for a fur coat is ultimately uncomfortable rather than fully engaging. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1961/03/18/half-step) - **Polygon**, Susana Polo (90/100, inferred): The critic celebrates the film as brilliant despite Walt Disney's personal dislike of its style, highlighting its role in saving Disney animation and its modern, relatable approach. She singles out its realistic contemporary setting and innovative production techniques for praise. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/century-of-disney/23693307/101-dalmatians/) ## Details - **Director:** Wolfgang Reitherman, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske - **Director:** Wolfgang Reitherman, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske - **Story:** Bill Peet - **Novel:** Dodie Smith - **Editor:** Roy M. Brewer Jr., Donald Halliday - **Music:** George Bruns - **Production design:** Ken Anderson - **Producer:** Walt Disney - **Cast:** Rod Taylor as Pongo (voice); J. Pat O'Malley as Colonel / Jasper (voice); Betty Lou Gerson as Cruella De Vil / Miss Birdwell (voice); Martha Wentworth as Nanny / Queenie / Lucy (voice); Ben Wright as Roger (voice); Cate Bauer as Perdita (voice); David Frankham as Sergeant Tibbs (voice); Frederick Worlock as Horace / Inspector Craven (voice) - **Runtime:** 1h 19m - **Certificate (MPA):** G - **Release (the US):** 25 January 1961 - **Genres:** Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family - **Budget:** $4 million - **Box office:** $303 million ## Where to watch in the US - Disney+: streaming, hd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $19.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - BAFTA Film Awards 1962: Best Animated Film (won) ## If you liked this - *Lady and the Tramp* (1955), Fi1m 80: The studio’s other dog film, softer and lusher, with a spaghetti scene everyone remembers. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/lady-and-the-tramp.md) - *Belleville Rendez-vous* (2003), Fi1m 84: A French kidnap caper with a fat dog, almost no dialogue and a great deal of wit. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-triplets-of-belleville.md) - *Watership Down* (1978), Fi1m 81: British animals in real English countryside, and a film that trusts children with fear. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/watership-down.md) - *Isle of Dogs* (2018), Fi1m 78: Wes Anderson’s stop-motion strays, deadpan and exact, with a rescue of their own to manage. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/isle-of-dogs.md) - *Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit* (2005), Fi1m 87: Another English village, another animal plot, and a dog who does all the thinking. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/wallace-and-gromit-the-curse-of-the-were-rabbit.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/one-hundred-and-one-dalmatians