Lady and the Tramp

Lady and the Tramp is a 1955 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released to theaters on June 22, 1955, by Buena Vista Distribution. The fifteenth animated feature in the Disney Animated Features Canon, it was the first animated feature filmed in the CinemaScope Widescreen film process.The story, which was based the book Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog by Ward Greene, centers on a female American Cocker Spaniel named Lady who lives with a refined, upper middle-class family, and a male stray mutt called the Tramp. A direct-to-video sequel, Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure was released in 2001.

Plot
Christmas morning 1909, Jim Dear gives his wife Darling a cocker spaniel puppy that they name Lady. Lady enjoys a happy life with the couple and with a pair of dogs from the neighborhood, a Scottish Terrier named Jock and a bloodhound named Trusty. Meanwhile, across town by the railway, a stray mutt, referred to as The Tramp, lives life from moment to moment, be it begging for scraps from the local Italian restaurant or protecting his fellow strays Peg (a Lhasa Apso) and Bull (an English bulldog) from the local dog catcher. Later, Lady is saddened after Jim Dear and Darling begin treating her rather coldly. Jock and Trusty visit her, and determine that the change in behavior is due to Darling expecting a baby. While Jock and Trusty try to explain what a baby is, Tramp offers his own thoughts on the matter. Jock and Trusty take an immediate dislike to the stray and order him out of the yard. As Tramp leaves, he reminds Lady that "when the baby moves in, the dog moves out". Eventually, the baby arrives and Jim Dear and Darling introduce Lady to the infant, to whom Lady grows fond. Soon after, the two decide to go on a trip together, leaving their Aunt Sarah to look after the baby and the house. Aunt Sarah, however, dislikes dogs, refusing to let Lady near the baby. When Lady clashes with Aunt Sarah's two trouble-making Siamese cats, Si and Am, she takes Lady to a pet shop to get a muzzle. Lady flees, but is pursued by some street dogs. After the Tramp rescues Lady, the two visit a local zoo, where Tramp tricks a beaver into removing the muzzle. Later, Tramp shows Lady how he lives "footloose and collar-free", eventually leading into a candlelit Italian dinner. Lady begins to fall in love with Tramp, and the two spend the night together on a hilltop in the park. As Tramp escorts Lady back home the next day, Tramp stirs up trouble in a chicken coop. As the two dogs flee, Lady is caught by the dog-catcher. At the pound, the other dogs admire Lady's license, as it is her way out of the pound. Soon the dogs reveal the Tramp's many girlfriends and how he is unlikely to ever settle down. Eventually, Lady is collected by Aunt Sarah and is chained to the backyard doghouse. Jock and Trusty visit to comfort her, but when Tramp arrives to apologize, thunder starts to rumble as Lady angrily confronts him about his past girlfriends and failure to rescue her, after which Tramp leaves. Moments later, as it starts to rain, Lady sees a rat trying to sneak into the house with the apparent intention of harming the baby. Lady barks frantically, but Aunt Sarah tells her to be quiet. Tramp hears her and runs back to help. Tramp enters the house and confronts the rat in the nursery. Lady breaks free and races to the nursery to find the rat on the baby's crib. Tramp manages to kill the rat in battle, but knocks over the crib in the process, awakening the infant. When Aunt Sarah comes to the baby's aid, she sees the two dogs and thinks they are responsible. She forces Tramp into a closet and Lady into the basement, then calls the pound to take Tramp away. Jim Dear and Darling return as the dogcatcher departs. They release Lady, who leads them and Aunt Sarah to the dead rat, vindicating Tramp. Overhearing everything and realizing Tramp's intentions, Jock and Trusty chase after the dogcatcher's wagon. Jock is convinced Trusty has long since lost his sense of smell, but the old bloodhound is able to find the wagon. They bark at the horses, who rear up and topple the wagon onto a utility pole. Jim Dear arrives in a taxi with Lady, and Lady reunites with Tramp. However, Trusty is injured in the struggle and Jock howls in sorrow. That Christmas, Tramp, now a part of Lady's family, has his own collar and license. Aunt Sarah has also reconciled with Lady by sending her a box of dog biscuits. Lady and Tramp raise four puppies together: three resemble Lady (Annette, Danielle, and Collette) and the other resembles Tramp (Scamp). Jock comes to see the family along with Trusty, who is carefully walking on his still-mending leg.

Cast

 * Peggy Lee as Darling, Si and Am,and Peg
 * Barbara Luddy as Lady
 * Larry Roberts as Tramp
 * Bill Thompson as Jock, Bull, Dachise, Policeman
 * Bill Baucom as Trusty
 * Stan Freberg as Mr. Busy the beaver
 * Verna Felton as Aunt Sarah
 * Alan Reed as Boris
 * Thurl Ravenscroft as Al the alligator
 * George Givot as Tony
 * Dallas McKennon as Toughy, Pedro, Professor,and Hyena
 * Lee Millar as Jim Dear, Dogcatcher
 * Sterling Holloway as Jock's singing voice (uncredited)
 * The Mellomen as Dog Pound Dogs

Home Video Release
At the time, the film took in a higher figure than any other Disney animated feature since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. An episode of Disneyland called A Story of Dogs aired before the film’s release. The film was reissued to theaters in 1962, 1971, 1980, and 1986, and on VHS and Laserdisc in 1987 (this was in Disney's The Classics video series) and 1998 (this was in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection video series). A Disney Limited Issue series DVD was released on November 23, 1999. It was remastered and restored for DVD on February 28, 2006, as the seventh installment of Platinum Editions series. One million copies of the Platinum Edition were sold on February 28, 2006 The Platinum Edition DVD went on moratorium on January 31, 2007, along with the 2006 DVD reissue of Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure. This film began a spinoff comic titled Scamp, named after one of Lady and the Tramp's puppies. It was first written by Ward Greene and was published from October 31, 1955 until 1988. Scamp also stars in a direct-to-video sequel in 2001 titled Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's AdventureWalt Disney's Comic Digest — issue #54 has A New Adventure of Lady and the Tramp dated copyright 1955.

Diamond Edition
Lady and the Tramp will also be released on a Blu-Ray and DVD Diamond Edition in Spring 2012.

Reception
Despite being an enormous success at the box office, the film was initially panned by many critics: one indicated that the dogs had "the dimensions of hippos," another that "the artists' work is below par". However the film has since come to be regarded as a classic. Lady and the Tramp was named number 95 out of the "100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time" by the American Film Institute in their A Hundred Years...A Hundred Passions special.