I know that I watched this film as a child. We had a copy on VHS. But, I don’t actually remember ever watching it. I purchased the film recently, and figured that I would give it a rewatch and I am glad that I did. Lady and the Tramp is, I would say, the most beautiful film that the Walt Disney Company released in the 1950s.
The entire time that I was watching the film, I couldn’t help but be focused on the gorgeous backgrounds, that were hand painted by some phenomenal artists. And then, the animations done for each different dog were astounding.
Disney benefits from this film being one that is an original story. Up until this time, the only other original story that had become an animated film was Dumbo in 1941. Being that Lady and the Tramp was an original story to the company, they were able to really explore and expand on certain characters, like Jock and Trusty. They really made all the characters so sincere. So much so, actually, that when Trusty is hit by the dogcatcher, I actually teared up. Like, out of nowhere teared up. I did not realize that I had become that attached to these characters. But, that could also be because I am very much a dog person.
This movie would be perfect today if it weren’t for one rather big thing: the two Siamese

cats named Si and Am. I mean, it’s just as bad as the crows in Dumbo. Sure, this film was made in the 1950s, but still. That was no reason to draw the Siamese cats to look like caricatures of an entire race of people. Plus the accent being done by Peggy Lee is just not helpful. Fortunately, those cats are only in one scene, and it’s fairly short. Unfortunately, the song they sing is the one that is most likely to become stuck in your head on an endless loop.

At one time, the tag line for this film was “And now his happiest film!” and I would have to agree. Throughout most of this film I had a smile on my face. It was cute and well thought out. And, as I stated above, the artwork is breathtaking. Lady and the Tramp is only an hour and sixteen minutes and I could sit there and watch this on a continuous loop and love it every time.