I had an opera rehearsal from the depths of Hell today. It's a scene from "Il Matrimonio segreto" and it was supposed to be off-book by today, which I JUST found out. I was on vocal rest for the majority of not this past week but the week before that. So I, of course, did not get in as much practice as my two costars. Well, manure occureth. Long story short, today stank like an old dead goose.
But my friend Brittany had the absolutely wonderful and necessary idea to grab dinner at Barberitos - great local place. After half a spinach taco wrap, we decided to come back by my apartment and watch a movie. I DID just get Lady and the Tramp on DVD... So that's what we watched.
I had just about forgotten how very PRETTY this film is. The watercolor-on-celluloid animation is a tradition that should not have died out so easily. Barbara Luddy had the perfect voice for a pretty, well-bred Lady. For those of you not in the know, Ms. Luddy performed several times as a voice in Disney films - she was one of the church mice in Robin Hood and voiced Kanga in all of the Winnie-the-Pooh shorts (later combined into The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh). And on the subject of voices, I never realized that Aunt Sarah had been voiced by Verna Felton (the Fairy Godmother and the Queen of Hearts).
For being one of the cutest Disney movies in history, Lady and the Tramp certainly has some dark bits. First up, the rat. You see him almost in the opening of the movie, in one of the first scenes where Lady is depicted as an adult dog. Probably the only Disney villain besides Chernabog who manages to be completely terrifying without saying a word. Normally, I really like rats - blame the Hanna-Barbera depiction of Templeton - but this creature is not something I would welcome round a human infant.
Second, the dog pound. If you think shelters TODAY are bad, imagine an Edwardian-era dog pound. If they didn't gas them, they took strays out back and shot them. There are accounts of inner-city children getting their entertainment by watching the dog catchers shoot stray dogs. So watching "Nutsy" take the last walk is just plain effing creepy, particularly in a family movie. The possibility of humane euthanasia via injection was just not even a thought at that time.
Third, we have the rat again. If you've read your Scottish legends, you've heard the legend of Gelert. A Scottish king possessed a beloved deerhound many hundreds of years ago. This king also had an infant son. The deerhound was the boy's protector. However, one night, there is a ruckus in the baby's nursery. When the king comes to investigate, he finds blood everywhere and an overturned cradle, with the dog in the thick of it. Without a thought, he draws his sword and kills his beloved pet, thinking the dog has harmed his infant son. Then when they're cleaning up the chaos, they discover the rat in the wreckage of the cradle. The king entombs the dog with a funeral fit for a prince and goes into a depression so deep that he stops eating. Yeah, THAT'S where they got the whole "Tramp kills the rat" bit.
Then, last up, there's the whole "wagon turns over on Trusty" bit. Why do people have to do this in every movie ever that features a dog. I call them "Shadow moments" because of the scene with Shadow towards the end of Homeward Bound. You know the one I mean - when he falls in the mud hole and can't get out? I mean, of course you get the nice heartwarming moment when the fallen dog is shown coming up over the hill to the people who love him. But for the love of pants, I'm already depressed - I just don't need stuff like that!
But gotta love the scene at the very end with both families, human and canine, together at Christmas. Backing up a bit, on the subject of Christmas, let's think to the beginning of the movie. You all know the scene - Jim Dear hands the hatbox to Darling and she opens it to find a puppy with a bow. Well, guess what? This is art imitating life! I was watching a CBS special about Walt Disney himself and, apparently, at one point he forgot something - either his wife's birthday or their anniversary. Something like that. To redeem himself, he presented Lily with a hatbox containing a puppy. If you want to know the name, I suggest you Google it, cos I've only seen the special twice and I can't remember.
Throughout this entire viewing, Stitch had to be up on the couch with Brittany and me. Aside from being slightly obnoxious, it was actually pretty funny. There are so many dog noises in the movie that Stitch started watching the television as well. His ears went all perky and he tilted his head like he was trying to say "Why is that dog making that noise and why can't I smell her?" It was particularly amusing in the beginning of the movie, when Lady's trying to break out of the kitchen. Gotta love it when Jim Dear says "All right, but JUST FOR TONIGHT." Yeah, it's never, ever "just for tonight." Trust me, I peel enough gold hair off myself every morning to know that for a fact.
Thanks for being patient! Keep an eye out for the next installment of A Very Disney College Experience!
But my friend Brittany had the absolutely wonderful and necessary idea to grab dinner at Barberitos - great local place. After half a spinach taco wrap, we decided to come back by my apartment and watch a movie. I DID just get Lady and the Tramp on DVD... So that's what we watched.
I had just about forgotten how very PRETTY this film is. The watercolor-on-celluloid animation is a tradition that should not have died out so easily. Barbara Luddy had the perfect voice for a pretty, well-bred Lady. For those of you not in the know, Ms. Luddy performed several times as a voice in Disney films - she was one of the church mice in Robin Hood and voiced Kanga in all of the Winnie-the-Pooh shorts (later combined into The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh). And on the subject of voices, I never realized that Aunt Sarah had been voiced by Verna Felton (the Fairy Godmother and the Queen of Hearts).
For being one of the cutest Disney movies in history, Lady and the Tramp certainly has some dark bits. First up, the rat. You see him almost in the opening of the movie, in one of the first scenes where Lady is depicted as an adult dog. Probably the only Disney villain besides Chernabog who manages to be completely terrifying without saying a word. Normally, I really like rats - blame the Hanna-Barbera depiction of Templeton - but this creature is not something I would welcome round a human infant.
Second, the dog pound. If you think shelters TODAY are bad, imagine an Edwardian-era dog pound. If they didn't gas them, they took strays out back and shot them. There are accounts of inner-city children getting their entertainment by watching the dog catchers shoot stray dogs. So watching "Nutsy" take the last walk is just plain effing creepy, particularly in a family movie. The possibility of humane euthanasia via injection was just not even a thought at that time.
Third, we have the rat again. If you've read your Scottish legends, you've heard the legend of Gelert. A Scottish king possessed a beloved deerhound many hundreds of years ago. This king also had an infant son. The deerhound was the boy's protector. However, one night, there is a ruckus in the baby's nursery. When the king comes to investigate, he finds blood everywhere and an overturned cradle, with the dog in the thick of it. Without a thought, he draws his sword and kills his beloved pet, thinking the dog has harmed his infant son. Then when they're cleaning up the chaos, they discover the rat in the wreckage of the cradle. The king entombs the dog with a funeral fit for a prince and goes into a depression so deep that he stops eating. Yeah, THAT'S where they got the whole "Tramp kills the rat" bit.
Then, last up, there's the whole "wagon turns over on Trusty" bit. Why do people have to do this in every movie ever that features a dog. I call them "Shadow moments" because of the scene with Shadow towards the end of Homeward Bound. You know the one I mean - when he falls in the mud hole and can't get out? I mean, of course you get the nice heartwarming moment when the fallen dog is shown coming up over the hill to the people who love him. But for the love of pants, I'm already depressed - I just don't need stuff like that!
But gotta love the scene at the very end with both families, human and canine, together at Christmas. Backing up a bit, on the subject of Christmas, let's think to the beginning of the movie. You all know the scene - Jim Dear hands the hatbox to Darling and she opens it to find a puppy with a bow. Well, guess what? This is art imitating life! I was watching a CBS special about Walt Disney himself and, apparently, at one point he forgot something - either his wife's birthday or their anniversary. Something like that. To redeem himself, he presented Lily with a hatbox containing a puppy. If you want to know the name, I suggest you Google it, cos I've only seen the special twice and I can't remember.
Throughout this entire viewing, Stitch had to be up on the couch with Brittany and me. Aside from being slightly obnoxious, it was actually pretty funny. There are so many dog noises in the movie that Stitch started watching the television as well. His ears went all perky and he tilted his head like he was trying to say "Why is that dog making that noise and why can't I smell her?" It was particularly amusing in the beginning of the movie, when Lady's trying to break out of the kitchen. Gotta love it when Jim Dear says "All right, but JUST FOR TONIGHT." Yeah, it's never, ever "just for tonight." Trust me, I peel enough gold hair off myself every morning to know that for a fact.
Thanks for being patient! Keep an eye out for the next installment of A Very Disney College Experience!
