Lady and the Tramp
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Lady and the Tramp is the fifteenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and was originally released to theaters on June 16, 1955 by Buena Vista Distribution, a new division of Disney which assumed distribution rights of the studio's product from RKO Radio Pictures. It was the first animated feature filmed in the CinemaScope widescreen film process. The story pairs a Cocker Spaniel named Lady who lives with a rich family with a mutt (possibly part Great Dane) named Tramp who lives on the streets. Once of the two of them meet, they share an adventure together and eventually fall in love.
The film was based loosely on two previous works, the 1937 book Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog by Ward Greene about a mutt from the wrong side of the tracks, and a story line worked on for several years by Disney story man Joe Grant about a Cocker Spaniel named Lady, based on his own pet. Greene later wrote a novelization of the film, which was released two years before the film itself, at Walt Disney's insistence, so that audiences would be familiar with the story.
This film begat a spinoff comic titled Scamp, named after one of Lady and Tramp's puppies. Scamp also starred in a direct-to-video sequel in 2002 titled Lady and the Tramp 2: Scamp's Adventure.
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Plot Synopsis
Lady's early days
Lady is a gift from Jim Dear to his wife Darling one Christmas. She quickly becomes the centre of their attention and is pampered with many presents. When Lady is six months old, she has to have a licence and is able to leave Jim Dear and Darling's house. She makes friends with two dogs living nearby, Jock and Trusty. A short time afterwards, she becomes friends with another dog—a stray dog called Tramp.
The baby and Aunt Sarah
Darling then has a baby and Lady feels that Jim Dear and Darling are not giving her as much attention as before. She is mystified by this but soon grows to like the new baby boy. Soon after the baby is born, Jim Dear and Darling go away for a few days and Aunt Sarah comes to the house to look after the baby. Aunt Sarah, who is not fond of dogs, has two Siamese cats—Si and Am—who run wild in the house. Lady manages to keep the goldfish and canary safe from harm, but is unable to prevent the two cats from knocking over furniture and tearing the curtains. But she begins to bark when the two cats go up the stairs to see the baby. Lady scares Si and Am and they pretend to have been hurt, which causes Aunt Sarah to come downstairs. Aunt Sarah then takes Lady to a pet shop to have her fitted with a muzzle, but Lady runs away while the shopkeeper is trying to fit her with a muzzle.
Tramp
Lady comes face to face with a group of vicious dogs on the other side of town, but Tramp arrives on the scene and rescues Lady. Tramp then takes Lady around the town, introducing her to a few of his friends, including a beaver who removes Lady's muzzle. Tramp then takes Lady to Tony's Italian Restaurant, where Tony the cook prepares them a special spaghetti meal. They sleep for the night in a nearby park. The next morning, they chase chickens around a chicken pen, and narrowly escape being shot by the owner of the chicken house. Lady is captured by the dog catcher and taken to the dog pound, where she does not stay for long. Because she has a name tag, she is soon identified and taken home—but Aunt Sarah chains her to a kennel in the garden.
Back home
Jock and Trusty both come to see Lady, but she is not in the mood for visitors. And when Tramp comes, she is angry with him for getting her locked up in the pound, and tells him she does not want to see him again. Just as Tramp is leaving, a rat appears in the garden and Lady begins to bark. She barks so loud that Aunt Sarah wakes up and tells her to stop barking. Then Tramp re-appears and Lady tells him that the rat has gone into the baby's room. Tramp enters the house and soon comes face to face with the rat. He chases the rat all around the bedroom. Just as the fight is reaching its climax, Lady comes in. Tramp eventually manages to kill the rat but in the process tips over the baby's cot, and Aunt Sarah is awakened by the baby crying.
Race against time
Aunt Sarah calls the dog pound and demands that the dog catcher come to collect Tramp. She tries to convince him to destroy Tramp; meanwhile, Lady is locked in the cellar. Just as the dog catcher is collecting Tramp, Jim Dear and Darling return. They then unlock the cellar door and release Lady, despite Aunt Sarah's fears that Lady would harm the baby. Lady begins barking frantically and runs upstairs. Aunt Sarah, Jim Dear and Darling all follow her. They see the dead rat and everyone knows that Lady and Tramp had entered the house to catch the rat. Jock and Trusty are both waiting outside the house and hear about the rat. They decide to go after the dog catcher's wagon and finally sniff its scent, and run towards the wagon while it is just yards away from the dog pound. They confront the horses which are pulling the wagon and it topples over into a tree. Several passers-by are helping the driver and trying to release the horses when a taxi pulls up and Jim Dear and Lady get out. Tramp is released from the wagon, while Trusty is trapped under the wheel. Jock is convinced Trusty is dead and he begins to cry.
Christmas
At Christmastime, Lady gives birth to her and Tramp's four puppies ,and they are all photographed together with the baby. Just then, Jock and Trusty arrive— it turns out Trusty survived the accident with an injured leg. "Uncle Trusty" then starts telling the puppies about his good old friend "Old Reliable", and the film ends.
See also
External links
- The Big Cartoon DataBase entry for Lady and the Tramp (http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/cartoon.cgi?film=31&cartoon=Lady%20and%20the%20Tramp)sv:Lady och Lufsen