One Hundred And One Dalmatians (1961)

When a young married couple's (Ben Wright, Lisa Davis) two Dalmatians have a litter of fifteen puppies, her old school friend (Betty Lou Gerson) attempts to buy them all. Rightly suspicious of her, the couple refuses the offer so she plots to have the puppies kidnapped so she can add them to her collection of Dalmatians with the intention of using their fur to make a luxurious coat for herself. Based on the novel by Dodie Smith and directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske and Wolfgang Reitherman. One of the most delightful animated feature films in the Disney canon, the movie received excellent reviews from the critics while it became one of Disney's biggest box office hits here and abroad (it was the top grossing film in France). It also features one of the all time great Disney villains in the fur obsessed Cruella De Vil superbly voiced by Gerson. Perhaps low-keyed in comparison to some of the other Disney animated classics, its simplicity and lack of affectation is refreshing. Among the other voice talents in the film: Rod Taylor, Tom Conway, Cate Bauer, Martha Wentworth, J. Pat O'Malley and Frederick Warlock.