Lady And The Tramp

Everyone knows the story. Puppy pops out of a package from under the Christmas tree. It is Lady and she is adorable and clever and full of tricks and fond of the local dogs.

What is it that dogs have with humans?

Lady's world falls apart when Jim dear and Darling realise they are having a baby - a human one. That scruffy, young, streetwise Tramp advises a quick exit from human family life. The streets are cool, man, although in reality mostly inhabited by geriatric dogs, who have a great line in harmonious night howls, one of the movie's highlights, as is Peggy Lee's sexy rendition (and composition) of He's A Tramp, which stays in the mind forever.

Tramp's courtship of Lady is swift, but love blossoms as the Italian waiters serenade them and a strand of spaghetti brings them up close for that first kiss.

How does it compare to the other greats? Although made nearly 20 years after Snow White and 12 after Bambi, Lady And The Tramp still has the magic and breathtaking skills of those original Disney films. And somehow, although occasionally sweet and cutesy, these early animations never fall into the cloying sentimentality that was a hallmark of some of Disney's subsequent movies. The trick is in the simplicity, showing the humans from the dog's (well, Lady's) viewpoint, keeping their presence to a minimum.

Let's face it! This is a classic, undiminished by time - 51 years, almost to the day.