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Cruella car
Cruella De Vil
Filmography One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (2003)
Supervising Animator Marc Davis
Vocal Talent Betty Lou Gerson
Live-Action Reference Mary Wickes
Inspiration Tallulah Bankhead
Goal To turn one hundred and one dalmatians into a fur coat for her to wear
Weapons Money, sheer force of will, short temper, car, reckless driving
Minions Horace and Jasper Badun
Enemies Dalmatians, Roger Radcliffe, Anita Radcliffe, Nanny
Fate Her car crashes into the Baduns' truck, causing them to fall off a cliff, leaving her annoyed and depressed

Cruella De Vil is the villain of One Hundred and One Dalmatians. A wealthy heiress, she is the old schoolmate of Anita Radcliffe, though neither seems too fond of the other. A rail thin, black-and-white-haired woman clad in a skin tight black dress and a huge, cloak-like mink coat, Cruella uses her money to finance her eccentricities, particularly her passion for furs, which she claims she cannot live without. She has frequent emotional outbursts, normally when she does not get what she wants, and is prone to reckless behaviour, when in both a good and bad mood. The primary victims of her wrath, two crooks named Horace and Jasper Badun, were hired to steal and kill one hundred and one dalmatians, to be skinned for her pleasure (fifteen of these puppies are the children of Pongo and Perdita). Cruella De Vil is widely regarded as one of the greatest (if not the greatest of all) Disney Villains[1][2][3][4][5], and one of the greatest movie females of all time[6].

One Hundred and One Dalmatians

Spoilers start here.



Spoilers end here.

Visiting Anita

File:Cruella.JPG

Cruella's entrance in One Hundred and One Dalmatians

A while after Roger and Anita have married and settled down together, Perdita, Anita's dalmatian, hears the screech of Cruella's car outside, and runs to the kitchen to hide from 'that devil woman'. Looking out of the window, Roger sees that Cruella, whom he refers to as Anita's old schoolmate, is coming towards the house. As she approaches the front door, Roger sings less-than-flattering song about Cruella; Anita attempts to stop Roger for fear that Cruella might hear. Roger goes upstairs and uses various musical instruments to play the tune to the song when Cruella bursts in, demanding to see Pongo and Perdita's puppies, and leaving a trail of smoke from her cigarette. Anita informs her that the dalmatian puppies will not arrive for a few weeks. After commenting on Pongo and Perdita's 'beautiful coats', Cruella leaves, saying that she will return in three weeks. A previously excited Perdita grows anxious at Cruella's interest in the puppies.

Kidnapping the Puppies

Cruella returns to the Radcliffe's house just after the fifteen puppies are born. At first she is furious that the 'mongrels' have no spots, but, when Anita tells her that the spots will appear in a few weeks, Cruella offers to buy all fifteen immediately. Roger refuses any price, and Cruella, after realising he is not joking, storms out, vowing revenge. Later, Horace and Jasper Badun succeed in stealing the puppies while the Radciffe's are out. At home, Cruella laughs to herself as she reads of the theft in the newspaper; she is the orchestrator of the crime. The Baduns phone her to demand payment, but are told that they will receive nothing until the job is done. Slamming the phone down, Cruella then decides to phone Anita, and feigns surprise at the theft (though Roger is convinced that she is involved).

The Chase

The Baduns succeed in stealing another eighty four puppies, and take them to the Old De Vil Place. Cruella arrives one evening, demanding that 'the job' be done immediately, and leaves furiously, laiming that she will call the police otherwise. Sergeant Tibbs succeeds in helping all ninety nine dalmatians escape the old mansion. Cruella and the Baduns search for the puppies in a small village, and Cruella is initially fooled when the dogs cover themselves in soot to disguise as labradors and board a lorry heading for London. When she sees snowflakes removing the soot, however, she follows in her car, and the Baduns follow in their truck. Pursuing the puppies, Cruella almost succeeds in ramming the lorry, driver, dalmatians and all, off a cliff, but the top of her car is ripped off during the chase, which comes to an end when the Baduns, trying to hit the lorry, succeed in ramming their truck into her car, sending Cruella, Horace and Jasper over the cliff; all three survive, but Cruella is furious, and Jasper finally plucks up the courage to tell her to shut up.

Behind the Scenes

File:Mary wickes cruella.jpeg

Helene Stanley and Mary Wickes performing live-action reference for Anita Radcliffe and Cruella DeVil, respectively.

Cruella De Vil was voiced by Betty Lou Gerson and animated by Marc Davis.

Inspiration

Though Marc Davis was worried that Cruella would be too out of place among the more realistic remaining cast, he recalled that he based Cruella on a specific type of person. Davis thought of people who do not listen to any voice other than their own, and thus dominate a conversation or situation[7]. Some of the character's eccentricities are inspired by Tallulah Bankhead[8]. Davis commented that animating Cruella DeVil was one of the more enjoyable jobs in his career[7].

Animation of Cruella De Vil's Car

File:Cruellacarmodel.jpg

shooting the climax of One Hundred and One Dalations

Both Cruella's car and the Baduns' truck were created as miniature, three-dimensional representations. These models were white, with any corners and edges painted with black lines. The models were photographed and placed on photostats, and the lines made the vehicles seem to have been drawn by hand. The image was then cut out and pasted on a cell before being copied by the Xerox process and painted in flat colours, in order not to appear out of place among the hand-drawn elements of the film[9].

Early Role in The Rescuers

File:Cruellaswamp.JPG

An early drawing by Ken Anderson for The Rescuers suggesting Cruella De Vil's initial involvement.

During early production on The Rescuers, Cruella De Vil was considered for the role of the villain; drawings by Ken Anderson depict her in alligator skins, suggesting that she would have visited, or had dealings with, Devil's Bayou[10]. This idea was abandoned, as the studio was not interested in producing sequels at the time[1], and Madame Medusa was created. Cruella and Medusa share certain characteristics, including fixation on a single goal, a fiery temper and a tendancy to drive recklessly.

Deviations from source material

In Dodie Smith's original book, Cruella De Vil was married to a furrier, but kept her maiden name. She could be considered more sinister and less powerful than the Disney version of the character, which retains the half black, half white hair, the huge, cape-like mink coat and the hell-like home (suggested in the film by the look of her bedroom).

Trivia

  • Cruella De Vil was nominated for a place in 'AFI’s 50 Greatest Villains list', along with the Queen, Stromboli, Man, Lady Tremaine, Maleficent and Ursula. The Disney Villains to make the final list were the Queen (10), Man (20), and Cruella De Vil (39).
  • Cruella De Vil is one of the ten villains featured in the tongue-in-cheek Disney Villains: The Top Secret Files. Cruella's section of the book includes removeable dalmatian-print glasses, sketches of various clothes she could turn the dalmatians into and a revoked driving license. Cruella is ranked as the third greatest Disney Villain at the end of the book.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, "The Disney Villain"
  2. Christopher Finch, "The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms"
  3. 100 Years of Magic: Favourite Villains
  4. rogerebert.com :: reviews :: 101 Dalmatians
  5. De Vil worship - Cruella de Vil Interview
  6. Movieline's 100 Best female characters
  7. 7.0 7.1 Disney Family Album: Marc Davis
  8. Disney Archives - Cruella De Vil
  9. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, "The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation"
  10. John Canemaker, "Before the Animation Begins: The Life and Times of Disney inspirational Sketch Artists"
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