Book Review: One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
The original book by Dodie Smith was published as a serial in a woman’s magazine, and released in book form in 1956. It’s hard for me to describe how much I love this story. My parents read it aloud to us as small children, one chapter a night before bed.
Summary
Mr. and Mrs. Dearly are newlyweds living at Regent’s Park in London with their two Dalmatians, Pongo and Missis. Mrs. Dearly’s old classmate, Cruella de Vil, sees the dogs and decides their spotted fur would make lovely fur coats. After Pongo and Missis have fifteen puppies, a surrogate mother is needed to help feed the puppies and in a desperate attempt to find a nursing female, Mrs. Dearly drives out to the country on a cold, rainy night to ask around at dog shelters. She finds a female dog on the side of the road and brings it home, only to discover that it’s also a Dalmatian. The Dearlys name her Perdita and the Pongos welcome her into the family.
Shortly after the puppies are weaned, they are stolen. The Twilight Barking, normally used for gossip, passes news of the puppy-napping to the countryside where an old sheepdog recognizes the dogs as ones being held at a run-down estate near his farm. Full of hope, Pongo and Missis escape into the night to find their missing puppies and bring them home. Dozens of dogs along the route organize rest stops and food.
When Pongo and Missis reach the old sheepdog, they learn the terrible news - there are nearly a hundred Dalmatian pups locked inside the estate, and the estate belong to Cruella de Vil! With the safety of all Dalmatians at stake, Pongo and Missis must find a way to rescue all of the puppies and return to London without being caught.
What I Love
The relationships between the characters are wholesome and sweet. Mr. and Mrs. Dearly are gentle, loving, sensible people who care deeply for their dogs and any other animals they see in questionable circumstances. They rescued Perdita before realizing she was a mother with milk, and before they knew she was a Dalmatian. When Cruella’s white Persian cat comes to the house, they consider adopting her but only refrain because it would give the de Vil’s reason to say the Dearlys stole their cat. Both Mr. and Mrs. Dearly are protective of their dogs, frequently phoning the Splendid Veterinarian to be sure the dogs were in good health.
When Perdita joins the family, Missis is a little worried at her husband spending so much time with another female dog, but trusts his reassurances that he is only helping Perdita settle in. Pongo would rather be upstairs with Missis but knows she needs her space with the puppies and that the Dearlys have things quite under control. The puppies are kept apart for fear that Missis and Perdita would fight over them. Eventually Pongo is tired of his family being split apart and knocks open the door between the kitchen and pantry, allowing everyone to mingle freely. Missis and Perdita get along splendidly, much to everyone’s relief. Perdita is terrified when her milk runs out because she thinks she’ll be turned out on the streets for no longer being useful. Both Missis and Pongo reassure her that the Dearlys aren’t that sort of humans; and, true to their word, Perdita is allowed to stay. When Pongo and Missis leave to find the puppies, Perdita begs to join them - even though her own puppies were sold from her, she wants to help reunite the Pongos with theirs. Pongo gently tells her that her health is still too fragile and she must take care of herself and the Dearlys while they’re gone, because that is something she can do and does remarkably well.
There is a great deal of flirting and admiration between Pongo and Missis as they leave London for Suffolk, a few days walk into the country. They keep each other in check - a small boy injures Pongo with a stone and he’s so tired and bruised that he wants to go back and bite the boy, but Missis calms him down. Another time, Missis is in despair over something and Pongo comforts, distracts, and encourages her. Missis is shown to be not terribly bright but tries earnestly to overcome her weaknesses, and her husband expresses how proud of her he is for that.
When the Pongos reach the de Vil estate, Hell Hall, they are shocked to find nearly a hundred puppies. While Missis reunites with her children, Pongo and their oldest son, Lucky, talk tactics. Although young, Lucky has stepped up to take care of his siblings and the other puppies, going so far as to tell them that his parents were coming to rescue them all because he knew his parents would never turn their back on puppies in need. Pongo doesn’t feel the need to immediately take control because he is the parent; instead, he listens and asks questions, allowing Lucky to take the lead. It’s a lot for a pup to handle and Pongo feels proud and a bit guilty that his son has had to step up and shoulder that responsibility.
There are contrasting scenes between to young human boys about two years old. One threw stones at them, and the other lent the dogs his favorite little toy wagon so the smallest puppies could ride and not worry about getting lost or left behind. Missis concludes the first boy simply liked to throw things and didn’t know how to behave around dogs; while the second was gentle because he loved dogs and knew how to behave around them (the old sheepdog was his pet).
Once all of the dogs make it back to the Dearlys, there is another dilemma to be faced - what to do with the dogs. The Dearlys worry that turning them all over to a dog shelter might get them right back into Cruella’s hands, so they put out ads in the newspaper to see if any other puppies had been stolen. None had. In fact, the only person who answered the ad was Perdita’s old owner and he gladly sold her to the Dearlys. The only hint the Dearlys had about their dogs’ adventures was the little cart from Tommy that had his address on it. Mrs. Dearly recognizes it as being near where Cruella’s ancestral home was located, a home which Cruella had offered to sell them several months prior over dinner (and before stealing the puppies). The Dearlys return the cart, drop by the de Vil estate out of curiosity, and end up buying it because it was a large property with a large wall to keep the dogs from running all over the countryside. As a side note, Cruella’s white Persian cat shows up at the Dearlys and it’s taken as a matter of course that she’s now part of the family, with the compassionate Dearlys promising her a Persian husband so she could finally have a family of her own. (Cruella had drowned any kittens her cat had and told the Dearlys she would have long ago killed the cat if it hadn’t been so valuable.)
One final note on a scene that will forever be one of my favorite moments in the book - the puppies take refuge inside a church, mistaking it for a barn. They’re amazed at the puppy-sized cushions and innocently believe that a very kind person must live there because of all the puppy beds laid out for them. Pongo and Missis, bringing up the rear, realize too late that it’s “a building that had towers and tall, narrow windows” that dogs must never enter. They, too, are surprised at the peaceful, welcoming atmosphere. Pongo comments that good people must live there. Their youngest, frailest daughter, the Cadpig, is addicted to watching television and is mesmerized by the life-size, silent, motionless television at the front of the building. She didn’t know why, but she “liked it much better than ordinary television”. After their adventures were over and the Cadpig could watch television any time she wanted, it was never quite as good as that Christmas Eve spent watching the silent, still television.
I absolutely love the imagery of a church and Nativity set crossing the gap from humans to pets, and being the safe haven they needed to keep going. It shows what a church ought to be - a place of peace, a place welcoming of weary travelers who are lost, cold, hungry, and in despair.
What I Want to See
Since the great movie making machines are determined to continue rehashing existing properties, allow me to dream about my perfect remake.
Make it a period piece set in the early 1950s. (Original publication 1956; opening sentence “Not long ago, there lived in London…”)
Have Mr. and Mrs. Dearly meet while he works for the government during the Second World War and she’s in the woman’s branch of the army. They’re in their late twenties or early thirties.
Show the Dearlys to be modest, sensible people who live in a small house in an affluent neighborhood because it was provided to them as part of payment for Mr. Dearly’s work as a “financing wizard”. Both their Nannys acting as stand-ins for their parents.
Nanny Butler wears trousers, which is a bit scandalous, but puts a frilly apron on over it, much to everyone’s amusement.
Cruella de Vil is a “tall woman…wearing a tight-fitting emerald satin dress, several ropes of rubies, and an absolutely simple white mink cloak. She had a dark skin, black eyes with a tinge of red in them, and a very pointed nose. Her hair was parted severely down the middle and one half of it was black and the other white.” Cruella and Mrs. Dearly attended the same school, from which Cruella was expelled for drinking ink. Her husband is described as “small, worried looking man who didn’t seem to be anything besides a furrier.”
Keep Mr. de Vil and the odd dynamic between them. Aside from his preference to not have peppered food, there is little mention of their relationship not working to some degree. It gives Cruella depth that all adaptations gloss over. Several humorous remarks are made regarding her lack of housekeeping skills, and unsettling taste in décor.
Keep Cruella’s valuable white Persian cat. Cruella makes the comment that Dalmatian fur coats would be lovely, but it’s her interactions with her cat that first show the reader how terrible a person she actually is. Having the cat instrumental in the financial ruin of the de Vil’s and giving the cat a happy ending are genius emotional beats.
Conclusion
Yes, I’m aware this is a book about dogs who communicate with each other, and are smarter than their humans give them credit for. In short, I think this book is a heartwarming read that deserves a faithful adaptation.
