"Such perfectly beautiful coats!"

The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is our ongoing series in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, we’re honored to have two guests join us to discuss one of their favorite films – it’s the Bancroft Brothers! That’s right, twin brothers Tom and Tony Bancroft, both of whom are animators, are here to chat about Disney’s 1961 classic One Hundred and One Dalmatians. 

We talk about why they picked this film and why this film is a key shift in the world of animation at Walt Disney Studios (hint: it involves xeroxing!). We look at the animators involved – Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, Marc Davis, etc. – and how they all fit into the looks of characters like Cruella De Vil, Pongo, Perdita, Jasper, Horace and more, really bringing them to life. We discuss the importance of what art director/production designer Ken Anderson and color stylist Walt Peregoy did with the impressionistic backgrounds. We chat about what the film’s three directors – Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske and Wolfgang Reitherman – did to bring the film together and how they likely split up tasks. We dig into the really amazing 3D modeling Ub Iwerks helped come up with to make Cruella De Vil’s car look more realistic. And, of course, we can’t talk about this movie without discussing Cruella’s cheekbones, which we do.

It’s a fantastic conversation with two gentlemen who really know what they’re talking about helping us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – sound like we know what we’re doing. The conversation will really make you look at this movie and animation with so much more respect. So rewatch this Disney gem then tune in to this month’s Speakeasy!

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