The 1955 animated classic, Lady and the Tramp, has become only the sixth film to join the Walt Disney Signature Collection.

There were only a handful of animated classics to be released by Walt Disney in the 1950s but Lady and the Tramp is, without a doubt, the best love story released by Disney in the 1950s.  First released in June 1955, the film would later be released in 1962, 1972, 1980, and 1986.  Based on Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog by Ward Greene with some inspiration coming from Disney story man Joe Grant, the film marked a historic moment for Disney as it was the first animated movie to be filmed using the CinemaScope widescreen process.

Lady, the cocker spaniel, is adopted by a upper middle class couple, Jim Dear and Darling.  She becomes quick friends with Jock (scottish terrier) and Trusty (bloodhound).  It’s the day in which Lady learns that the family is expecting a baby in which a mutt, Tramp, comes into her life and soon the two of them are off on adventures together.  Most of the adventures don’t come until after Lady’s family go off for a holiday and Aunt Sarah is off to look after the baby.

The two dogs share what is easily one of the most iconic kisses of all time in cinema over a plate of spaghetti.  There’s certainly no kiss more iconic than that over a plate of spaghetti.  You’ll be hard-pressed to find any that’s better.

If the film were made in this era, the ending would have been ripe for a sequel knowing how Disney has been of late with their films.  Tramp gets adopted by the family and they soon have four puppies.  It’s for the best that this was a film that was made in the 1950s because Disney wasn’t focused on making sequels at the time.  If the company ever thinks of making a live-action version of this film, it just wouldn’t have the same magic as the animated classic.  One of the reasons why the film works so well is that they rarely show the faces of Jim Dear and Darling.  This helps with keeping the focus on Lady and her other canine friends.

With animation that holds up over sixty years later, Lady and the Tramp remains one of the greatest love stories of all time.  There are so few Disney titles that can make the claim.

Lady and the Tramp was released in Digital HD and Movies Anywhere on February 20, 2018.  The Blu-ray edition will follow on February 27, 2018.