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Cruella de Vil
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Cruella de Vil is a fictional character and the primary villain in Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, Disney's 1961 animated film adaptation One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and Disney's live-action film adaptations 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians. In all her incarnations, Cruella kidnaps dalmatian puppies for their fur. In the live-action version of 101 Dalmatians, it is revealed that the reason Cruella chooses to skin puppies is that when shorthair dogs grow older their fur becomes very coarse, which doesn't sell as well in the fur fashion industry as the fine, soft fur of puppies.
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Cruella de Vil is a fictional character and the primary villain in Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, Disney's 1961 animated film adaptation One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and Disney's live-action film adaptations 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians. In all her incarnations, Cruella kidnaps dalmatian puppies for their fur. In the live-action version of 101 Dalmatians, it is revealed that the reason Cruella chooses to skin puppies is that when shorthair dogs grow older their fur becomes very coarse, which doesn't sell as well in the fur fashion industry as the fine, soft fur of puppies. She also always has the left half of her hair white and the right half black.
Cruella's name is a play on the words cruel and devil, an allusion which is emphasized by having her country house be nicknamed "Hell Hall". In some translations, Cruella De Vil is known as "Cruella De Mon", presumably to change the play on the word "devil" to one on "demon" because the word "devil" in some languages does not have a clear meaning. An example is Italy, where she is called "Crudelia De Mon" (a pun on "crudele", cruel, and "demone", demon). In the French translation of the Disney's animated movie, she is referred as "Cruella D'Enfer" (Literally, Cruella of Hell or from Hell). In some languages (such as Spanish) where her last name has been left as De Vil, but is not similar to their equivalent of devil, it is taken to be a play on their equivalent of "vile" or "villain".
The book
In the original story, Cruella is a pampered London heiress who knows the owner of the Dalmatian puppies through school. She was a notorious student with black and white plaits. She was later expelled for drinking ink. Now she is the last of her prosperous and notorious family and married to a furrier who supplies her obsession, such as the one piece she is never seen without - an absolutely simple white mink cloak. With this, she wears skin-tight satin gowns and ropes of jewels in contrasting colors, such as an emerald color dress with ropes of rubies. Her chauffeur-driven car is black-and-white striped (Mr. Dearly comments that it looks like "a moving zebra crossing") and has the loudest horn in London, which she insists on displaying to the Dearly family. Such dramatic luxuries were said to be based on Tallulah Bankhead's lavish spending habits, which the producers of the film first read about in a newspaper.
When she has guests for dinner, all of Cruella's food is strange colors and tastes of pepper (alluding to her quick temper). She constantly stokes a roaring fire and complains of being cold despite the elevated temperature. The flat is portrayed as a sort of luxurious version of Hell and sets up Cruella's "devilish" persona for her later crimes. Her guests also meet her abused white Persian cat, which plays a key role in a later part of the story.
When invited to a dinner party held by the Dearly couple, Cruella expresses her sinister interest in the Dalmatians, remarking how she and her henpecked husband have never thought of making clothing from dog pelt before. Yet seeing the spotless skins of the newborn puppies she is revolted and offers to have them drowned at once; her way of getting rid of animals which she views as worthless, including her own cat's kittens. Upon a second visit to the house she picks up the mature puppies and treats them like clothing to be worn.
Cruella also makes a brief appearance, albeit asleep, in Dodie Smith's sequel, The Starlight Barking.
The Disney animated version
Disney's animated version of Cruella first appeared in 1961's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, in which she was voiced by Betty Lou Gerson and animated by Marc Davis. The cool detachment of the original character was replaced by a crazed mania, in which Cruella only barely clung to a sheen of glamour. Anita comments Cruella's above mentioned fur coat is new when Cruella first appears. For unexplained reasons, Cruella's cat and husband were omitted from the Disney version.
The film featured a song, written by the late Mel Leven, using her name as the title, sung by the dalmatians' owner Roger (Bill Lee). The lyric begins with: "Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil. If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will..." The song has been very popular among Disney fans. It has been rerecorded by various Disney artists, such as Lalaine, Hayden Panettiere, and Selena Gomez.
Disney considered reusing Cruella as the villain for The Rescuers, but decided against it because they didn't want to make it a sequel to an otherwise unrelated film. Cruella eventually returned in the 2003 direct-to-video sequel 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, where she was voiced by Susanne Blakeslee. Blakeslee also voiced Cruella in the 2001 TV series House of Mouse, which featured a running gag in which she inspects dogs from other Disney films with a measuring ruler. Cruella is also one of the villains Mickey fights in Disney's Hollywood Studios version of Fantasmic! Nighttime Show Spectacular in Walt Disney World.
From the unsubtle symbolic name to her hideous physical appearance, the evil of Cruella De Vil is overt. Her ferocity and intended cruelty to the spotted heroes of 101 Dalmatians make her an easy target, but to her fans, there's something intriguing about her calculated and persevering menace. In 2002, Forbes ranked Cruella as the thirteenth wealthiest fiction character, citing the single 65-year-old has a net worth of $875 million, obtained through inheritance Cruella was listed as the 39th greatest villain in American cinema in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains.
Cruella's car in the animated film is of the red Panther De Ville body style, as well as her phone, which is the exact likeness of a demon.
The Disney live-action version
In Disney's 1996 live-action remake of the animated film, 101 Dalmatians, and its 2000 sequel, 102 Dalmatians, Cruella was played by Glenn Close. The film reinvented Cruella yet again, this time as the magnate of a couture fashion house, "House of De Vil", which specialised in fur couture. The character of Anita (played by Joely Richardson) was a couturière and employee of De Vil. This film increased the physical comedy of the animated film, even veering into toilet humor, such as Cruella falling into a vat of old molasses or having a pig fart in her face. Close's performance was universally well-received, and her sex appeal as the character was also credited.
The live-action film was critically panned, but Close's performance, as well as her costumes, by Anthony Powell and Rosemary Burrows, received appreciative attention, including a spread in Vanity Fair magazine. Claws were applied to gloves, and necklaces were made from teeth, to add to the idea that Cruella enjoyed wearing parts of dead animals. Nails were also projected from the heels to make them especially vicious in appearance. Close has commented on how demanding the slapstick physicality of the role was while wearing nail-heeled boots and corsets. She was always smoking to give the appearance of a mysterious and "villain" character.
In 102 Dalmatians, while under effect of Dr.Ivan Petrovich Pavlov's dog conditioning, Cruella wanted to be called "Ella de Vil" because "Cruella sounds so ... cruel". Cruella was completely devoted to saving animals and while experiencing doraphobia, was scared at the smallest sight of fur fashion, especially since she had all her old fur clothes and the dalmatian coat sketch boarded up. Unfortunately, this new persona doesn't stay for long, since the effects of Big Ben's bells manage to undo the hypnotherapy, and "Ella" reverts back to Cruella. During the "Ella" stage, Cruella quit her characteristic habits, such as wearing fur, long nails, stravagant hair styles, and of course, smoking. Once the Big Ben jolted her brain waves back into Cruella, her old habits came back.
The animated series
In the 101 Dalmatians animated series, Cruella was voiced by April Winchell and was based on her portrayal from the live-action film, but with her design from the animated film. She was a vegetarian in the show, therefore didn't wear clothes made out of animals. Her villainous plot in the show was to steal the Dearlys' farm from them, and using the puppies as a ransom, mainly because the old widow wouldn't sell it to her and that her mother demands it.
In the Christmas episode, "A Cruella Christmas", since she was a baby, Cruella wanted a dalmation puppy but her parents always go on vacations, leaving her with a foreign family member and clothes for gifts. During her teens was the final straw, which gave her her half white hairline in her fury. Her miserable childhood is what drove her to evil.
The series is also the first time Cruella uses seduction as one of her evil schemes. In the series finale, she disguises herself as a sexy blonde surfer to seduce Roger and make Anita think he is cheating on her. She approaches him on the beach, and he is stunned by her voluptuous figure, not knowing it is the woman he hates the most. She invites him to go swimming with her and leans in to kiss him. He gives in to temptation and almost kisses the mysterious woman, but Spot pokes a hole in her inflatable body suit and she flies away and is used as a surf board by surfers.
Other media
In the Simpsons episode, Two Dozen and One Greyhounds, Mr. Burns plays the role of Cruella De Vil, but unlike her in the movies, where she steals the dalmatian puppies to make them into fur coats, he steals Santa's Little Helper and his girlfriend's greyhound puppies to make them into a tuxedo.
The Queen song Let Me Entertain You features the lyrics "I'll Cruella de Vil You!"
For the DisneyMania series, Lalaine, Hayden Panettiere and Selena Gomez covered the song about the character.
In The Parent Trap, Hallie & Annie called Meredith "Cruella" when they go camping.
Coco LaBouche from Rugrats in Paris is very similar to Cruella and could be considered a parody.
See also
- Cruella in the
- Cruella in the
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