The Film (5/5)

    Released in June of 1955, Lady and the Tramp was the 15th of Disney's animated films. It was also the first of their films to be filmed in the widscreen cinemascope technique that had become prevalent in the mid to late 1950's, as TV had begun to cause a drop in box office numbers.  Lady and the Tramp represents a simple, but effective love story told from the perspective of two dogs from two different backgrounds.

   The film opens Christmas morning in 1909, as Jim Dear presents his wife Darling with Lady, a cute puppy dog. Darling is taken with the dog, and immediately falls in love with the creature. Lady immediately begins to make friends with the neighborhood dogs, and acclimates to her new life, but that is soon sent into upheaval when Darling becomes pregnant, and her priorities shift to the new baby. Lady decides to befriend the new child, and at first things are quite alright.

     That is until Jim and Darling leave on a vacation, and leave the wicked Aunt Sarah in charge of both the baby and Lady. Aunt Sarah brings with her a pair of Siamese cats, that create mischief, and make it appear to have been Lady who did it.  This causes Lady to run away, and live life on the other side of the tracks. Here she meets up with a dog, who she met earlier in the film Tramp, who teaches her to live collar free. The two begin to have a romance, culminating in a candlelit dinner in the alley behind an Italian restaurant. However, things aren't immediately easy for the pair, and they have to deal with Aunt Sarah, the cats, and the presence of dog catcher.

    Lady and the Tramp is 63 years old, and holds up exceptionally well. The visuals have a certain light expressionist style to them, and Disney's initial use of the widescreen obviously creates an interesting comparison between the initial slate of Disney features, and what they are doing here. The film has effective moments of adventure, comedy, and romance, even some creepy moments thrown in.  At a short 76 minutes Lady and the Tramp breezes by at a quick pace, and never leaves a boring moment.

Audio/Video (5/5)

    Disney presents Lady and the The Tramp in a 2:55:1 1080p transfer that looks quite exceptional. I will state for those that are contemplating a 2nd purchase, this is the same transfer as the 2012 Diamond Edition, so there is no visual upgrade in that capacity, however, colors are natural, and represent the film original look, line detail is excellent and I found no issues here.

    Audio is handled either by a DTS-HD MA 7.1 or 3.0 track. Both tracks sound excellent, with dialogue, and score coming through fine, and with no issues.

Extras (3/5)

    Some extras have been ported over from the prior Diamond Edition, and others from that edition have been related to "digital only". Which I find odd, for people like me, who don't use digital for anything.  The newly added features are sort of cheesy stuff, like a piece with Walt Disney about his dogs, a cooking lesson on how to make a meatball,  a sing along mode, an interactive tour of Walt's office, and song selection.

Overall

    Lady and the Tramp is an animated romantic classic. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great, but the last release, if you own it, has you covered. The new extras aren't great, and this one ports certain extras over to "digital only". RECOMMENDED.