The House of Two Bows is truly honored to feature this guest post from a canine star and horror aficionado, Anubis the Barkless Dog. Anubis first caught our attention with a short video circulating on dog lists and forums, entitled Paranormal Activity. True to her Basenji nature, this petite pup packs some potent star power. Anubis is currently cultivating her acting and modeling profile, built upon an extensive background in the study of canine horror stars.
Without further ado, I hand today’s post over to Anubis.
Anubis, the Barkless Dog (photo courtesy of Anubis’ mum)
Many filmmakers are huge dog fans (my mummy is certainly one of them), but few have showcased their love the way Tim Burton has over the course of his extraordinary career. His first live-action short film, Frankenweenie (1984), recently remade into an animated feature (2012), is the most remarkable example of Burton’s passion for us dogs, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
“That sort of unconditional love that only dogs can give, people can’t do that,” Burton said in an interview; “but yes, that sort of thing where it’s very powerful, it’s kind of your first love and your first real relationship.”
Here is my homage to five of Tim Burton’s most fantastic canine heroes.
5. Scraps, The Corpse Bride (2005)
Kickstarting the countdown is part of a popular Burton sub-genre: the undead dog. Scraps is the childhood pet of Victor, the hero of the film, and is reunited with him when Victor visits the underworld. It’s a lovely scene, and a recurring theme in Burton’s work…
“I had this strong connection with a mutt we had named Pepe,” Burton once explained, “and it was a good connection. The dog was not meant to live very long because of a disease he had, but he ended up living quite a long time. So you have this strong connection, and then you think: ‘Well, how long is this going to last?’ You don’t really understand those concepts of death at the time.”
4. Poppy, Mars Attacks! (1996)
Not only did Poppy play the part of the Chihuahua whose body is switched with his owner’s during horrifying alien experiments in Mars Attacks!, he was also Tim Burton and then-partner Lisa Marie’s real life doggie. He put in a strong dramatic performance despite his lack of formal training.
Besides his film work, Poppy served as a model for numerous photos and drawings by Burton, who also often posed with him in interviews. You’ve got to admire his patience. I would have chewed these antlers right off.
3. Abercrombie, Vincent (1982)
In Burton’s first short film Vincent, Abercrombie is the titular character’s partner-in-crime. Little is known about him, but his look is really cool, and these wonderful verses are about him:
He likes to experiment on his dog Abercrombie
In the hopes of creating a horrible zombie
So he and his horrible zombie dog
Could go searching for victims in the London fog
2. Zero, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Zero the ghost dog belongs to Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. Though his home is a kennel grave in the cemetery, Zero is inseparable from his owner, who uses his own ribs to play fetch with him…
1. Sparky, Frankenweenie (1984; 2012)
Sparky is brought back to life by his young owner Victor after being run over by a car.
Although played by a bull terrier in the original short film, Sparky is meant to be a mutt, and to represent the very essence of a dog: loving, innocent, and utterly loveable. In both films, Victor and Sparky make little films together, like my mummy and I.
The animated version is adorable, but I have a soft spot for the original Sparky, who did really well with a challenging and emotional part.
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Screencaps and promotional photos courtesy of Anubis’ mummy. Extra screencaps for Frankenweenie supplied by the House of Two Bows.
Thanks again to Anubis (and mom) for sharing their knowledge. Look for more Anubis on a screen near you…
The House of Two Bows keeps a running index of movies blurbed on the site, annotated by breed. If you’re interested in writing a guest blog for a dog film, contact for details.
Film:National Velvet Director: Clarence Brown Performers: Liz Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp, Ann Revere, King Charles (The Pie), Jacob the dog (unknown) Breed featured: Terrier mix Production information: MGM, 1944 (USA)
Yes, yes, National Velvet is known as a classic girls-meets-horse story… but let us not forget about Jacob, the scene-stealing dog. Described as a fox terrier in the book, Jacob is some kind of terrier medley in the film, sporting a shaggy coat and what appears to be a slightly misaligned bite.
This minor detail does not prevent him from being a very successful mooch at the dinner table.
Not only is Jacob the dog a central member of the Brown family, there really wouldn’t have been a story without his presence. Though The Pie, the horse, was known to escape at will, it took a confrontation between Jacob and the horse to set things in motion. Jacob acted on his animal instinct and charged after the horse, causing him to leap over his walled pasture and wreak havoc in town — the last straw for his previous owner. If Jacob hadn’t chased the Pie that day, Velvet Brown may never have had the opportunity to obtain the horse for herself.
Mostly, I liked how Jacob was as much a part of the family as any of the children — faults and rowdy impulses and all.
Indeed, National Velvet is as much about discipline (or lack thereof) as it is about raw instinct. Nobody ever actually gets punished in the story, especially not when acting in accordance with their inner nature. Even when there seems reason to correct flagrant “misbehavior,” all actions eventually serve a noble purpose — even if just to reveal something more about a character’s integrity.
It’s wholesomeness that even a dog can possess.
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The House of Two Bows keeps a running index of movies blurbed on the site, annotated by breed. If you’re interested in writing a guest blog for a dog film, contact for details.
Film:The Dog Murder [Quan sha 犬杀] Director: PENG Xiaolian 彭小莲 Performers: SONG Ruhui 宋茹惠, LI Xiaojia 李晓佳, ZHANG Qide 张启德, GAO Shuguang 高曙光, Laifu the dog Breed featured: German Shepherd Production information: Shanghai Film Company, 1996 (China)
Xu Lin, a famous stage director, lives in a palatial mansion in Shanghai’s French Concession with his surly wife. The only thing that seems to liven his days is his long-haired German Shepherd, Laifu. So it is most unusual when one evening, the household pet and loyal guardian turns on him, tearing out his throat and killing him. Female cop Teng Li is called in to tie together the loose ends when it is revealed that the dog was only acting under human command — that of the real killer.
File this under so crappy, it’s boring. No one is ever going to do anything with this film other than scoff at it… Nevertheless, the giant plot holes and factual absurdities reveal some common misconceptions about dogs. At the outset, Laifu’s vicious behavior is attributed to a case of rabies, so it’s a big deal that he’s at large in the city. There’s a lengthy chase scene in which Laifu is pursued through some Shanghai back alleys. Though he is not caught, these claustrophobic urban mazes provide an interesting spatial contrast to the Arcadian grounds whence he escaped.
In another scene, the female cop questions a professional dog trainer about Laifu’s behavior. “A dog turning on its own master? That’s the first I’ve ever heard of such a thing,” claims the expert. The scenario is supposed to be even more impossible because the dog in question is a purebred German Shepherd, known for its absolute devotion and obedience.
So obviously, some outside factor was involved, which completely absolves the dog of blame. I was struck by this fairly generous assessment, given that Chinese dogs are often euthanized en masse given even the mere suspicion of rabies.
So the real reason for Laifu’s fatal attack?
The answer: Nazis.
Yeah, they went there.
As it turns out, the killer was motivated by reading about a temporary insanity serum that the Nazis supposedly created to make dogs (and by extension, humans) lash out with intense violence for a brief period of time. By coincidence, this technique mirrors a fantastic idea proposed by a Taiwanese businessman and would-be lover of the dead man’s widow, who briefly comes under scrutiny early on in the cop’s investigation because he presents himself as claiming to know how to handle dogs. However, this Taiwanese businessman’s knowledge was also derived from another fictional world — Jin Yong’s martial arts novels.
The identity of the real killer doesn’t matter in the end, nor why the crime was committed. I got tired of the movie after they completely dropped the premise promised in the title.
We’re basically reassured that Laifu returns to the safe haven of the affluent household that raised him, and that justice prevails. If nothing else is stable in post-Socialist China, at least you can count on the integrity of law and order.
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The House of Two Bows keeps a running index of movies blurbed on the site, annotated by breed. If you’re interested in writing a guest blog for a dog film, contact for details.
Film: The Tale of Mari and Her Three Puppies [Mari to sanbiki koinu no monogatari マリと三匹子犬の物語] Director: INOMATA Ryuichi 猪股隆一 Performers: FUNAKOSHI Eichiro 船越英一郎, HIROTA Ryouhei 広田亮平, SASAKI Mao 佐々木麻緒 Breed featured: Shiba Inu Production information: NTV/Toho, 2007 (Japan)
A friend was poking fun at my dog-crazedness when he asked me to name a dog movie that I actually disliked. While I can babble about flawed films, I hope it’s apparent that I don’t give a free pass to anything I watch just because it has a dog! Or a Shiba, for that matter… I’ve long refrained from reviewing The Tale of Mari and the Three Puppies, for instance, because everyone expects me to just adore it. My high hopes, however, led me elsewhere by the end credits.
The title character Mari is based on a real-life Shiba bitch who survived the 2004 Niigata Earthquake, led rescuers to her family of human survivors trapped beneath the collapsed house, and then was abandoned to fend for herself and her three newborn puppies. Despite her heroism, she is repaid with betrayal, simply because she is a non-priority being — a mere dog. The sanctity of family unity becomes sanctimony when deliberately rent asunder by this act of moral injustice. This is not the type of raw deal that a Shiba can sink her teeth into…
So Mari has to learn how to survive aftershocks, hunger, crows, and the elements until rescue teams are finally able to safely escort civilians back to the wreckage.
real life Mari and her puppies, from the film’s closing credits
For the Japanese, constantly beset by earthquakes, tsunamis, and the threat of nuclear catastrophe, this leap from disaster to drama is never so distant. Portrayals of crisis are part of an ongoing process of psychological mobilization, serving as important mental drills supplementing physical survival kits. Shifting the stakes onto the bodies of animals abstracts the threat just one level further, even as the drama assumes anthropocentric turns.
The Tale of Mari and Her Three Puppies works through the theme of disaster in two classic modes, as a maternal melodrama and a modernization narrative about country vs. city. Unfortunately, the movie does neither particularly well, and fails even to live up to its premise as a dog-centric story.
Film:Boudu Saved from Drowning [Boudu sauvé des eaux] Director: Jean Renoir Performers: Michel Simon, Marcelle Hainia, Charles Granval, unnamed dog Breed featured: Poodle mix Production information: Les Établissements Jacques Haïk, 1932 (France)
Boudu, a churlish tramp, loses his beloved dog in a public park. Nobody will help him find his mutt — though when a posh upper-class lady loses her purebred Pekingese worth 10,000 Francs, the police and total strangers all rush to her aid.
Distraught and unable to recover his lost dog, Boudu throws himself into the river Seine. He is saved from drowning by Mr. Lestingois, a bookseller who brings his “rescue” into his home… not expecting Boudu to repay the favor by occupying his store and completely disrupting his home.
I’m not sure if the poodle actually is a “mutt” or if he’s just being seen through the lens of his uncouth owner. He looks to me as if he could very well be purebred, but ungroomed.
[Note: Though Bowdu often behaves in an anarchic, boorish manner similar to the title character in this story, there is no connection.]
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The House of Two Bows keeps a running index of movies blurbed on the site, annotated by breed. If you’re interested in writing a guest blog for a dog film, contact for details.
Film:Big Jake Director: George Sherman Performers: John Wayne, Richard Boone, Patrick Wayne, Christopher Mitchum, Maureen O’Hara, Dog* (uncredited) Breed featured: Rough Collie Production information: Batjac / Cinema Center Films: 1971 (USA)
“Big Jake” McCandle (John Wayne) sets off to recover his kidnapped grandson with the help of two incompetent sons and a dog named… Dog.
A nice, shaggy Collie out of the Weatherwax (Lassie) kennel.
Does what it says on label.
Including dying to protect the precious kid that nobody else really has a reason to care about. But not before taking a big ol’ chomp out of one bad guy’s arm in a carefully choreographed sneak attack.
You know sometimes how movie dogs are so well-trained, their performance doesn’t even look natural? That applies to several of the human actors in this film as well.
Anyway, speaking of dy(e)ing, it appeared that there were actually a couple different collies used in this film, though it could just be a semi-permanent dye job fading and reappearing between shoots. You can see from my screencaps that sometimes Dog the collie looks significantly darker than others, initially appearing almost black.
I thought they might have switched them because the darker Collie appeared to be better around horses than the others. But that’s just my conjecture tossed out there to swirl about with other internet conjectures, all unverified because the dog was left off the cast, despite the significance of his character.
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The House of Two Bows keeps a running index of movies blurbed on the site, annotated by breed. If you’re interested in writing a guest blog for a dog film, contact for details.
Film:Savage Sam Director: Norman Tokar Performers: Tommy Kirk, Kevin Corcoran, Brian Keith, Sam the Dog. Breed featured: Bluetick Coonhound Production Information: Walt Disney Pictures, 1963 (USA)
In this sequel to Old Yeller, Sam the Bluetick Coonhound helps a band of rescuers and Travis Coates recover his annoying kid brother Arliss, who has been abducted by Apache Indians. Actually, both Coates boys and Lisbeth the would-be love interest were captured, but Travis escapes while Arliss is kept behind as a special plaything, even wilder than the “savages.” Also, the meek and virtuous girl has to remain in hostage so the half-baked story can maintain some flimsy pretense of gravity and danger, because honestly, who cares about saving Arliss?
The whole film is so hackneyed and dull, it’s only appropriate to blog it on an otherwise “wordless Wednesday.” Consider me dumbstruck by this total waste of time and film stock. It can’t even be redeemed by the presence of a breed that I otherwise like very much. Screencaps are more than sufficient; even these weren’t really worth the effort.
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The House of Two Bows keeps a running index of movies blurbed on the site, annotated by breed. If you’re interested in writing a guest blog for a dog film, contact for details.
Because we know the holidays aren’t just about feelgood times in the company of family you can’t stand during the rest of the year, here are ten dog movies that will depress the hell out of everyone and totally ruin your holidays. If things are getting too jolly around the living room, load up one of these films and watch the mood plummet faster than you can say, “Hand me the flask.”
Spoiler alert: A prominent canine character dies in at least six out of ten of these titles. The descriptions below may or may not indicate which ones.
To avoid redundancy, I didn’t list anything that had appeared on my previous list of Top Dog Movies, compiled two years ago. That was my arbitrary reason to omit Journey of Natty Gann (1985), Amores Perros (2000), and Inu no Eiga (2005) which could easily have fit here. I also tried to stay away from some of the typical titles that top these lists like Marley and Me (2008) or Where the Red Fern Grows (1974 & 2003); those were probably better off remaining as only literary properties, anyway.
I will, however, begin with at least one obvious choice, primarily because I haven’t blogged it yet.
10. Old Yeller. Dir. Robert Stevenson. Perf. Tommy Kirk, Kevin Corcoran, Spike the Dog. Walt Disney Pictures: 1957.
Having recently rewatched this children’s classic after not having seen it in probably 20 years, I was struck by a few revelations. The biggest was that older brother Travis Coates, whose self-sufficiency and stiff upper lip in the face of emotional trauma seemed so crushable to me as a child, just seems petulant and downright brutish to me now. He may know how to plow and hunt and keep the household in ham, but he’s kind of a jerk — one who just happens to love a dog that even the cruelest kid in the west should be able to love. Screw you Travis, and your annoying little brother too.
The film’s primary redeeming quality is that they knew to give ample footage to Yeller, the hulk of a Lab-Mastiff cur who comes across as a superdog capable of any task you set before him. For Travis to gain a modicum of maturity at the sacrifice of Yeller’s life seems particularly unjust when one witnesses how badly he regresses in the failed sequel Savage Sam (1963). Yeah, Disney sure sent that sequel to the hogs…
9. Hachi, a Dog’s Tale. Dir. Lasse Hallström. Perf. Richard Gere, Joan Allen, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Chico, Layla, Forrest. Inferno/Stage 6: 2009.
I’m kind of allergic to most romantic leading males (e.g. Richard Gere), so I was initially resistant to this Americanized retelling of the famous story of the loyal Japanese Akita, Hachiko. One masochistic night, I decided to stream this on Netflix, and found it refreshingly sufficient for what little it aspires to be. Transplanted from Tokyo to Rhode Island, this version is relieved of the burden of nationalist authentication, allowing it to “just” be about a dog loving professor and the Akita of his affections. Because their relationship is so untainted and simple, it becomes more like a lament over the poor animal’s inability to process abstractions like death rather than praise for his unflagging loyalty, a sentiment I’ve never been comfortable taking at face value.
Could this spot have been replaced with the 1987 Japanese version (screenshot pictured above)? Well, they used actual Akita instead of Shiba puppies in that one, but it’s kind of hard to topple the downysoft duo of any Nihon ken puppy plus Richard Gere. The American version succeeds by being less moralizing, even gentler, and even more vapid than the predecessor. You don’t have to go into this expecting to think too much, just cry, dammit! Cry! The power of Hachi compels you!
And speaking of sentimental remakes of Japanese originals…
8. Nankyoku monogatari [Antarctica]. Dir. Koreyoshi Kurahara. Perf. Ken Takakura, numerous dogs. 1983.
In 1958, a Japanese expedition to Antarctica had to abandon their team of sled dogs for reasons unexpected and uncontrollable. Fifteen Sakhalin huskies (Karafuto dogs) were left tightly chained to a line with only a week’s worth of food, as the team originally had expected they would return for them. Eight dogs were able to slip or break free of their chains, but then they had to learn to survive in the severe climate and treacherous landscape. Eleven months later, members of the expedition were finally able to return, discovering that two of the original dogs had survived all that time. This film dramatizes that adventure.
With a soundtrack by Vangelis and a pseudo-documentary approach relying on an omniscient narrator to relay the dogs’ thoughts, I suspect the Japanese version strikes a more somber tone than its Disneyfied remake, Eight Below (2006). The Japanese version also presents a more eclectic canine cast than the uniformly purebred Siberian huskies of its American interpretation. With a greater emphasis on the dogs, counting down with each tragic death, there was little attempt to cover up the truth. In fact, a significant side story to the dogs’ survival plot involves one of the expedition members embarking on a grand tour of apology, visiting the families who had contributed sled dogs and personally accounting for his role in the dogs’ noble sacrifice.
At any rate, the austerity of the landscape is thankfully counterbalanced by many scenes of happy, off-leash dogs running fast, loose, and free.
7. Quill. Dir Yoichi Sai. Perf. Kaoru Kobayashi, Kippei Shina, Rafie the dog. Quill Film Partners: 2004.
Quill was raised from puppyhood to be a seeing eye dog, and to spend his life helping others. Due to no fault of his own, he never really gets to stay in a permanent home. His life is his job, such that he barely gets a chance to be a dog. Or rather, as a dog with a job, he has changed the very perception of what it means to be a modern dog. Such selflessness! Such devotion! Such an honorable, purposeful existence! Pass me another tissue, please.
6. Plague Dogs. Dir. Martin Rosen. Perf. John Hurt, Christopher Benjamin, Nigel Hawthorne. Nepenthe: 1982.
As much as we praise the functional dog who works alongside his human partners, there is also a dark side to this relationship, as in the animal testing laboratories of modern industrial societies. Rowf and Snitter are two dogs who escape from such a nightmarish world. However, their presence creates something of a government scandal, as local farmers fear they may be carrying the plague or other diseases created as experiments in bioterrorism. So the hunt is on to capture the errant pair…
Not having read the Richard Adams book on which this animated feature was based, I was completely unprepared for the soul-crushing heaviness of this story. While this is the only animated feature on this list, it is pretty exceptional as far as non-Japanese animation goes, and definitely a memorable title that fully demonstrates how evocative hand-drawn cel art can be.
5. Vidas Secas [Life is Barren]. Dir. Nelson Pereira dos Santos. Perf. Átila Iório, Orlando Macedo, Baleia the dog. Luiz Carlos Barreto Produções Cinematográficas/Sino Filmes, 1963.
Poverty and pets don’t mix. Down with the exploitation of the agricultural peasantry!!
4. Umberto D. Dir. Vittoria De Sica. Perf. Carlo Battisti, Maria-Pia Casilio, Flike the dog. 1952.
Poverty and pets don’t mix. Down with the oppression of the urban underclass!!
3. I Am Legend. Dir. Francis Lawrence. Perf. Will Smith, Abby & Kona the dogs. Village Roadshow: 2007.
A cancer cure gone wrong has turned into a disastrous virus, wiping out 90% of humanity and turning the remaining 9% into photosensitive mutants who feed on the 1% of humans possessing natural immunity. Will Smith plays a military doctor who is part of that exclusive 1%, occupying a depopulated New York City with his faithful German Shepherd, Samantha. She is the only other living thing that responds to language — except, unfortunately, his stop or recall commands when it really, really matters.
After her passing, it seems intolerable for life (or the movie, for that matter) to go on, but it has to conclude somehow. The unwatchableness of the last, dog-less third does its part to ensure some potent ill will towards the filmmakers, if not all of humanity.
2. Pedigree Dogs Exposed. Dir. Jemima Harrison. BBC One: 2008.
While we might fabricate good reasons to distrust science in the name of Hollywood fantasy, there are actually compelling reasons to heed science in our day-to-day transactions, including the breeding of our beloved pets. This British documentary is certainly not the first to have raised concerns about the ethics of purebred dog breeding, but its sensational manner created an unprecedented splash when it was first broadcast — all the better to get the public talking.
The 50-minute long documentary is not without its faults, as the director has no time to spare in airing the happily-ever-after pet stories that we take for normal. She has been targeted by some rather vitriolic breeders and critics, as her blog frequently reveals. Perhaps what’s most depressing is not what this documentary reveals about the health of some breeds as a whole, but rather what it exposes about the mindset of some people at top echelons who have completely warped visions of what it means to be breed stewards.
If the YouTube movie embedded above does not work, just search for another version. It’s readily available online, last I checked. The sequel, Pedigree Dogs Exposed: Three Years On (2011) continues the investigation with some extra footage to be found on the DVDs, available for purchase here.
1. Good-bye, My Lady. Dir. William Wellman. Perf. Walter Brennan, Brandon deWilde, Sidney Poitier, My Lady of the Congo. Batjac: 1956.
So here’s another iteration of boy-gets-superdog, boy-loses-superdog-and-gains-maturation theme. Though I didn’t rank this list in any particular order, I would put this one far higher than the title that began this roundup because the dog is a Basenji, and the Basenji doesn’t die.
TAKE NOTE, future screenwriters and directors! Contrary to convention, the dog doesn’t have to die for the characters to arrive at enlightenment. Leave the dog alone. If somebody’s gotta go, try killing off the boy or mom and dad or a few hundred mutants or half the town’s population first. Audiences and critics will hate you less.
More dog films, including happier ones, can be found by checking out posts filed under FILMS, or accessing the index of dog movies reviewed and screencapped on this blog.
Film:The Boys from Brazil Director: Franklin J. Schaffner. Performers: Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, Jeremy Black Breed featured: Doberman Pinscher Production information: ITC, 1978 (USA)
It’s totally weird to see Gregory Peck in such an evil role as Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele. In this version of science fiction, Mengele has fled to South America and set up an elaborate laboratory in Brazil where he has implemented a large-scale cloning program to repopulate the world with Adolf Hitlers. Each of the 94 clones he has created has been placed with adoptive families that emulate Hitler’s original family — specifically, each household consists of a tyrannical older father and a younger, doting mother. And since Hitler’s biological father suddenly died when he was a young teenager, assassins are sent to dispatch each of the cloned baby’s adoptive fathers to recreate the supposed psychological impact of this event on Hitler’s mental development.
Improbable? Sure. Just a little. But the entire movie already goes against everything you know anyway (I mean, Atticus Finch as a Nazi?? C’mon!), and much of it is portrayed with such visual absurdity, you can’t help but be sucked into the mad, dystopic fantasy.
In the climactic scene, Dr. Mengele journeys to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in search of a Hitler clone who is being brought up in the home of a Doberman Pinscher breeder. The psychoanalytical emphasis of baby Hitler’s development is one thing, but the film doesn’t really address the question of social environment, as Hitler clones are scattered all around the world, from Sweden to Canada to England. I suppose it makes sense that one “puppy mill capital” of the US would be just as appropriate as any other test environment. Seems like it would take an entire culture of cruelty to produce a Hitler, not just a mother and dead father.
