The Big Dog House

Big Dog House, The (1930)

** (out of 4)

One of nine "Dogville" shorts from MGM with this one spoofing their prison drama The Big House. A department store working gets accused of murder and is sent to prison even though in truth it was his boss who did the killing. In case you don't know, these Dogville shorts were basically spoofs of various MGM films with the only catch being that dogs act everything out. This movie really isn't funny but I found it interesting as to what must have happened in order to get the dogs to act all of this stuff out. It's very clear that there's a ton of editing being done in each scene just to pull off the talking or walking but at other times, like when a dog changes another dog's diaper, you can see their hands moving and I'm going to guess strings or something was attached to them. Either way, the movie isn't a total success but it's certainly not bad but I'm sure kids would get more of a kick out of it today.

SO THIS IS where Columbia's head of their Short Subjects Unit got his Directorial start, eh? Yeah,it's none other than Mr. Jules White who is credited (or is it rather, "exposed") as the Director of this entry into MGM's DOGVILLE Series. Given co-credit as co-Director is one Zion Myers; whose name is heretofore unknown to us. Mr. Meyers was, no doubt, the guy who controlled the four-legged thespians and was responsible for training and "acting". In short, he must have been the Dog Trainer on the set.

THE TITLE OF this comedy short is no doubt a play on the MGM feature of the same year, THE BIG HOUSE; which starred Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Robert Montgomery and a stellar cast in support. We must plead ignorance in regards to this title; not having seen it up to this point. (Sorry,Schultz!) But there are many of the doggie gags that relate to what we've read about the movie*; not to mention some particular character specific gags. For example, we observed a canine convict who st-st-stuttered and deduced,correctly, that the bow-wow actor was mimicking character comedian, Roscoe Ates. We later cross-checked with the cast of THE BIG HOUSE and presto, his name is there! (Brilliant deduction, one fit for Holmes & Watson!)

THE PRACTICE OF lampooning popular features was already a tried and true practice in the realm of the comedy short. It was one that seemed to draw no objections from the producers and copyright owners of the major films; but rather quite contrarily received heaps of tassive approval. After all, imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery; besides, any producer would welcome even some seemingly irreverent parodying.** AS FOR THE movie, itself, we found it to be interesting in a sort of perverse manner. Seeing so many of "Man's Best Friends" being so artificially animated into one, long and boring sort of anthropomorphic gag seemed very tiring to we, who make up the audience. I mean just how many pooches were made to bark, needlessly, in order to achieve the illusion of 'talking'?

WHEN IT COMES to pets, or "Animal Companions" as the Politically Correct crowd prefers, we are quite eclectic; favoring not only dogs; but also cats, hamsters and parakeets. We don't enjoy seeing any animal exploited in such a non-funny,extended play format.

AS INCREDIBLE AS it may seem, the step that Mr. Jules White made from MGM's Shorts to heading up Columbia's 2 Reeler production would seem to have been not only a $tep up in the area of finance$; but al$o in the Arti$tic Content. We never thought that being Producer-Director for the likes of such luminaries as the 3 Stooges, Andy Clyde and Hugh Herbert, as well as some who certainly had seen better days, such as Charley Chase, Buster Keaton and Harry Langdon; would be a step up cinematically.

IN CASE WE haven't made our point yet; we're officially panning this one. So, view it at your own risk. We warned you!

NOTE * We read excellent accounts of both THE BIG HOUSE and the Laurel & Hardy send-up, PARDON US (Hal Roach/MGM, 1931) in both MR. LAUREL & MR. HARDY by John McCabe (1962) and THE FILMS OF LAUREL & HARDY by William K. Everson (1967). Both books have our most enthusiastic endorsement.

NOTE ** The Prison Picture became a Genre of its own; all owing a debt to THE BIG HOUSE. In PARDON US, Laurel & Hardy, Hal Roach and its Director did a first class spoof,the first of many; for a Prison comedy became a required theme for so many a screen funny man to come.

Some may find these shorts hilarious, but after the first few minutes it's clear that the dogs are being manipulated to assume the poses of animals talking to each other like humans, walking around on their hind legs and wearing costumes appropriate for the "characters" they're supposed to be playing. It's funny and amusing but hardly what I would call hilarious. The word "stilted" is more like it--because it's all so obviously staged that the dogs seem more like puppets being led about by invisible strings.

Having said that, if FRANCIS, THE TALKING MULE is your style of entertainment, you may fall over laughing at this nonsense.

The dogs say grace at the table, fix a flat tire, go wild at a department store remnant sale, model clothes, cope with a crooked boss, and our hero and his girlfriend are separated when the boss pins a crime on the boy dog so that he can win the affection of the girl.

After spending some time at the penitentiary, where some dogs are seen doing hard labor in jail clothes, the girl dog comes to the rescue and gets her boyfriend saved in time to avoid going to the chair for his crime.

Says one dog to another when sampling jail food: "It ain't fit for a dog!" Hilarius? It depends.

After airing the Saturday morning Bowery Boys picture, TCM dropped this little gem into the lineup, which I was fortunate enough to catch. Contrary to some of the opinions posted, I didn't find it irksome or tedious myself, and the short running time didn't require a big investment in my day.

I found it completely hysterical, and I laughed continually throughout the picture. It was quite clever and inventive in creating all the various activities going on in each scene, which were staged elaborately with costumes, props, dialogue, and a lot more. I saw Jules White's name as one of the directors, and we all know what he was about be involved with a couple years later.

I couldn't help it, watching the evil boss's nefarious machinations to steal Trixie just cracked me up. The nail in Fido's tire...hahaha! A lot of other scenes were equally funny, such as the ladies pawing through the clothes on sale, dogs at the table eating, in prison breaking rocks, or the guard with the machine gun.

I liked it, but I can see from the other reviews it's not for everyone. Oh well, I admitted freely I'm a big fan of the Bowery Boys, so lowbrow is OK by me if it makes me laugh. I'll also point out that I'm a first time viewer of any Dogville picture, so I have no idea if I would enjoy watching any others. But this one was definitely entertaining.

To quote Lord Flasheart from Blackadder: "Woof!"

Another in MGM's "A Dogville Comedy" series, which featured dogs looking uncomfortable in human clothing. Hopefully, the "crying" puppy being diapered didn't get stuck with too many safety pins. The plot concerns a fair-haired pooch named "Trixie" who draws a marriage proposal from handsome co-worker "Fido". But, their boss at the "Dogville Dept. Store" also desires "Trixie". So, to get rid of "Fido", the dastardly "Mr. Barker" frames him for murder. While "Trixie" weeps, "Fido" is sent to the "Dogville Penitentiary" where he awaits execution in the electric chair… "The Big Dog House" was patterned after the studio's prison hit "The Big House" (1930), with the ending chase resembling the "modern" portion of "Intolerance" (1916).

** The Big Dog House (1930) MGM : Jules White, Zion Myers