It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog

Allyn Joslyn (Henry) has returned from WW2 to the newspaper he worked for. This time, however, he is the Science Editor instead of a Crime Reporter and he really doesn't care for this role. He wants to be a Crime Reporter again. Whilst having a drink at Ralph Sandford's bar – "Nick's Bar" – with a drunken local policeman John Alexander (Joe), Carole Landis (Julia) enters the scene with her dog. What follows is a sequence of misunderstandings and a bit of slapstick, comedy policemen and an unbelievable storyline which is meant to be funny.

No brain required for this but the cast are OK apart from the comedy policemen – we get two! The dog is pretty unspectacular and not at all cute or convincing – we even get a male voice dubbing over sneeze noises and yawns and woofs on its behalf. More of that comedy stuff. I watched it as I like Carole Landis but the film is not up to much.

The big bonus here is that we also get a film with Whit Bissell. After watching the whole series of "The Time Tunnel" from the mid 1960s, my wife and I were staggered at the poor quality acting of the General as played by Whit Bissell. We found it rather amusing and even suggested getting hold of every film he's ever done. Well, we didn't go down that route but what a pleasant surprise to find him in this offering. They make you wait for him, though, and I'm afraid to say it's a let-down as he does alright in his small role.

It's one of those "the craziest things happen in Brooklyn" movies. Allyn Joslyn is a reporter who has fouled up so often he's been demoted to science editor, picking up information from children's books. He thinks he has a lead on a real story, so he heads over to Margo Woods' rooming house. No dice, so he tries a local bar with her picture. There, Carole Landis walks in with a trained Doberman Pinscher for some bones. Some money goes missing, and he phones in the story. It soon turns out it was a gag by one of the barflies. Soon enough, crook Harry Morgan, Miss Landis and the dog are involved in the story.

It's one of those brittle post-war comedies which smacks of some subtextual meaning, but mostly it's a decent, if dry little comedy in which everyone acts in an over-the-top manner. There are some good comedy situations directed at a good clip by B director Herbert Leeds.

Leeds started in the movie business illustrating title cards. By the early 1930s he was an editor, and he became a director in 1938. Over the next twelve years he headed a couple of movies each year, then into television. He killed himself in 1954, age 54.

Allyn Joslyn, Carole Landis, and Rodney the Dog star in "It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog," a 1946 film. Joslyn plays Henry Barton, a returning WW II vet who returns to his newspaper job, only to find out he's no longer assigned to crime, but science, and a woman has his job. Disgusted, he's determined to solve a crime so he can get his job back.

He goes to work on a local racketeering case, and meets a beautiful woman, Julia (Landis) and her dog (Rodney), a Doberman who is also a war vet. When the bar they are all in is robbed, Henry mistakenly thinks that Julia and Rodney robbed the place, calls it in to his paper, and Rodney ends up on the front page. It turns out that Julia is a policewoman, and she's not happy.

The plot gets crazier, with Rodney taking off and winding up for a time with a mobster's henchman (Harry Morgan) who commits some robberies wearing not only Henry's distinctive tie but has Rodney with him.

Joslyn, a character actor who played few leads, is quite funny here, and the story is amusing. Landis, who committed suicide two years later, is quite beautiful and does a good job. Unfortunately, true stardom would elude her. Rodney is fabulous. Jean Wallace gives a nice performance as the woman who took Henry's job.

When the men got back from the war, the women had gone to work, and this film is a reflection of that adjustment. Everyone is shocked to meet a "lady cop" and Henry bemoans the fact that a woman took his job.

Nice film, interesting time in history.

With all the fine canine actors in Hollywood of the time (1946), why bother with humans at all. Besides, humans cost a lot more and complain a lot. Here Rodney the Doberman gives a fine performance, even if he does rob a saloon, sneeze at the wrong time, and sleep on the job. Still, he does help catch the crooks, get officer Pirelli promoted out of Flatbush, and bring lovebirds Julia and Barton together. Pretty good for an actor with no dialog, except an occasional woof-woof.

On the whole, the movie's an entertaining little crime comedy, with Joslyn in good addled form as a reporter, and Landis in good curvaceous form as a lady cop. I never could figure out exactly the plot, but who cares since that's not what drives an amusing trifle like this. It's also a good chance to catch up with future TV stars like Henry Morgan (MASH) and Reed Hadley (Racket Squad). Actually, what caught my eye among the usual hijinks were our heroes running amidst what looks like a real downtown traffic scene. Watch for it. Usually such setups are filmed on the lot, as are other street scenes in the movie. But not this particular one, and it's kind of scary.

All in all, the screenplay meanders too much to concentrate its humor, but still manages a share of chuckles.

Watching It Shouldn't Happen To A Dog I had to wonder whether 20th Century Fox had purchased this story from Paramount. It seems so much like a Bob Hope vehicle.

If it had been a Hope vehicle Hope as the main character would have received top billing instead of Carole Landis. Clearly the action centers around the main male character played by character actor Allyn Joslyn. Fresh back from the army Joslyn can't get his old job back as the crime reporter. He's now the science reporter and is busy trying to figure out atomic energy while Jean Wallace is learning the nuances of crime reporting.

But when there's a story about a missing witness Whit Bissell who was ready to testify against racketeer Reed Hadley, Joslyn goes right to work. The problem is that he's running up against undercover policewoman Carole Landis and her partner, a large former military Doberman pincher answering to the name Rodney.

Rodney for a trained dog is quite an independent sort. Still he's the real hero as he's the one really responsible for seeing justice done.

Joslyn was funny, but I could never see him getting the girl. This is an amusing film, but it should have had Bob Hope in the lead.