With 2019’s The Art of Racing in the Rain, a live-action remake of Disney’s classic Lady and the Tramp and this year’s Call of the Wild, Scoob! and Clifford the Big Red Dog, it may seem like canines — real and animated — are taking theaters by storm.
But dogs have been darlings of the screen since film’s beginnings, says Robin Ganzert, author of Animal Stars and president and CEO of American Humane, the nonprofit that monitors on-set animal safety to provide the “No Animals Were Harmed” certification.
“The very first dog to ever appear in a film was a spaniel in (Thomas) Edison’s 40-second film clip when he was experimenting with making a film,” Ganzert says. Made in 1894, the dog had a bit part, watching a man exercise in Athlete With Wand. “The dog was very boring, but I love the fact that there was a dog in the very first film clips.”
From there, dog “actors” have had a meteoric rise. Some furry legends include Blair, the collie who starred in the 1905 movie Rescued by Rover, which was the first major role for a dog in film and resulted in the name Rover remaining ubiquitous to this day; Jean the Vitagraph Dog, a collie who starred alongside Helen Hayes in silent films in the early 1900s; and Rin Tin Tin, the German shepherd credited with financially saving the Warner Bros. movie studio with the successful film series, and who nearly won an Oscar, Ganzert says.
“Rin Tin Tin actually made a little bit of movie history, a little bit of a scandal,” Ganzert says. “In 1929, he received the most votes for best actor, but Academy Awards members did not want to be seen as less than serious. So, they didn’t give the votes to the dog. … That just goes to show how much people have loved dogs since the very beginning of film.”
What makes dog movies so successful? “Who doesn’t love a cute story with dogs or animals?” asks Nicole Ellis, a certified professional dog trainer with Rover.com and author of Working Like a Dog. “They are heartwarming and often connect to us, as most animal movies involve a bond between a dog and someone or something. I personally am always rooting for the dog in any movie I watch.” Ellis’ own dogs have worked in movies and television.
Dog movies have evolved over the years, with 1974’s Benji creating “an incredible awareness of shelter dogs,” says Ganzert, and prompting adoptions all over the world, while the 2015 dog movie Max “really educated so many people about the importance of military working dogs and what they do for people,” she says.
“We are seeing more and more dogs who are heroes and play an important helping role such as military and service dogs, such as in Megan Leavey — with the military working dog, Rex — and the movie Max,” Ellis says.
And last year, Brandy, Brad Pitt’s character’s patient and heroic dog in the Oscar-nominated Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, nearly stole the show — and potentially helped a breed that’s often maligned, Ganzert says. “I really loved the fact that a pit bull has such center stage” in the film, she says. In fact, the four-legged actress won the movie’s only award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019, the Palm Dog Award.
Still, the classics maintain a stronghold on the hearts of dog lovers. In a 2016 national American Humane poll, the 1957 Disney movie Old Yeller was the favorite animal family movie of all time; the 1989 Tom Hanks movie Turner & Hooch was the favorite animal buddy movie, and the legendary collie Lassie, whose first movie debuted in 1943, was named favorite dog star.
“It’s great to see generations moved ... to embrace the healing power of the human-animal bond and the important role that man’s best friends play in our lives,” Ganzert says. “I believe ... that dogs make us better humans, and that’s why I think film and entertainment just really shows us that.”
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May 17, 2020 at 07:05PM
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Dogs remain a big part of Hollywood movie-making - USA TODAY
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