Kino Lorber, in collaboration with Library of Congress, present Wonder Dogs! Canine Stars of the Silent Era, an eight-hour compilation of dog-themed silent cinema ranging from 1898 to 1928, from new digital preservations and with newly recorded musical scores.
The Production: 4/5
Kino Lorber has been releasing these fantastic silent-era collections ranging from large multi-disc sets like Pioneers: Early Women Filmmakers and Pioneers of Early African-American Cinema, as well as smaller collections: Vitagraph Shorts and Cinema’s First Nasty Women. This time, culled from the vast archives of Library of Congress, are nearly forty films ranging from almost feature-length (such as Teeth and His Master’s Voice) to brief mutoscopes. I found the “actualities” to be the most interesting, such as a newsreel capturing a doggie birthday party or just puppies being cute. If you’re a dog-lover and into silent films, this is a real joy to go through.
DISC ONE:
Teeth (1924, dir. J.G. Blystone – Fox Film Corporation) [50:56]
Starring Tom Mix
Music composed by Andrew Earle Simpson, adapted from the original 1924 cue sheet
Dogs ‘N’ Kids [combined 6:06]
“Me and Jack” (1898, American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.)
“Rex’s Bath” (1902, American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.)
“Babe and Puppies” (1904, Thomas A. Edison)
“The Baby and the Puppies” (1904, Thomas A. Edison)
“Two Bottle Babies” (1904, American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.)
Music composed and performed by Jimena Caballero
Buster’s Bust-Up (1925, dir. Gus Meins) [18:04]
Music composed and performed by Gonca Feride Varol
Dogs and Lovers [combined 2:19]
“Love Me, Love My Dog” (1903, American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.)
“Gage D’Amour” (1904, Gaumont)
Music composed and performed by Connor McKay
A Bear, a Boy, and a Dog (1921, dir. Bert Van Tuyle) [28:12]
Music composed and performed by Carol Gao
Dog Factory (1904, Thomas A. Edison)
Music composed and performed by Anthony Laurie
Lost Dogs [combined 8:35]
“A Dog Lost, Strayed, or Stolen. $25.00 Reward Apply to Mrs. Brown, 711 Park Ave.” (1905, S. Lubin)
“Lost a Pretty Little Dog” (1908, Pathe Freres)
Music composed and performed by Mohamed Araki
Screen Snapshots: Ilak’s Birthday (1925) [1:31]
Music composed and performed by Daniel Painter
from The Screen Almanac (1924, Selznick) [1:10]
Music composed and performed by Dana Reason
The Sky Rider (1927, dir. Alvin J Neitz) [45:41]
featuring Champion, America’s Foremost Police Dog
Music composed and performed by Chris Rorrer
The Nobleman’s Dog (1909, Pathe Freres) [8:46]
Music composed, performed and mixed by Joshua Phillips
Fidelity (1911, Pathe Freres) [7:44]
Music composed and performed by Esin Aydingoz
The Law’s Lash (1928, dir. Noel Mason Smith) [49:58]
featuring Klondike
Music composed and performed by Jaasmaan Singh
DISC TWO:
His Master’s Voice (1925, dir. Reynaud Hoffman) [52:07]
Music composed and performed by Carolyn Koch
Vaudeville Dogs [combined 4:55]
“Spike, the Bag-Punching Dog” (1887, American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.)
“Stealing a Dinner” (1899, American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.)
“Laura Comstock’s Bag-Punching Dog (1901, Thomas A. Edison)
“Leaping Dogs at Gentry’s Circus) (1901, Thomas A. Edison)
Music composed by Adam Banks and Griffin Barbieri
The Watchdog (1923, dir. Len Powers) [10:13)
“Dippy-Doo-Dad” Comedies
Music composed and performed by Jeff Schwartz
Dogs, Dogs, Dogs! [combined 2:05]
“Dogs Playing in the Surf” (1898, Thomas A. Edison)
“Frank J. Gould’s Dogs” (1899, American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.)
“A Yard of Puppies” (1903, American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.)
Music composed and performed by Nika Ko
Dog Shy (1926, dir. Leo McCarey) [20:15]
Hal Roach/Charley Chase
Music composed and performed by Carol Gao
Jean the Match-Maker (1910, Vitagraph Co.) [10:43]
Music composed and performed by Ali Tolga Demirtas
A Tin-Type Romance (1910, Vitagraph Co.) [9:39]
Music composed and performed by Anabel Gil Diaz
Jean and the Waif (1910, Vitagraph Co.) [12:00]
Music composed and performed by Lorena Ruiz Trejo and Maria Fernanda Garcia Solar
Jean Rescues (1910, Vitagraph Co.) [11:13]
Music composed and performed by Allison Beth Fitzgerald
The Silent Trailer (1926, dir. Francis Ford) [22:49]
starring Fearless, the Noted Police Dog Star
Music composed and performed by Mathilde Koechlin
A Modern Prodigal (1913, Vitagraph Co.) [22:17]
Music composed and performed by Andrew Earle Simpson
A Little Hero (1913, Keystone Film Co.) [4:24]
Music composed and performed by Dana Reason
Fatty’s Faithful Fido (1915, Keystone Film Co.) [14:57]
Music composed and performed by Shane Prendiville
The Sign of the Claw (1926, dir. B. Reaves Eason) [50:07]
starring Peter the Great
Music by Peter Valsamis
Video: 4/5
3D Rating: NA
Kino Lorber and Library of Congress have had a long-fruitful partnership with home video, with Wonder Dogs! being no exception. The featured films cover a span of 30 years, going back to the end of the 19th century, up until the end of the silent era. While no extensive digital cleanup has been performed on these films, there has been stabilization applied very effectively. Most films also feature tints and tones, usually from the original prints that were scanned for LoC’s preservation work. One particular film, Buster’s Bust-Up, is assembled from an incomplete nitrate print and what appears to be a heavily compressed standard definition source transferred from 8mm. While the quality is very poor outside the nitrate sections, it provides a glimpse on how important preservation is.
All films are presented approximately at 1.33:1 across two BD-50s with a healthy bitrate in the mid-20s, without any serious compression artifacts outside the film mentioned above. Overall, one should look at the image quality with empathy, especially since many of these films are from the sole surviving film elements.
Audio: 5/5
All films featured on this Wonder Dogs! compilation are presented with newly recorded musical scores, encoded in DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo. With the exception of one short film with a deliberately low fidelity mix (I assume to complement the poor quality source material), the sound quality is excellent. While no optional subtitles, all films are presented with English intertitles.
Special Features: 4.5/5
Despite the almost eight-hour runtime of Wonder Dogs, film historian Anthony Slide has provided audio commentary on every single film! He has recorded many tracks for Kino Lorber’s silent film releases and he’s always an engaging speaker. He doesn’t shy away from bringing up apparent animal abuse, while also going into the background on the many canine stars. I get the feeling that Slide is equally enthusiastic about silent film and dogs, so these are worth listening to with his commentaries.
Also featured on the first disc are two interviews:
Interview with curators Lynanne Schweighofer and George Willeman [20:37]
Interview with composer Andrew Earle Simpson [11:53]
Only slight objection I have is that a small booklet would have been nice to have with information on all the films, which can be quite useful for these multi-disc collections.
Overall: 4.5/5
Yet another fascinating treasury of rare silent films. Containing a whole day’s worth of films, commentaries on all, plus interviews.
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Monitor:
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Players:
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