A Dog's Love
| A Dog's Love | |
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| Directed by | Jack Harvey |
| Written by | Nolan Gane |
| Starring | Shep the Dog, Helen Badgley, and Arthur Bauer |
| Music by | Andrew Crow |
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Production
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Release date
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October 4, 1914 |
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Running time
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11 minutes, 12 seconds |
| Country | USA |
| Language | Silent |
A Dog's Love is a 1914 American short silent fantasy film with subtitles, directed by Jack Harvey on his directorial debut. It stars Shep the Dog, Helen Badgley, and Arthur Bauer. The film is about a dog who loses his best friend, when a young girl is killed in an automobile accident, and focuses on his emotions in dealing with his loss. Well-received because of its "universally appealing" theme, the dog's emotions were reported as surpassing the child's histrionics.
The film was shot on one reel by the Thanhouser Company, 1,007 feet (307 m) in total. It was shot in standard 35mm and a spherical 1.37:1 format. It was distributed by the Mutual Film Corporation upon release. Kitty Kelly of The Chicago Tribune called it a "miniature masterpiece." Copies of the film are in the Museum of Modern Art of New York City and the National Film, Television and Sound Archive of Ottawa film archive.
The film opens with an inter-title that reads "Poor little rich girl has no one to play with" and cuts to Baby Helen with her doll, looking out the window. A group of children play Ring a Ring o' Roses in the yard. Next, Baby Helen goes to tea party set up on the yard and holds her doll, all by herself, with a lonely expression. The neighbor's dog, Shep comes out of his dog house and barks, and Baby Helen rises with a joyful expression. She takes a piece of a muffin and tosses it through the boxwood hedge separating the two yards. Shep eats the muffin and Helen invites him to her tea party. Shep runs along the hedge and passes through to join her. Helen instructs Shep with her finger and Shep barks in understanding, Helen takes her seat and shares a muffin with Shep. An inter-title announces that a week later, Helen is out on an errand. Helen passes through the hedge and skips down the sidewalk and Shep barks at her. As Helen crosses the street, she is struck by a passing automobile and Shep races to the rescue. He tugs at her dress at the waist and finding that he is unable to move her, runs to Helen's home and jumps against the screen door, barking repeatedly. As Helen's parents are summoned, Shep leads them to Helen, where a passerby has scooped up Helen from the middle of the street. All three depart and the scene changes to a dimly lit room with Helen laid on a bed, seemingly dead. Her parents watch over her, with sad faces as a doctor inspects her and folds her arms across her chest. Beyond saving, her parents bury their heads in the pillow next to Helen as the doctor pens a note. Then Shep is shown resting against the side of the door in a feeble and sorrowful looking position.
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