From 1929 to 1931, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a series of nine short comedy films called All Barkie Dogville Comedies, sometimes known as the "barkies" (in a parody of "talkies"). [1] The actors in these films were trained dogs, dressed up to parody the performers in contemporary films. The dogs' dialogue in these early sound films were dubbed by actors and voice artists including Pete Smith.
The films were directed by Zion Myers and conceived and co-directed by Jules White. Both Myers and White later worked on The Three Stooges comedies.
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The complete series of Dogville Comedies has been released on DVD by Warner Bros. as part of its Warner Archive Collection.
Lewis Frederick Ayres III was an American actor whose film and television career spanned 65 years. He is best known for starring as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and for playing Dr. Kildare in nine films. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Johnny Belinda (1948).
William Washington Beaudine was an American film director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out a remarkable 179 feature-length films in a wide variety of genres.
A mystery film is a film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction. Mystery films include, but are not limited to, films in the genre of detective fiction.
Philo Vance is a fictional amateur detective originally featured in 12 crime novels by S. S. Van Dine in the 1920s and 1930s. During that time, Vance was immensely popular in books, films, and radio. He was portrayed as a stylish—even foppish—dandy, a New York bon vivant possessing a highly intellectual bent. "S. S. Van Dine" was the pen name of Willard Huntington Wright, a prominent art critic who initially sought to conceal his authorship of the novels. Van Dine was also a fictional character in the books, a sort of Dr. Watson figure who accompanied Vance and chronicled his exploits.
The Our Gang personnel page is a listing of the significant cast and crew from the Our Gang short subjects film series, originally created and produced by Hal Roach which ran in movie theaters from 1922 to 1944.
Karl Dane was a Danish-American comedian and actor known for his work in American films, mainly of the silent film era. He became a star after portraying “Slim”, a supporting role in one of the most successful silent films of all time, The Big Parade (1925), directed by King Vidor and starring John Gilbert.
Our Gang is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the producer of the Laurel and Hardy films, Our Gang shorts were produced from 1922 to 1944, spanning the silent film and early sound film periods of American cinema. Our Gang is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively natural way; Roach and original director Robert F. McGowan worked to film the unaffected, raw nuances apparent in regular children, rather than have them imitate adult acting styles. The series also broke new ground by portraying white and black children interacting as equals during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation in the United States.
Frank Wright Tuttle was a Hollywood film director and writer who directed films from 1922 to 1959.
Roy Del Ruth was an American filmmaker.
Edmund Sherbourne Lowe was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film.
Jules White was an American film director and producer best known for his short-subject comedies starring The Three Stooges.
Harry Beaumont was an American film director, actor, and screenwriter. He worked for a variety of production companies including Fox, Goldwyn, Metro, Warner Brothers, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Arthur George Brest, known professionally as George K. Arthur, was an English actor and producer, born in Aberdeen, Scotland,. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1919 and 1935, and is best known as the diminutive half of the comedy team of Dane & Arthur.
The Grey Hounded Hare is a 1949 Looney Tunes short film made by Warner Bros. Pictures and starring the voice talent of Mel Blanc. The film stars Bugs Bunny. It was directed by Robert McKimson, and animated by John Carey, Phil DeLara, Manny Gould and Charles McKimson, with music scored by Carl Stalling. The title refers to the greyhounds of the plot as well as "hounded" meaning pestered or pursued relentlessly.
The Dogway Melody is a 1930 comedy short film that recreates scenes from early musical films, particularly The Broadway Melody. The entire cast is trained dogs with human voiceovers. It was directed by Zion Myers and Jules White and it forms part of the MGM-produced series of Dogville Comedies.
The musical short can be traced back to the earliest days of sound films.
The Kennel Murder Case is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery film adapted from the 1933 novel of the same name by S. S. Van Dine. Directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Bros., it stars William Powell and Mary Astor. Powell's role as Philo Vance is not the actor's first performance as the aristocratic sleuth; he also portrays the character in three films produced by Paramount in 1929 and 1930.
Dangerous Nan McGrew is a 1930 Pre-Code American musical comedy film starring Helen Kane, Victor Moore and James Hall and directed by Malcolm St. Clair.
So Quiet on the Canine Front is a 1931 American comedy short film, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, structured as a parody of Universal Pictures' All Quiet on the Western Front, a highly praised anti-war tragedy of a young student in the German army during World War I, which won, at the 3rd Academy Awards on November 5, 1930, the top prize — Award for Outstanding Production.