|
''A Dog's Love'' is a 1914 American short silent fantasy film with subtitles,〔(【引用サイトリンク】) / Thanhouser Company Film Preservation, Inc.">url=http://elibrary.wayne.edu/record=2859612 )〕 directed by Jack Harvey on his directorial debut. It stars Shep the Dog, Helen Badgley, and Arthur Bauer.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=A Dog's Love )〕 The film is about a dog who loses his master, when a young girl is killed in an automobile accident, and deals with 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, 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 ''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. ==Plot== 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.〔 An inter-title confirms Helen's death by announcing the parents have gone on "a visit to their lost darling". The scene cuts to a grassy cemetery with lines of tombstones separated by a loose line of two trees. Helen's parents approach her grave, marked by a group of flowers and a temporary marker at the head. Shep follows behind and pauses by a tree as Helen's parents kneel and pause to grieve. The camera cuts to Shep, who appears sad with his eyes only half open. After the parents finish grieving, they stand up and walk to the stage left. Shep stays under the tree for a moment before approaching the grave. Through an overheard split, Shep is shown to be reminiscing about the party. The next scene shows Shep back home, lying on his side in apparent despair. His master tries to get Shep to eat some food, but the Collie refuses and turns on his side. His master pets him, confused as to what has his pet troubled so, but he gives up and departs.〔 Another inter-title announces that "Shep makes daily visit to the florist" and shows Shep approach the shop and grabs a bunch of flower in his mouth before running away. Shep returns to her grave and he drops his flowers with the others. Shep looks to the left and sees a woman watering the flowers. Shep takes her watering can and runs back to Helen's grave. The woman picks up the watering can and waters the flowers and picks up the flower bouquet brought by Shep. An inter-title announces that night has come and it shows Shep lying asleep near the hedge. A ghostly image of Helen, superimposed on the film, appears through hedge and awakens Shep. Helen leads Shep through the cemetery and to her grave. Shep crawls to her grave and lies across the flowers as Helen's form disappears down into the grave. The camera lingers on Shep before fading. The final inter-title of the film announces "Don't cry, it's only make believe" showing Helen, holding flowers and leaning against Shep. This sequence and title may have served as a reminder to children in the audience it was all simply a dramatic story.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「A Dog's Love」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|