Answer: dogs fighting it out in the trenches, of course. Welcome to Dogville and the Dogville Comedies, a group of nine of the weirdest films ever made. They were produced by MGM in the early 1930s and are each around 15 minutes long. The intent was to parody popular films of the days by using dogs in the place of human actors. How did they make the dogs act? Well, by fishing line, peanut butter, and other such implements of torture.
This particular one, in case you couldn't figure it out for yourself, is a parody of All Quiet on the Western Front, which was released in 1930 and went on to win the third Academy Award for Best Picture (after Wings and Broadway Melody, which was also, incidentally, parodied by one of these shorts). Unfortunately, the creators of these shorts had absolutely no comedic talent whatsoever. I lied at the beginning of this review. Dogs barking jingle bells and dogs playing poker have far more camp value than these terrible shorts will ever have. It's actually rather amusing (in a sick and twisted sort of way) to watch these poor animals being forced to humiliate themselves and, with them, the entire human race. The pathetic pooches, dangling from the fishing line, quite often visible, have these looks on their faces either expressing that they are extremely peeved or that they are simply confused at what the heck is going on. TCM played all nine in a row, but I was only able to make it through three. It was really amusing at first, but it quickly got old. So, if they do ever come on again (I once caught a part of one played between two movies about a month ago), do please watch one of them. Like I said, it is amusing for a few minutes.
This particular one, in case you couldn't figure it out for yourself, is a parody of All Quiet on the Western Front, which was released in 1930 and went on to win the third Academy Award for Best Picture (after Wings and Broadway Melody, which was also, incidentally, parodied by one of these shorts). Unfortunately, the creators of these shorts had absolutely no comedic talent whatsoever. I lied at the beginning of this review. Dogs barking jingle bells and dogs playing poker have far more camp value than these terrible shorts will ever have. It's actually rather amusing (in a sick and twisted sort of way) to watch these poor animals being forced to humiliate themselves and, with them, the entire human race. The pathetic pooches, dangling from the fishing line, quite often visible, have these looks on their faces either expressing that they are extremely peeved or that they are simply confused at what the heck is going on. TCM played all nine in a row, but I was only able to make it through three. It was really amusing at first, but it quickly got old. So, if they do ever come on again (I once caught a part of one played between two movies about a month ago), do please watch one of them. Like I said, it is amusing for a few minutes.
