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In 1934, MGM made a lovely film called Sequoia, which would have to be one of the earliest examples of an unusual genre, usually aimed at children - the animal picture.

When I say 'animal picture', I don't necessarily mean a movie with a Rin-Tin-Tin, or a Rex the Wonder Horse, or a Cheetah the Chimp. I mean films where the animals themselves are the characters, and we see them interacting with one another, or see the world from their point of view. The Warner Bros short Smart As A Fox (1946) would be another example, or more recently, the Benji movies of the 1970s and 80s and The Adventures of Milo and Otis (1986).

Can anyone think of anything earlier than the mid-30s? It would seem to be an ideal theme for a silent film, and yet I can't think of a single example.

I can't think of any silents, though I have to put a word in for BILL AND COO, the 1948 all-bird film which is posted on the Internet Archive here: http://archive.org/details/Bill_and_Coo

The Dippy Doo Dads were a silent series from Roach. Here is an earlier thread devoted to them:

viewtopic.php?p=45172" target="_blank

Don't discount Rex the Wonder Horse, because the first two reels of BLACK CYCLONE (1925) are just a story told with Rex and his Wild Mustang Herd, before Guinn "Big Boy" Williams and the other human actors show up.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

From what I recall (hazily) a fair chunk of Rinty's Clash of The Wolves is told from his and his canine family's perspective and with minimal human intervention for quite a portion of the running time.

The Cameraman's Revenge (1912)

There was a series of comedy shorts starring the chimpanzees Napoleon and Sally during the late teens, playing human-like characters in sitcom plots, sometimes with a human actor in a bit part, but usually other animals. There's a bit of odd business I vaguely recall in the one titled DREAMY CHINATOWN, with Napoleon flirting with a human laundrywoman, to the consternation of Sally! (outrageously wacky comedy of stereotypes, or subversively progressive racial subtext, or disturbingly kinky implications?)

The Rinty, Rex, and Coo examples sound more like what I'm thinking of - I've only ever seen a still from the Dippy Do Dads, but they looked to be more in the 'animals behaving like humans' genre than 'animals being themselves'. I wonder if they helped inspire those nightmare-inducing MGM's Dogville shorts? I'm going to be thinking of The Cameraman's Revenge the next time I sweep the dead beetles out of my garage, too ...

The 'animals as themselves' genre seems to have come more from literary tradition - books like Black Beauty, or Watership Down, or the sort of 'X the Talking Y And His Forest Friends' stories you get read as a child.

Disney's True Life Adventure series of shorts from the late forties are another example that comes to mind, though these were more obviously documentarian in nature - and of course, they took it in a whole other direction with things like Bambi ...

Sequoia was sufficiently innovative that I'm surprised it didn't inspire more imitations. I guess this sort of film is no walk in the park, logistically speaking.

Brooksie wrote: - and of course, they took it in a whole other direction with things like Bambi ...

That of rampant, fantastical, preposterous nonsense; not a celebration of Nature, but a crazy travesty of it. (I doted, incidentally, on Disney's documentary-style nature productions of the '50s, such as Living Desert & Beaver Valley, browbeating my parents to buy me the associated books.)

The silent Our Gang short Dog Heaven (1927)
tells the story from Pete the Pup's pov.

He gripes about losing his master's (Joe Cobb)
attention to a girl.

He gets drunk. He even attempts suicide.

Roseha wrote:I can't think of any silents, though I have to put a word in for BILL AND COO, the 1948 all-bird film which is posted on the Internet Archive here: http://archive.org/details/Bill_and_Coo

In one of James Agate's AROUND CINEMAS books he describes seeing a film on holiday in France in which the entire cast is played by animals - possibly all-dogs. This would be around 1930, but infuriatingly he omits to tell us the title. Anyone have a clue?

And just spotted BILL AND COO, which I will have to see just for the hell of it... And has anyone mentioned RESCUED BY ROVER, unless it's too short or has too few animals to count?

earlytalkiebuffRob wrote:

Roseha wrote:I can't think of any silents, though I have to put a word in for BILL AND COO, the 1948 all-bird film which is posted on the Internet Archive here: http://archive.org/details/Bill_and_Coo

In one of James Agate's AROUND CINEMAS books he describes seeing a film on holiday in France in which the entire cast is played by animals - possibly all-dogs. This would be around 1930, but infuriatingly he omits to tell us the title. Anyone have a clue?

That soundss like one of the Dogville comedies - here is a clip from "Dogway Melody" (1930)

FrankFay wrote:

earlytalkiebuffRob wrote: In one of James Agate's AROUND CINEMAS books he describes seeing a film on holiday in France in which the entire cast is played by animals - possibly all-dogs. This would be around 1930, but infuriatingly he omits to tell us the title. Anyone have a clue?

That soundss like one of the Dogville comedies - here is a clip from "Dogway Melody" (1930)

Was aware of the Dogvilles, though haven't seen any yet - thanks anyway. I think the film was a feature, though. I only have one of Agate's books, so will have to check which one it mentioned in. As he saw it in France, in early 1930, I suspect it was silent, and French, but not 100% on either...

Looking through the Jan 1957 Continental Film Review, I found a (then) new film called UN FEE, PAS COMME LES AUTRES / ONCE UPON A TIME. A children's film, acted by kittens, rabbits, ducks , geese, piglets amongst others. Hopefully there was no mistreatment (a la TALES OF THE RIVERBANK) of the creatures, as it certainly seems one of the damndest things ever!

The French version is on YT, but I've not tracked down the English one, narrated by Robert Beatty...

There are English subtitles if you click the connect, which perhaps we weren't aware of at the time...