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The Dogville Comedies (MGM 1929-1931)... Highly fucked up!

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For the longest time, I've treasured this one tape I have of most of one episode of "The Dogville Comedies" which at least used to run regularly on Turner Classic Movies.. I'm not sure if the channel still exists, as I haven't had cable in seven years. But if may still exist, and it may still show these..

BUT... there's now a web page that shows 4 or 5 of the episodes!

...here!...

They are basically black and white movies of vaudeville comedies except the actors and actresses are dogs. They "talk" and "sing" by having scenes shot of them barking, yawning, licking lips, moving (sometimes by force or locked in some device), and then the producers *severely* edit these scenes to make it seem like the dogs are doing human things. By today's standards, it looks really awkward, jumpy, and spastic... It's this quality that makes the movies very, very entertaining and hilarious in a present-day context yet on a level the original producers never intended. However, given that I think these were done before The Great Moral Crackdown turned to Hollywood, a lot of the jokes are rather crass for their times.. sexist and racist by today's standards? Yes. Is this a good or bad thing? that's up to you to decide.

However, the dogs are quite obviously trained to walk upright like humans and perform tasks that, let's just say, would get an extreme uproar among every animal cruelty/defamation league in the world.. and for good reason. Some of the scenes involving the poor things are painful to watch.

But somehow, I can't get past how odd and great these are, despite the societal standards regarding race, sex, and treating one's man's best friend.

I highly recommend watching "A Dogway Melody", which is the one I have on tape. If you're impatient, you can get past the whole "performance" part of the episode, and skip 13 minutes into it, where we see all the after-show action.. the break up, the bar, the dinner party, the "about to have my way with you, missy" part, etc. All highly fucked up.

― donut christ (donut), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 04:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Treat it as a piece of history I guess.

I really wanted a jolly n-word moneybox, but only after seeing one in bamboozled and seeing how it fitted into americas social history.

― papa november (papa november), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 04:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah yes, I KNEW Brian had started this thread...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 04:25 (twenty-one years ago)

a DOGWAY melody!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 05:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Have you seen these before, Slocki? They're...they're something.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 05:20 (twenty-one years ago)

The Dogville Comedies (MGM 1929-1931)... Highly fucked up! (4 new answers)
The Dog Who Stopped The War, C/D? (20 new answers)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 05:27 (twenty-one years ago)

WHAT DOES IT MEAN

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 05:27 (twenty-one years ago)

actually, no, i haven't! my interest is very piqued, i gotta say!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 05:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Trust me. Take Donut C's advice and enjoy (and not enjoy, at the same time).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 05:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I think i "dogged" on these too much (sorry, couldn't resist). They are all quite enjoyable, just put yourself in a mindset that's of the late 20s/early 30s, hence far away from today's Politically Correct And Socially Liberated world... like when you watch any really old Hollywood movie, but multiplied.

― donut christ (donut), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 05:48 (twenty-one years ago)

and don't forget to pretend you're a dog!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 05:49 (twenty-one years ago)

the monkey ones from the 40s and 50s are cool 2!

― chaki in charge (chaki), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 06:16 (twenty-one years ago)

and then james caan comes in at the end and shoots them all?

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 18 January 2005 08:19 (twenty-one years ago)

the webpage won't play them properly! some kinda codec problem

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 22:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the problem surely must be with your hand-carved browser software. But I am a bigot.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)

it's lathe-cut, not hand-carved you jerk!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 23:16 (twenty-one years ago)

EAT YOUR GRAVY FRIES AND BEGONE, DAMN YOU

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 23:21 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...
TCM changed their site such that there's no dedicated page apparently, but you can still search for them on the site:

http://tcmdb.com/TCMDB/search.jsp?methodName=allwwwSearch&keyword=dogville

― gwynywdd dwnyt fyrwr byychydd gww (donut), Friday, 27 October 2006 02:00 (nineteen years ago)

I was thinking about these the other day! (Clearly it's the elections -- talking animals seem appropriate.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 October 2006 02:06 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

lordy sweet jesus, it's a sugar coated wonder

― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 25 November 2008 15:00 (seventeen years ago)

CAN video!

― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 25 November 2008 15:02 (seventeen years ago)

― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 25 November 2008 15:03 (seventeen years ago)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

― HI, YOUR BAND! (Mackro Mackro), Tuesday, 25 November 2008 18:23 (seventeen years ago)

Hahah, I was waiting for you to notice this revive.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 25 November 2008 18:24 (seventeen years ago)

I woulda thought this woulda been an abbott thang.... insert frowny face.

― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 25 November 2008 21:46 (seventeen years ago)

I must say I am very intrigued here.

― Abbott of the Trapezoid Monks (Abbott), Tuesday, 25 November 2008 21:55 (seventeen years ago)

Well see, now i feel better.
The attempted puppy rape in the final video is a bit much, but I couldn't stop giggling.
Feel free to quote me.

― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 25 November 2008 22:57 (seventeen years ago)

That is one of the maddest things I've ever seen.

― James Morrison, Tuesday, 25 November 2008 23:45 (seventeen years ago)


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