A Dog's Love (1914)

Interesting facts

A Dog's Love is a 1914 American short silent fantasy drama film with subtitles, directed by Jack Harvey on his directorial debut. It stars Shep the Dog, Helen Badgley, and Arthur Bauer. The film is about a dog who loses his best friend, when a young girl is killed in an automobile accident, and focuses on 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.

Production

Child actress Helen Badgley, also known as The Thanhouser Kidlet, is described by the Thanhouser Company who made the film as a "precocious child actress who was very comfortable and expressive in front of the camera". Shep the Dog, also known as The Thanhouser Collie, was a well-trained animal performer who appeared in a number of the company's films during this period.

Official musical accompaniment for works of this period were very rare and only one studio, Vitagraph, regularly made suggestions available to exhibitors. Thanhouser's musical scores were an exception in 1914, but the scores would only be created for the "Thanhouser Big Productions" such as Joseph in the Land of Egypt.

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