White God

by Frank M. Roberts

September 2015

"Rex, Rover, Fido - join your other four-legged friends - bare your teeth and, best of all, if you catch up with one of those fleeing humans, grab a chunk then - run on."

That was the scene on the streets of Budapest. Scary! And, if you love dogs, it's twice as frightening.

The above is a realistic scene from one of the most unusual movies I ever sat through - nervously. It is an Hungarian flick, "White God." If you are looking for something you've probably never seen before, I highly recommend catching up with this dog vs. man film that will keep you tightly grabbing the arm rest of whatever you're sitting on.

If you're a dog lover and squeamish about such 'mean scenes' you will be relieved to know that, when they're not before the camera Rex, Rover, Fido and their pals are all quite 'petable'.

One of the most interesting things about the movie is that there are 274 (try counting them) dogs chasing down the streets, with many of them appearing in several other equally scary scenes. Not surprisingly, that is a world record for most dogs used in a feature film (topping "101 Dalmatians.")

"White God" won a top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. And, consider this, there was not one digitalized 'doggie' in the entire film. You can watch the flick,(complete with sub-titles) with your pet dog. You'll want to hug him.

The movie required a lot of animal wrangling. The credits are filled with all unpronouncable Hungarian names - with one exception. The trainer was an American - a woman named Teresa Ann Miller. Incidentally, all the animals are named in those credits.

The scenes of the mean, mean dogs were so intense, that several theaters showing it announced that it was too much for some moviegoers, who walked out of the theater - presumably growling.

The main dog, the one that gets everything started, gets pleny of close-ups. I should say 'they' get plenty of close-ups. That animal is portrayed by twins with the interesting names of Luise and Body.

Good, ole Kornel Mundrugzo directed "White God." (The title presumably refers to the human actors and actresses).

There are, of course, many 'mean' scenes but, the fairly lengthy climax is the real bone chiller - all 274 dogs angrily tearing down the streets, teeth bared, barking and growling, and looking devilishly mean.

The animals are a mish-mash of genres all, presumably, barking for an Oscar. The movie will remind you of Alfred Hitchcock's, "The Birds."

The animals, one reviewer pointed out, "have pronounced ways of communicating with each other, and picking up on danger."

You will pick up on the music if you're a classical-ist. It is Franz Liszt's, "Hungarian Rhapsody #2," which, because of the excitement it provokes was used in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and, honestly has been used in several Looney Tunes.

To be honest with you, the movie is a revenge flick against animal cruelty. Those that treat dogs mean (not pictured) get their 'come-uppance'.

There is a happy ending to my tome, perhaps the best part of the film. All of the animals were shelter dogs. Training them was a lengthy project of several months.
After filming, the director and crew members worked hard to get every dog adopted. By the way, in Hungary you have to pay a small fee if you have a 'mutt'. Not so, for pure breds. Woof - talk about discrimination. However, black and white dogs were treated equally.

* * * *

Dogs have always been popular with movie-goers. My favorite, when I was a kid, was Asta, the wire-haired terrier that appeared in all the "Thin Man" flicks, usually upstaging Myrna Loy and William Powell. That doggie was a director's favorite. It appeared in several other movies. Another oft-seen canine was Daisy, the nutty pet of Blondie and Dagwood.

Benjie was a nice-y, Cujo a meanie as were "The Hounds of the Baskervilles," which gave Sherlock Holmes a hard time.

My first dog, Tootsie, was a cutie pie, a mix of wire hair and Spitz.

One of the earliest 'moom pitcha' pooches, of course, was the German Shepherd named Rin Tin Tin. That animal came to this country with his soldier-owner shortly after World War I.

The 'famousest' dog, of course was Lassie - portrayed by several different Collies, many the sons of the first one. By the way, in spite of the name, that 'she' was a 'he'. Males are easier to train (except if you're talking husband-wife). Everyone remembers the line - Timmy shouting, "Lassie, Lassie, help me -- I fell down a well." The lad was a might bit clumsy.

The dog most often seen in the movies and on teevee since '39 was Toto who was not a Scottish Terrier, but a Cairn Terrier which, to its credit, never peed on the yellow brick road.

The prettiest, sweetiest dogs, seldom seen these days, is the Irish Setter. For several years we bred those beauties. The first one we had was a direct descendant of the first one that came over from Ireland. The breeder was a gent in Columbia, N. C.

Nowadays, pit bulls are seen all over the place, including courtrooms. Believe it or not, the dog with the black circle around one eye, seen in just about all the Little Rascal movies, was a pit.

In Central Park is a statue of Balto, a half-husky, half wolf who led a sled team from Anchorage to one of my old home towns, Nome. Their mission was a deliverance of serum. (The rail line stopped in Anchorage). The rest of the movie was a cartoon. The artist(s) obviously visited Nome. The streets sketched for "Balto" were quite accurate.

And, to close - a quote from my favorite American author - Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain: "Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in." On the mark, Mark.