Won Ton Ton, el perro que salvó a Hollywood

I thought it was a kick - but then I've been watching movies that date from 1917 and know a little about the pictures. This romp combined cameos and bits by folks from Hollywood's good years (which I define as when they used people instead of digital simulation) as well as familiar faces from TV and pictures from the 50's and 60's.

It's a GO for my money (but then I wasn't in high school when I bought it). Don't see it unless you love pictures!

Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood is by far a comedy masterpiece, but it stars the lovely Madeline Kahn in a truly hysterical performance. She rises so above the material. She possesses the same kind of movie magic of the screwball comediennes of the 30's and 40's and even comes off much better. I think if Madeline Kahn were a star in those days we would have had at least 100 films starring her. But when she made her film debut in 1972 she was a true Hollywood find. After all her first four movies are all now classics and two considered masterpieces. Not to mention two Oscar nominations. But with all that greatness the movie studios offered her parts in so-so comedies. I mean she made some more very good films, but not up to her first four. She was as beautiful and extremely talented as all her peers of the day. I always felt she was one day going to get her Academy Award in her older years, but unfortunately she died much too soon. Bruce Dern, Art Carney, Teri Garr, Phil Silvers, Ron Liebman, Nancy Walker and so many stars from the past appear in this take off on Rin Tin Tin. Paramount has yet to release it on DVD. 2006 is here today and its the films 30th anniversary. I wish they would release it for us all to enjoy and cherish a underrated performance from Madeline Kahn.

I'm not surprised that someone who was in high school when this came out didn't appreciate it. It is of course as much a farce as Mad Mad Mad Mad World, but it has become a cult film for old movie buffs, because it has the most impressive cast of old movie stars, supporting actors, bit players and celebrities of any movie ever made. Movie buffs and clubs have had parties where they show the film and have people list as many players as they can identify. Don't believe it? Mouse up the whole supporting cast and feast your eyes!

What can you say about a film that feels like a graduation exercise by the B-grade film students out of UCLA? "A, for effort." Now, not to get too side tracked here, but if SF State Students had done this film, it would have been all artsy and existential, but I digress.

"Won Ton Ton" is a nod to old Hollywood, and sends up the old classic system before the Golden Age of Hollywood. This was the period when visual gags and formulations that we see in today's films were forged and put on the screen for the first time for all to see. Pretty starlets in chorus lines, stage hands pretending to be big shots to take advantage of pretty young ladies, double dealing and creative bookeeping tinsel-town style, movie moguls and classic vaudeville actors are all showcased here.

One is hard pressed to malign the film, but let's face it, it's got charm but also some issues. The thing that somewhat torpedoes this film is the post production. The sound is raw. It's all scratch track (or mostly), and it gives the film a kind of amateurish family film feel, which makes it hard to accept the visual cues and other gags the movie trying to convey. There's some looped sounds, but one wonders why the post isn't a bit more refined.

For all that it's actually quite an endearing film. Certainly not the best, but definitely a charmer. A lot of classic faces from the 50s and 60s make cameos, and the lines they deliver are good, but the film is somewhat misdirected, and Bruce Dern (as good an actor as he is) seems somewhat odd for the role.

The film, as much work was put into this thing, seems a little on the low budget side. Still, after having viewing it after 30+ years later, I can still warm up to it some. It's really a film for industry insiders with as flare for their own history..

Then, there's the dog (or series of dogs used for the lead). This film and a few other shows popularized the German Shepard, and we see here the showcasing and capitalization of the Bavarian hound. Well, they say never work with children or animals, but Won Ton Ton holds its own in a low budget off-beat homage sort of way.

If you're a real Hollywood aficionado, then this film might satisfy. Otherwise maybe see it once, and then pass it off to a friend. :-)

This is a nice slapstick-comedy about the good old days in Hollywood and also a hommage to Rin Tin Tin, the most famous silent-movie dog-star. Bruce Dern plays a director who starts to have success after discovering the dog. All-star guest appearances from Milton Berle over Cyd Charisse to Rory Calhoun and Johnny Weissmueller are also included but the best actor is the dog who plays Won Ton Ton. He is fantastic. In some scenes it doesn't work to put the humor and slapstick from the Twenties into the Seventies but this movie is really worth to take a look.