This is the 11th film about the dog called Lassie, the second film in the
series made in Germany. Eight of the previous films were made in America, and
one in Britain. Maybe it's wrong to call the films a series. There was
continuity between the first five films, made from 1943 to 1949, but the later
films are just about a random dog called Lassie, and the owners have different names
or nationalities. In addition there have been two live action television
series and one animated series about Lassie. The dog first appeared in a novel
written by Eric Knight in 1940.
Note: sometimes it's claimed there were more than 11 Lassie films, but I'm
not counting the fake films created by editing television episodes.
In this German film, Lassie is a collie who lives with his owner Flo in
Bavaria. Flo also has a Jack Russell called Pippa. Flo's family
goes on holiday to Gran Canaria, but he doesn't want to be separated from his
dogs, so he stays with his Aunt Cosima in South Tyrol, a German speaking area in
northern Italy. Everywhere he sees signs that dogs are missing, and his aunt's
children tells him that they've probably been stolen. After a few days he
witnesses a couple grabbing Pippa and taking her away in a van.
In the following story, Flo searches for Pippa, but the real hero is Lassie.
She has the brains to conduct the search and the courage to challenge the dog
thieves. The commonly used word is dognapper. I know it's a slang expression,
but it sounds appropriate.
Yes, Lassie is a female dog. At least, Lassie is a female in the original
book. The name itself is the Scottish slang expression for girl.
However, Lassie is often thought of as male, and the dog's gender is deliberately left vague in the German film.
I listened carefully, and the dialogue was inconclusive. No "he" or "she"
was used in the whole film.
The film starts slowly. It isn't until the second half that there's action
with Lassie, Pippa and other dogs running around. The film is a comedy.
Unfortunately. There are a lot of good German films, but Germans have trouble
making comedies. They just aren't funny. If the film had been more serious it
would have been better.
"If the film had been more serious it would have been better."
ReplyDeleteMy broken brain twisted that and now i've got a hard boiled doggy detective flic going in my head. I'm not sure whether to blame you or thank you for that.
BTW - You publish an explanation of your Star System at the top of the right hand column. Have you posted a breakdown for your Success Rate anywhere here?
My success rate is really the earnings ratio, a mathematical formula based on the budget and the box office takings as quoted by Wikipedia. If a film earns double the budget, I say it broke even, and it gets a 0 score. That's based on what I've read that the film studios receive approximately half of the box office takings. It varies from country to country, but it's a good estimate. Less than double the budget gets a minus score, and more gets a positive score.
DeleteThis system favours low budget films ("Halloween" has +213.4) and makes it difficult for big budget films to make a good score. "Captain America" only has a -0.3 score, making it a box office flop by my definition. "Wonder Woman 1984" has a -1.2 score.
In case you're curious, the highest success rate (of the films I've reviewed) is "One cut of the dead" (+1246.0) and the lowest is "Trojan War" (-48543.7).
The success is only measured by box office takings. Some films might be a success based on DVD and Blu-ray sales, but I don't have access to those figures.
Often "success" and "failure" are emotional expressions used by the studios, based on their expectations. My success rate is unbiased. Sometimes I don't understand why films are called a failure. For instance, the third film in the "Happy Death Day" trilogy was never made because the second film flopped. Supposedly. I consider it a success (+5.2), with a budget of $9 million and box office takings of $64.5 million).
Ah! A more sensible Profit rating rather than just Boxoffice Bucks. I like it, and once you know the basics, it's simple, too. And since the score is ratio based, it self-compensates for changing currency values.
ReplyDeleteI like it.
A friend of mine tried to persuade me to make a hybrid rating system that combines the ratio and the income. In my current system, if Film A costs one million and earns three million, it scores +1.0. If Film B costs 100 million and earns 300 million, it also scores +1.0. She suggested that I should leave ratings below 0 the same, but add a bonus for films above 0 in my current system. I see her point, but I can't think of any mathematical formula that would give a fair rating.
Delete