Customer Reviews

Dog of Flanders [VHS]

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I first saw this wonderful film in the 1970's and cried all the way through it. A young boy named Nello and his grandfather live a very poor life, and when they find a wounded dog take him in and keep him. When the grandfather dies (more tears! ) Nello and dog have to learn "how to live". Nello's idol is the painter Reubens, but he does not have any money to study so he is befriended by an artist, who helps to realise his dream.

This is the most heartwarming film which will make you feel very humble.

I love the Dog of Flanders. I saw the movie of the same title made several years ago. Then at my library I found this older edition and was so pleased when I found it still in print and available .... The older edition is different abit from the newer version; however I love both stories.
It is a classic of the highest standards. The original book has a sad ending and I am glad the movies are more joyful!
Excellent movies for children to see, especially any children with artistic talent! Enjoy!

This was a wonderful motion picture. Young David Ladd was great as the little boy Nello. Donald Crisp was always a wonderful actor and Theodore Bikel was especially good as the artist who befriends Nello. This is a movie for the whole family, which is almost unheard of these days. I highly recommend it.

I went to see A Dog of Flanders in 1961, when I was fourteen, and it became one of my all time favourite films. This is a superb tear-jerker, filmed on location in Holland and Belgium in 1959, but set in 1900. It stars the then twelve-year-old David Ladd as the orphan Nello and veteran actor Donald Crisp as his elderly and infirm grandfather. Although devoted to one another, they live a very poor life selling milk from a hand cart they pull around Antwerp. Nello is an artistic, intelligent and sensitive little boy who wants to paint like his idol, Peter Paul Rubens, but he has no money to enable him to study or to buy proper materials to paint with. They find a badly treated dog, left to die at the roadside by his heartless owner and take him home and care for him. Because he's been so badly treated, it takes time for him to accept them as his friends. But eventually, they gain his trust. Nello names him Patrasche...the name that Rubens had given to his dog...and he becomes part of the small family, even pulling the cart when grandfather is unable to do so any more. One day, Nello has just finished a sketch of the old man dozing in a chair outside their one-roomed hut and goes to show him the finished drawing. But he cannot awaken him and slowly, he comes to realise that his beloved grandfather is dead. Completely bereft and unable to keep up the rent on their home, Nello and Patrasche are evicted by an uncaring landlord in the middle of winter and just before Christmas. Somehow, they have to learn how to survive without his grandfather in a harsh and bitter world.

A Dog of Flanders, from the 1872 novel by Ouida, had been filmed previously, notably in 1934, but never so well as this. Even though the very tragic ending of the novel is changed to a happy ending here, it really is beautifully done all round and everyone connected with it should feel very proud of the result. The picturesque landscapes of Flanders are superbly captured on film in CinemaScope and Color by De Luxe by Otto Heller and the music score by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter is very haunting. David Ladd, who had previously given such a truly wonderful performance alongside his father Alan in The Proud Rebel (1958), is superb. David and I shared the same Christian name, were both the same age and had similar looks, which made it easy for me to identify with him in A Dog of Flanders. Theodore Bikel has a good character role in it as an artist who befriends Nello, eventually adopts him and helps him to realise his dreams.

This is a wonderful film and you really would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by it. I give it ten out of ten. This E1 Entertainment re-mastered and restored 2009 DVD release of this classic 1959 film is a joy to behold. Having had to put up for years with the truncated pan and scan video and DVD of this film, the new DVD restores it to its original 2.35:1 CinemaScope and Color by De Luxe glory, complete with the original "Twentieth Century-Fox presents a CinemaScope picture" opening trade mark, previously removed from the Paramount and other DVD companies pan and scan videos and DVD's. It seems that 20th Century-Fox have somehow lost the rights to their own film here, but don't be put off by the fact that this new DVD release isn't released by Fox. The quality is as good as anything released in their own Studio Classics series. The DVD is also anamorphically enhanced for 16 x 9 monitors and televisions. Highly recommended, even though the sound on the DVD is in mono and not in the original stereo of the film as first released.

I had the old Paramount VHS version of this great classic 1959 film, but it was pan-and-scan with a rather washed-out picture. The first DVD version was an improvement but still utilized the pan-and-scan full screen treatment. However this new DVD blows both out of the water ! The film looks brand new and includes the Fox trade-mark logo. How wonderful to finally view this heart-warming story in the original wide-screen format...there's just no comparison. Full marks to the producers of this re-issue ! But make sure you get the blue case (wide-screen) and NOT the purple case (pan-and-scan). Note this DVD is recorded in mono and NOT the original stereo...

This movie is very touching, and not in the exaggerated way of so many movies these days. Donald Crisp is especially good as the Grandfather. The scenery of the Belgian countryside and Flanders is interesting. It is a great alternative for children who are exposed to so much trash these days. Even my tough Father admitted that it brought tears to his eyes.

This movie would be just another run-of-the-mill movie about an orphan boy and a dog with some serious overacting on the part of Theodore Bikel, among others, but there are parts of this movie that make it worth watching.

Nello, played by David Ladd, the future husband of Cheryl Ladd, lives with his grandfather after his mother passed away. Nello loves art and paintings and longs to be a painter. He frequently sneaks into the local cathedral to avoid paying a franc to see original paintings by Peter Paul Rubens. However, Nello's grandfather is poor and the pair can barely afford to eat, much less purchase paints for Nello. However, in spite of the little they have the two are happy.

Life changes for Nello when he and his grandfather come upon a dog left to die. Nello wants to adopt the dog and help it, and his grandfather reluctantly agrees. The principal difficulty is that there is barely enough food for Nello and his grandfather, and the dog is just that much more burden. Things continue to degrade for Nello as the miller refuses to allow his daughter to play with Nello after catching Nello drawing her picture. Then the man who abandoned the dog tries twice to take it back, planning to abuse the dog again. The second time the man attempts to take the dog back the miller gets involved and the man meets an unfortunate end. It seems as though life continues to go down hill for Nello.

There is one bright spot in Nello's life. He has made a kind of friend of a painter in Antwerp who, after yelling and complaining to Nello, has started to help Nello realize his ambition of becoming a painter. Ultimately the painter helps Nello enter a local painting competition by providing Nello with paper and paints. Nello's grandfather sold some things and allowed Nello to buy a brush before he died. Nello's one great hope is that he will win the painting contest, which will allow him to continue to live in his rented hovel.

While you can see where Nello has hope that all will turn out well, there are too many factors working against Nello, and eventually he gives his dog to the Miller's daughter and leaves. In the meantime, the painter has found the painting that Nello has entered in the contest and wants to talk to him about it, but then he finds that Nello has disappeared. Where did Nello go? What will happen to his dog? Did I mention that Nello wonders why the painter has yet to marry his model, who is obviously in love with him? I leave these questions for you to answer if you can find a copy of this movie.

Difficult to see from the quality of the movie, but the paintings by Peter Paul Rubens are truly wondrous and appear to be authentic. Even with the weak video I will still impressed by these magnificent paintings. The cathedral in which they were housed, which the end credits states is genuine, is gorgeous, a fitting home for the art within.

The quality of this movie may leave a bit to be desired, as the performances vary from wooden to hammy, but the scenery in 1959 Belgium and Holland, especially the cathedral interiors, is beautiful, and the story should appeal to mature children ages 7 and above who can handle the occasional violence. David Ladd is wonderful as the center of the attention and his perfect blend of enthusiasm and innocence brings to mind Little Orphan Annie.

Every now and then you reflect on things that have had a influence on your life and this film, Dog of Flanders, was one. I was about 8 or 9 years old when I first saw it and seeing, probably for the first time, real art, artists and works of the great masters resulted in life long love of art and its creation. Fifty years later I love art even more and love this fine little film.

A Dog of Flanders is a compelling movie especially for those people who love dogs. This particular version of the film (1960) has several outstanding actors, such as Theodore Bikel, Donald Crisp and David Ladd and is, without doubt, my favorite among the several versions. The story takes place in Belgium and is based on an old Belgian story about a young boy who wants to become a painter and his loving relationship with a dog he rescues. The particular Ruben's painting that the young boy, Nello, so desperately wanted to view can actually be seen today in the Cathedral in Antwerp. It is indeed a beautiful painting.

I would recommend this film to anyone who is looking for a traditional good family film. It is beautifully set, sentimental to a point, and an endearing memory to hold.

I first saw this movie in 1963 in Norfolk, Va. It was a international film therefore a little hard to understand the dialect. But I found the content to be extremely moving and a beautiful love story between an adult, a child and a dog. I treasure it!