Who doesn’t like dogs, puppies? Yeah, there are a few. Some have bad experiences, but that’s rare. Dogs can do so much for us. It’s hard not to love them.
The documentary Pick of the Litter shows how wonderful dogs can be, how lucky we are to have them. Pick of the Litter follows the puppies of the P litter: Patriot, Phil, Primrose, Poppet, Potomac as they go through the training and testing to become a guide dog. Few puppies ever make the cut.
We meet these pups as their born and see how the staff at Guide Dogs for the Blind names each one. Then after 8 weeks the puppies are place with families that will begin training them so that they’re comfortable out on the street, in stores, at the airport, that they aren’t easily distracted and that they can heel. Some families are veteran trainers; others are first timers. Some will fail and the dog will be moved to another home. The guide dog center frequently observes these dogs and when a dog shows the wrong characteristics will “career change” the dog removes him or her from the program.
After 14 to 16 months the dogs return to the center for more intense and specific training. They’re put on guide dog harnesses and taught to obey, to navigate busy streets and to know when to disobey a command because the surroundings are dangerous. Dogs are tested repeatedly. Some who don’t make it will become breeders; others will find new homes, new purpose.
This touching film shows how life changing a guide dog can be. Interviews with people who’ll receive these dogs show how much more independent a they will be. It’s a touching story of the dogs and people who work to make life much better for others.
Audience: Fine for all ages. No bad language, violence or sex.
Available on: I got a DVD from the library but Hulu and Amazon also have it.
Starring Joan Foutaine and Ida Lupino, who also directs, The Bigamist spends most of its time explaining how traveling salesman, Harry Graham, played by Edmond O’Brien wound up married to two women. A commenter on IMDB captures the plot well writing:
Harry and Eve Graham are trying to adopt a baby. The head of the agency senses Harry is keeping a secret and does some investigating. He soon discovers Harry has done an unusual amount of traveling from his home in San Francisco to Los Angeles. Harry gets tracked down in LA where he has a second wife and a baby. Via flashbacks, Harry tells the adoption agent how he ended up in two marriages.
Harry’s second life is revealed by the adoption agency head played my Edmund Gwenn, who’s most known for playing Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street.
I thought the film would show more of how the women reacted to their husband’s other marriage and how he got into the courtroom. Instead the majority of the film is about how lonely Harry seeks out a beautiful, witty woman in Los Angeles. His wife is infertile and now spends too much time on their business. Then her father gets sick and needs her. Harry can’t take the neglect.
He meets Phyllis, a spunky, hardened woman and is attracted. Of course, he fails to mention that he’s married. One night, things go too far. He realizes he’s done wrong so he stops calling Phyllis after then night of passion. Stoic to the core, Phyllis never contacts Harry to tell him she’s pregnant. Actually, I doubt she had any means of contacting Harry. They always met at the restaurant she worked at or he came and picked her up. In time, Harry decides to look Phyllis up and learns that she’s “in the family way.” Now he decides to do the right thing, though at this stage the right thing isn’t right. He still loves his wife so he juggles two lives.
It’s a novel storyline and I enjoyed Fontaine, Lupino and Gwenn. I wish there had been more scenes after Harry’s bigamy is revealed so that I could see more of the women. What do they want now? Have either given up on Harry? I hope they realized they’re both too good for him, but we don’t know.
I thought Jef Costello of Le Samouraï was the most cold-blooded killer in film but that was till I saw The Sword of Doom. A Japanese film set in the days of samurai, The Sword of Doom introduces viewers to Ryunosuke, a lone samurai. The embodiment of evil, Ryunosuke kills and rapes for something to get an advantage. Despite the masterful, choreographed sword fighting It’s hard to watch. I hoped that Toranosuke, a master who led a school for samurai, would vanquish Ryunosuke and that hope carried me through this film.
It’s no exaggeration that Ryunosuke is pure evil with no redeeming quality. He killed dozens with no remorse. He shows no chivalry whatsoever. He breaks a promise to the wife of a samurai he fights, rapes her, and her husband then divorces her. She winds up stuck living with Ryunosuke, who treats her badly, but then again that’s how…
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