Police Dog Story (1961)

Police Dog Story (1961)

„Police Dog Story“ is a 1961 crime film directed by Edward L. Cahn from the screenplay by Orville H. Hampton.

A German shepherd dog found wandering loose in the city is provided as a potential candidate to the local police K-9 Corps, where reporter Terry Dayton eagerly watches the dog’s instruction.

Although initially considered too wild to adapt and named „Wolf,“ the hundred-pound, handsome dog is put through grueling education paces paired with officer Norman „Norm“ Edwards.

After exhaustive training, Wolf succeeds in his training as a police dog joins an arson investigation. The duo of Wolf & Edwards are sent to investigate the mysterious death of fellow officer Bert Dana in a warehouse fire.

Unknown to the police, Dana was associated with corrupt lawyer Todd Wellman, who is involved with an arson gang perpetrating insurance fraud. When Edwards discovers too much about the gang and is held by Wellman and his cohorts. In the end, Wolf comes to his rescue and the ring is broken.

A 1961 American crime film directed by Edward L. Cahn, produced by Robert E. Kent, written by Orville H. Hampton, cinematography by Maury Gertsman, starring James Brown, Merry Anders, Barry Kelley, Milton Frome, Vinton Hayworth, Francis De Sales, Brad Trumbull, and Pat McCaffrie.

This is a very late example of the semi-documentary crime film. The rest of Hollywood had been interested in the form during 1945-1954.

Edward L. Cahn was a prolific director of B-Movies, some of them crime films. He was best known for his work on the „Our Gang“ comedy shorts. He seems largely obscure in film history. His work is uneven: „Main Street After Dark“ (1944) and „Dangerous Partners“ (1945) are two of the dreariest American crime films, and no one claims that even his good work is at Fritz Lang’s level.

Many of Cahn’s films have gangster villains. This film is different. Its villains are constantly referred to as „businessmen“. These men are engaged in a full-fledged, murderous racket, so they are not that different from gangsters or racketeers. But their white collar crime, corrupt businessman quality is underlined. The heroine has to confront and persuade a male authority figure, the police Commissioner, near the start of the film. There is a feminist sub-text. He is depicted as deeply skeptical of everything she says. He looks utterly like a male authority figure of the time: middle-aged, dull, respectable, conformist, set in his ways, unused to talking to women on a professional basis. It’s quite a realistic portrayal. He is definitely not the „man of distinction“ that might have appeared in a 1930’s Hollywood film. The scene could be used to exemplify what professional women faced before the rise of the Woman’s Movement in the 1960’s.

The good guys stand for non-violence, but never made explicit in the dialogue. The main training of the police dogs centers on their disarming gunmen. The dogs grab hold of the gunman’s trigger arm, preventing them from using the gun. This is nonviolent crime prevention and suspect apprehension.

Also revealing: the leading man and his partner are both in police uniform at the film’s start. The lead cop’s unsympathetic partner is shown from his right side, where he carries his gun; while the hero is shown from his left side, where he wears his uniform keys. Both are phallic symbols. But one symbolizes violence, the other problem solving.

Variety’s 1961 review, „Concentrating on the canine element in their story, the Zenith Pictures team of producer Robert E. Kent and director Edward: L. Cahn have constructed a serviceable lower-berth item out of an essentially standard, insipid cops ’n’ robbers melodrama. For best results, the United Artists release should be programmed in double bills aimed at a moppet audience. Orville H. Hampton’s sereenplay deals at length on the training routine prescribed for rookie contenders of the police K-Nine Corps, then veers into a routine pattern in which policeman and policedog round up a gang of insurance-motivated arsonists. Star of the picture is Rocco tredubbed “Wolf,” a handle more befitting a pooch’ of such heroic proportions), a husky German Shepherd who can growl, arf-arf, hurdle a fence and chew up a trousers leg with the best of ’em. That the dog is more impressive than the two-legged characters in this film can be attributed at least partially to the stiff, mechanical dialog penned by Hampton. delivery of which “Wolf” alone is spared... Cahn’s direction has a tendency toward repetition, but he has succeeded in minimizing the maudlin aspects that so easily can seep into a picture in which an animal is the hero. Various crafis are dispatched in an unpretentious, businesslike manner. Among these assists are Maury Gertsman’s camera work, Serge Krizman’s sets. and Arthur Hilton’s editing.“

The canine is the star of the show, a beautiful dog that gets a chance to show off in some great canine action sequences. If you love animal-in-action pictures and old B-Movies, this moves fast enough that you won’t get bored.

Cast:

• James Brown – Norman „Norm“ Edwards
• Merry Anders – Terry Dayton
• Barry Kelley – Officer Bert Dana
• Milton Frome – Todd Wellman
• Vinton Hayworth – Harley A. Crenshaw, Police Commissioner
• Francis De Sales – Captain Dietrich
• Brad Trumbull – Bill Frye
• Pat McCaffrie – Keith Early
• Charles Wagenheim – Firebug
• Jack Mann – Dave Matson
• Ray D. Barwick – Royce
• Elvin Frazier – Adams
• Harry Y. Coul – Davis
• Lawrence E. Weatherwax – Fallon
• George Sawaya – Driver
• Jerry Todd – Helper
• Doyle Brooks – Hoodlum
• Jess Kirkpatrick – Newspaper Reporter

„Police Dog Story“ ist ein Kriminalfilm von 1961 unter der Regie von Edward L. Cahn nach dem Drehbuch von Orville H. Hampton.

Ein Deutscher Schäferhund, der in der Stadt umherstreift, wird als potenzieller Kandidat für die örtliche Polizeieinheit K-9 zur Verfügung gestellt, wo der Reporter Terry Dayton eifrig die Ausbildung des Hundes verfolgt.
Obwohl er anfangs für zu wild gehalten wird, um sich anzupassen, und auf den Namen „Wolf“ getauft wird, durchläuft der hundert Pfund schwere, gut aussehende Hund zusammen mit dem Polizisten Norman „Norm“ Edwards eine aufreibende Ausbildung.