Story of a Dog
A dog trains for the battlefield and becomes a crucial part of the United States military. This 1945 short documentary film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short, One-Reel.
A dog trains for the battlefield and becomes a crucial part of the United States military. This 1945 short documentary film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short, One-Reel.
Given what they were being fed, I was quite surprised these dogs didn’t turn on their handlers and eat them instead! Rather than that, though, the narration adopts the persona of these mutts as they undertake some brutal and onerous training so that they are as immune to the effects of war as it’s possible to be. That’s handy because the plan is to ship them off to the Far East theatre of the Second World War where they can be used to sniff out snipers hiding in the dense undergrowth - hopefully saving many a soldier’s life. It’s all fairly standard wartime fayre that I think could have worked better had someone like Pete Smith provided a more humorous and engaging commentary rather than this really quite dry and earnest output. It’s interesting just how much effort and import was placed on the training of hundreds of these animals and at just how much reliance the military placed on these creatures with enhanced senses and skills.