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Wonder Dogs!
Canine Stars of the
Silent Era
(1897-1928)

Contents: Spike, the Bag-Punching Dog (1897), Dogs Playing in the Surf (1898), The Foster Mother (1898), Me and Jack (1898), Frank J. Gould’s Dogs (1899), Stealing a Dinner (1899), Laura Comstock’s Bag-Punching Dog (1901), Leaping Dogs at Gentry’s Circus (1901), Rex’s Bath (1902), Love Me, Love My Dog (1903), A Yard of Puppies (1903), Babe and Puppies (1904), The Baby and the Puppies (1904), Dog Factory (1904), Gage d’amour (1904), Two Bottle Babies (1904), A Dog Lost, Strayed, or Stolen, $25.00 Reward, Apply to Mrs. Brown, 711 Park Ave. (1905), Lost, A Pretty Little Dog (1908), The Nobleman’s Dog [Le chien de Montargis] (1909), Jean and the Waif (1910), Jean the Match-Maker (1910), A Tin-Type Romance (1910), Fidelity (1911), Jean Rescues (1911), A Little Hero (1913), A Modern Prodigal (1913), Fatty’s Faithful Fido (1915), A Bear, a Boy, and a Dog (1920), The Watchdog (1923), [The Screen Almanac: Strongheart] (1924) [excerpt], Teeth (1924), Buster’s Bust Up (1925), His Master’s Voice (1925), [Screen Snapshots: Ilak’s Birthday] (1925), Dog Shy (1926), The Sign of the Claw (1926), The Silent Trailer (1926), The Law’s Lash (1928) and The Sky Rider (1928).

Several of these films have been released on home video previously but rarely from such high-quality materials. Not a collection of great films but, instead, a fun and informative set with more than a nod to the doggie greats of long ago.

Kino Classics
2025 Blu-ray Disc edition

Wonder Dogs!: Canine Stars of the Silent Era (1897-1928), black & white, color-tinted black & white, color-toned black & white, and color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 477 minutes total, not rated, including Spike, the Bag-Punching Dog (1897), black & white, 30 seconds, not rated, Dogs Playing in the Surf (1898), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, The Foster Mother (1898), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, Me and Jack (1898), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, Frank J. Gould’s Dogs (1899), black & white, 30 seconds, not rated, Stealing a Dinner (1899), black & white, 30 seconds, not rated, Laura Comstock’s Bag-Punching Dog (1901), black & white, 2 minutes, not rated, Leaping Dogs at Gentry’s Circus (1901), black & white, 2 minutes, not rated, Rex’s Bath (1902), black & white, 30 seconds, not rated, Love Me, Love My Dog (1903), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, A Yard of Puppies (1903), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, Babe and Puppies (1904), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, The Baby and the Puppies (1904), black & white, 2 minutes, not rated, Dog Factory (1904), black & white, 4 minutes, not rated, Gage d’amour (1904), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, Two Bottle Babies (1904), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, A Dog Lost, Strayed, or Stolen, $25.00 Reward, Apply to Mrs. Brown, 711 Park Ave. (1905), black & white, 4 minutes, not rated, Lost, A Pretty Little Dog (1908), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 4 minutes, not rated, The Nobleman’s Dog [Le chien de Montargis] (1909), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, Jean and the Waif (1910), black & white, and color-tinted black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, Jean the Match-Maker (1910), black & white, and color-tinted black & white, 11 minutes, not rated, A Tin-Type Romance (1910), black & white, and color-tinted black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Fidelity (1911), black & white, and color-tinted black & white, 8 minutes, not rated, Jean Rescues (1911), black & white, and color-tinted black & white, 11 minutes, not rated, A Little Hero (1913), black & white, 4 minutes, not rated, A Modern Prodigal (1913), black & white, 22 minutes, not rated, Fatty’s Faithful Fido (1915), black & white, 15 minutes, not rated, A Bear, a Boy, and a Dog (1920), black & white, 28 minutes, not rated, The Watchdog (1923), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, [The Screen Almanac: Strongheart] (1924) [excerpt], black & white, 1 minute, not rated, Teeth (1924), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 51 minutes, not rated, Buster’s Bust Up (1925), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated, His Master’s Voice (1925), color-tinted black & white, and color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 52 minutes, not rated, [Screen Snapshots: Ilak’s Birthday] (1925), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, Dog Shy (1926), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, The Sign of the Claw (1926), black & white, color-tinted black & white, and color-toned black & white, 50 minutes, not rated, The Silent Trailer (1926), black & white, color-tinted black & white, and color-toned black & white, 23 minutes, not rated, The Law’s Lash (1928), black & white, 50 minutes, not rated, and The Sky Rider (1928), color-toned black & white, 46 minutes, not rated.

Kino Lorber, K27007, UPC 7-38329-27007-0.
Two single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Discs; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 20.4 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 1.6 or 2.0 Mbps audio bit rate (music), and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate (commentary); English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard two-disc BD keepcase; $39.95.
Release date: 20 May 2025.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.

This Blu-ray Disc collection has been mastered from archival film elements held by the Library of Congress that include 35mm nitrate prints, 35mm duplicate prints, 16mm reduction prints and 8mm reduction prints that range in quality from fair to excellent. The 19th century films appear all to have been scanned from 35mm paper prints. Of course, depending on the gauge and condition of the material utilized, the picture can be quite detailed and pleasing with some low-quality, snall-gauge images being a bit trying. Apparently, no digital clean-up has been performed on any of the films to remove the dust, speckling, schmutz, scratches, frame jitters, emulsion scuffing and scrapes, nascent nitrate decomposition (most evident in A Modern Prodigal), or other print flaws in the scans, leaving the films to appear in their honest survival state.

The films are accompanied by music scores composed and performed on various keyboards and string instruments by Mohamed Araki, Esin Aydingöz, Adam Banks and Griffin Barbieri, Jimena Caballero, Ali Tolga Demirtas, Anabel Gil Diaz, Allison Beth Fitzgerald, Caroline Gao, Nika Ko, Carolyn Koch, Mathilde Koechlin, Anthony Laurie, Connor McKay, Danielle Painter, Joshua Phillips, Shane Prendiville, Dana Reason, Chris Rorrer, Jeff Schwartz, Andrew Earle Simpson, Jaasmaan Singh, María Fernanda García Solar and Lorena Ruiz Trejo, Peter Valsamis, and Gonca Feride Varol.

Supplemental material includes audio commentaries by the prolific Anthony Slide; interviews with archivists and curators of this collection Lynanne Schweighofer and George Willeman (21 minutes); and an interview with composer Andrew Earle Simpson (12 minutes).

For our comparative reviews of some of the individual films in this collection, see our A Bear, a Boy and a Dog on home video, Dog Factory on home video, Dog Shy on home video, Fatty’s Faithful Fido on home video, Fidelity on home video, His Master’s Voice on home video, The Law’s Lash on home video, The Sign of the Claw on home video, The Silent Trailer on home video, The Sky Rider on home video and Teeth on home video pages.