A Dog of Flanders (1999 film)
| A Dog of Flanders | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Kevin Brodie |
| Produced by | Frank Yablans |
| Screenplay by |
Kevin Brodie Robert Singer |
| Based on |
A Dog of Flanders by Ouida |
| Starring |
Jack Warden Jon Voight Cheryl Ladd |
| Music by | Richard Friedman |
| Cinematography | Walther van den Ende |
| Edited by | Annamaria Szanto |
Production company |
Woodbridge Films |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
Release dates | 27 August 1999 (USA) |
Running time | 113 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7,000,000 |
| Box office | $2,148,212 |
A Dog of Flanders is a 1999 film directed by Kevin Brodie. The screenplay was written by Brodie and Robert Singer, based on the novel of the same name by Ouida. The film was shot on location in Belgium.[1] It was the fifth film based on the original novel.
Plot
Nello is a young boy whose mother died when he was a child. He lives with his grandfather, Jehan Daas (Jack Warden). They live a poor existence, eking out a living delivering milk. On the way home they find a Bouvier des Flandres dog beaten and left on the side of the path for dead. Nursed back to health, this working dog of Flanders becomes Nello's companion throughout the movie.
He has a friend named Anna Cogez who is his lifelong companion. Her father Nicholas Cogez owns the local mill. The wicked landlord is a vile man who is evil. Nello is an artist who rests his hopes on winning a famous art contest. As time passes and Nello grows older, the mill owner bans Nello from visiting his daughter, Nello's friend.
One night, the evil landlord accidentally burns the mill to the ground and Nello is blamed by Nicholas. His grandfather dies shortly thereafter. People stop buying Nello's milk, and things turn bad for him. He is evicted by the landlord and loses the art contest. Walking through the city streets, Nello finds the mill owner's wallet containing a vast sum of money. This is Christmas Day and he returns the wallet to the mill owner's house, and departs into a Christmas Day winter blizzard. He seeks shelter in a church where there is a Rubens painting. He then has a dream of dying and that no one loves him. He decides that he wants to live his life after all.
He is found by the mill owner and his daughter. His father is a very famous artist, Michael La Grande (Jon Voight), who did not know Nello was his son but had been encouraging his artwork. In the end this is realized, and all live happily ever after.[2]
Cast
- Jack Warden as Jehan Daas
- Jon Voight as Michael La Grande
- Jeremy James Kissner as Nello
- Farren Monet Daniels as Aloise
- Jesse James as Young Nello
- Madylin Sweeten as Young Aloise
- Bruce McGill as William the Blacksmith
- Cheryl Ladd as Anna Cogez
- Steven Hartley as Nicholas Cogez
Critical reception
Stephen Holden of The New York Times did not care for the film:
| “ | Some sugarcoating is only to be expected in a family movie. But when that film is clogged with sticky-sweet pieties cooed to saucer-eyed tots, the product can be difficult to swallow... A Dog of Flanders is directed by Kevin Brodie in a style that might charitably be called "Christmas pageant cute". Even Mr. Voight, one of our most reliable character actors, is hopelessly wooden. Flailing around in this sea of sugary bromides, he adopts an accent even more indeterminate than the one he came up with for Anaconda.[3] | ” |
References
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160216/locations
- ↑ Deming, Mark. "A Dog of Flanders > Overview". AllMovie. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
- ↑ Holden, Stephen (1999-08-27). "FILM REVIEW - FILM REVIEW - A Boy. A Dog. You Know The Rest. - Review". NYTimes.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-26.