ponchito-00588

What a title! That's what drew me to The Gay Dog, to see what it was all about. I pictured a dog wearing lipstick, with painted toenails and fluttering false eye lashes.

In reality it was about a greyhound named Raving Beauty, and the love and devotion his owner heaped on him. And the dog's impact on the family of its owner, and in fact the entire village where they all live.

I've seen it described as a comedy, but I saw it more as a drama. Nothing funny about it, definitely peculiar, and odd, but not hilarious nor played for laughs.

The entire British cast was all very effective, I didn't recognize a single name, or face.

And that is the major difference between star driven Hollywood movies, and story based English pictures.

All the characters were just ordinary mid century working class Brits. Not the slightest hint of glamour, or elegance. Just plain folks.

An exceptional dog, but not a talking canine, nor bionic pup, just a dog happily sleeping on a bed of hay in its handmade kennel.

Ingrid Bergman plays desperate housewife. Nothing suits her, especially not the 1 Euro seaside Italian homes. She hates 300 plus sunny days, she yearns for 300 plus snowbound days home in Sweden. She misses shoveling snow off the entrance to her home. Many people travel half way around the world to witness a volcanic eruption, but Ingrid doesn't appreciate one in her own backyard. The only thing Stromboli lacks is Sofia Loren to slap some since into self pitying, always whining Nordic woman.

An excellent movie, very exciting, riveting actually. However the entire plot falls flat. If an Allied victory is only days away, perhaps one day away, there would be no need to steal the art masterpieces. If Germany was indeed defeated at this point then the paintings would have to be returned to France eventually. At this point evacuation of German forces should have been the first, priority, to defend the Fatherland itself, to protect Berlin, to wrangle at least minor advantage in the ultimate peace settlement. At best Germany could declare a unilateral cease fire, and hope for the best. Form a new government to sue for peace. Spare their own people additional suffering.