Trader Hound (1931)

Directors:

Zion Myers
Jules White

Writers:

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

Trader Hound, a dog who walks upright, wears human clothes, and speaks English, is in darkest Africa with a young sheik who is looking for adventure...

Plot Keywords:

Goat | Camp | Drum | Lion | Escape

Cast

  (Cast)

Billy Bletcher	...	Trader Hound / Native King (voice) (uncredited)
Pete Smith	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Runtime:

15 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | USA:Approved

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Mulberry Bush

Trader Hound is a pretty amusing M-G-M Dogville short

This is one of a series of Dogville shorts released by M-G-M in the '30s that spoofed one of the hit features of the studio, in this case Trader Horn. With one of the directors being Jules White who would later be associated with The Three Stooges, Trader Hound has various breed of dogs playing the characters of the jungle picture walking on hind legs among other human-like things. There was one funny scene of a mosquito causing a sleeping dog to say "ouch!" while draining some of his blood before the dog pulls a gun and shoots him while the insect's flying! Another funny-if a bit lame-one is where a "gorilla" and a "lion" (named Leo though not for the M-G-M trademark) are fighting, neither one being very effective (they're actually guys in suits as is an earlier "giraffe" scene). Then there's a partially confusing scene with actual dogs chasing the one in suits away. With Pete Smith providing the narration and Billy Blecher the voices, Trader Hound provides enough amusement for the 15-minute running time.