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Poodle in Paradise Road and Similar Movie

posted 19 years ago by [email protected]
16 replies | jump to latest

What is so amazing to me is that the poodle lived in the prison camp throughout the whole war, being wounded once, but not being eaten by the Japanese! I'm glad it lived, but I find it kind of strange -- does anyone else?

Also, there was a movie made a few years ago called To End All Wars starring Kiefer Sutherland that was based on the same concept as this movie, with men being imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp and they used musical instruments to help them get through the war.

[–] g-lily 19 years ago

Haven't heard of that movie with Kiefer Sutherland but it is not surprising. There were many camps and what else is there to lift the spirits and help get through but music? Music is such as basic human form of expression - that's why all cultures have music of some sort.

[–] happyhomemaker_lovesjesus 19 years ago

Actually, last night on the BBC there was "To End All Wars" and on Channel 4 afterwards was "Paradise Road". See the other film's listing on imdb to see what people said about the musical instruments/bibles etc.

"What's to stop it blowing your bollocks off every time you sit down?"

[–] freefall79 19 years ago

i'm really surprised no one in the camp thought to kill the dog and eat it since they were all starving, even though i love my dog if i was facing starvation then i's wash down his heart with some wine

Thunderbirds Aren't Slow

[–] roosfelt 18 years ago

a) gross
b) someone did want to eat the dog but others argued and so they kept it alive as morale for it's sickly owner.

[–] coco_bandy 18 years ago

i totally agree with a), i hope nothing would force me to eat a dog and your right about b) i watched paradise road today margret and susan thought the dog would help mrs roberts

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] partsman 15 years ago

Same here. I saw a little of the movie once and was amazed to see the lady with the poodle; I thought the Japanese would have killed it or at the very least not let her keep it. Then I started watching another time latter on in the story and for a while didn't see the dog so I assumed it was dead, but then I saw the scene where some of the women wanted to eat it. Animals are so often put in films just to die; especially a film like this. The situation reminded me of people in a disaster that are forced to flee and leave their pets behind. In this case the woman was allowed to bring the dog but I thought for sure she would lose it. As a pet owner I was drawn into her situation in the the story emotionally putting myself in her place and was afraid for her. Now I can watch the rest knowing that at least the dog survies.

[–] ljspin 14 years ago

I apologize, but this has nothing to do with the movie, but is related to the poodle. My great-uncle served as a sergeant of artillary in the army in the Pacific in World War II. He was send to Hawaii for training. Next door to their barracks lived a woman with a pet poodle. The dog came over to the men and they fed and played with it. On the day they were to ship out for the South Pacific, the men marched away from their barracks. The dog followed them. One of the men picked it up and ran back to the house. He told the owner that her dog was following them. She told them that if he wanted to go with them, let him; he barked too much. This soldier put the poodle in his duffle bag and took him aboard the ship. My uncle said their commanding officer knew about the dog, but said nothing. That poodle was their company mascot for several months, until he was shot and killed by a Japanese sniper.

Again, I apologize that this had nothing to do with "Paradise Road," but I couldn't help noticing the "poodle" connection.

Spin

[–] tomfern 14 years ago

I can't believe there are other people who did exactly what I did..I was going to watch this movie, but when I saw the dog being brought along on the first ship..I just 'knew' the dog was going to be killed..so I TURNED OFF THE MOVIE! I made it up to the part where they were gathering all the women in the square before going ..where? To a camp I presume?! I had really wanted to see it, too! I knew, however, that if I DID watch it, and had to see them kill the dog, I'd never forget it, and I'd be forever mad at myself for watching it. Now I'm mad at myself for NOT watching it! :(

[–] mcontrer919 14 years ago

You guys must be kidding, right?? I mean its about surviving in a p.o.w. camp which means HUMANS dying and all you can care about is some stupid poodle??!! Give me a break!!

[–] tomfern 14 years ago

It's generally common (not rare) in human nature to empathize with children and animals, as they can't understand what is happening beyond their control. One can sympathize with adult humans to the extent of uncommon (unlike) suffering based on one's own experiences. Adults can reason and rationalize situations to some extent. Children and animals cannot be made to understand what is happening to them.
If someone slapped an adult in front of me, I'd be surprised, and taken aback. If someone slapped a child in front of me, or kicked a puppy, I'd feel rage, and want to strike back.
I do not pretend this is logical or fair..it's just what it is.

[–] chrissso 8 years ago

I'm with you on this! Women dying left and right and you are wondering if lil Fifi will make it??? Seriously people did you the Commander light that women on fire or the KB scene with the spikes??? Screw the dog they were in hell!

[–] Nicky-39 11 years ago

Thats how I felt, I didn't think I wanted to watch the movie anymore, but I did watch up to the scene where the dog was shot and I was horrified because they obviously caused the dog a lot of pain to make it jump around and whine like that - I imagine it got shot with a rubber bullet or something - very painful and cruel just for the sake of a stupid movie. So I stopped watching after that.

Maybe I'll check the end credits to see if they claim no animals were harmed - maybe not permanent harm but an animal was definitely hurt - I don't know how an animal owner or trainer could let their dog take part in the movie knowing that was going to happen to it. There's just no excuse.

[–] Fleurus 9 years ago

(...)I was horrified because they obviously caused the dog a lot of pain to make it jump around and whine like that - I imagine it got shot with a rubber bullet or something - very painful and cruel just for the sake of a stupid movie. So I stopped watching after that.

These animals are trained to do just that. They are actors like the rest of the cast.
Do you really think they would want to hurt an animal just for the sake of a film ?

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] chrissso 8 years ago

It is interesting to me that you only mention the possibility of the dog being eaten by the Japanese ... what about the internees? I thought the same thing but went on the other side ... thinking the most like candidates to eat the dog were the prisoners. They were after all the starving.