WON TON TON - THE DOG THAT SAVED HOLLYWOOD

US, 1975, 92 minutes, Colour.
Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn, Art Carney, Ron Leibman, Denis Morgan, Teri Garr, Sterling Holloway, William Demarest, Virginia Mayo, Rhonda Fleming, Rory Calhoun, Ricardo Montalban, Jackie Coogan, Johnny Weismuller, Aldo Ray, Ethel Merman, Yvonne de Carlo, Joan Blondell, Broderick Crawford, Richard Arlen, Dorothy Lamour, Phil Silvers, Alice Faye, Nancy Walker, Stepin Fetchitt, Gloria De Haven, Rudy Vallee, George Jessell, Ann Miller, Dean Stockwell, Dick Haymes, Tab Hunter, Robert Alda, Ritz Brothers, Victor Mature, Fernando Lamas, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Cyd Charisse, Peter Lawford, Guy Madison, Ann Rutherford, Milton Berle, John Carradine, Walter Pidgeon.
Directed by Michael Winner.

Won Ton Ton - The Dog That Saved Hollywood had many funny moments and lines (none brilliant), an excellent performance by the expertly versatile comedienne, Madeline Kahn, some satire on Hollywood, its types and its phoney values, and an underlying theme of the precariousness of stardom. In fact, via Won Ton Ton (alias Rin Tin Tin), the screenplay parodies Hollywood plots, especially the rise, decline and fall of an actor. Won, with the alcoholics in the street, attempting suicide, makes us realise the real pathos of ephemeral celebrity. (Which makes one wonder why a score of veterans have appeared, many momentarily, in this film.) While entertaining, a comparison with, say, Silent Movie, shows it should have been better.

1. The significance of the title, the reference to the dog and the parody of Rin Tin Tin, the emphasis on Hollywood and the background of the film about the studio needing to be saved? How enjoyable a comedy? How enjoyable a parody of Hollywood, Hollywood films, the biographies of stars? Was there more in the film than the surface comedy and parody?

2. The re-creation of Hollywood in the 20's, the suburb itself and the city, people searching for work, talent, ambitions? The presentation of the studios, the chiefs, the atmosphere of fantasy in film-making, the technical side of making silent films? The presentation of the Hollywood way of life and all that that means?

3. How did the film rely on comedy set pieces: of the identity of the dog, of the identity of the stars, car chases and crashes, slapstick details etc.?

4. How enjoyable was the parody of Rin Tin Tin? The importance of the detailed parallel of the rise of the dog as a star to the rise of the human star, success and failure? The details of the dog at the height of his success, wandering the streets, the alcoholics, suicide, rejection and the final happy ending? How much insight into the fragility of the success of a film star?

5. The presentation of won Ton Ton as a dog, his saving qualities and the hero aspect of his stardom? The pictures in which he acted, the presentation of silent films and their style? The conventions of directors, stars, technicians, the atmosphere of the studio and the dog fitting into this?

6. The film relied a lot on guest stars in very small spots. What did this contribute to the film? The value of the audience trying to spot the ageing film star? The comment on Hollywood by presenting so many of the older stars in this way? A tribute, satire?

7. Comment on the presentation of the nastier side of Hollywood, overwhelming ambitions, the careers, the cut-throat competition, starving? Estie and her being victimised by Hollywood? The studio chiefs? Grayson and his manipulating? How ugly was the picture of Hollywood?

8. The alternate focus of the film from Won Ton Ton to Estie Del Ruth? The quality of Madeline Kahn and her comic performance, how well delineated was her character, the Hollywood type hoping for stardom, her starving, the detailing of her hopes, the way that she was used, her training of the dog, her being the heroine for Won Ton Ton and the various ways in which he rescued her, especially at the beginning with the studio hands? Her wanting her own career? The humorous side of the build-up of her own career via the poor film on Custer? Her love for Won Ton Ton and devotion to him, the search and the happy ending? How clever was the gentle parody in the presentation of Estie?

9. The contrast with Grayson as the hero? As seeing him guiding the tours, driving the bus, the humorous parodies of his ideas for films in the 20s which were successes in the 70s? The American push, his using of Estie and Won Ton Ton? His lies and his manipulation? And yet his being the hero for this film? His love for Estie, the clashes with J.J. Fronberg? His final giving up of all Hollywood atmosphere? A good delineation of a Hollywood type?

10. The satire in the presentation of J.J. Fromberg, Art Carney and his depiction of the studio boss, his harshness and ruthlessness, success, being deceived by his own ambitions? Representing Hollywood?

11. How suitable was the satire of Valentino in the character of Rudy Montague? His personal style, the scene where he went to the theatre in drag and all the preparations for this, his reactions to his own films? His vanity and petulance, his attitude towards his career, his agreeing to be in the picture with the dog and Estie? His dismal failure? The irony of his handling of the press interview? How harsh was the satire on this kind of Hollywood star?

12. Professor Quicksand as a conventional villain for this kind of melodrama? The presentation of his cruelty and harshness, the irony of his cruelty to Won Ton Ton? The presentation of his shows, the inevitability of Won Ton Ton being sent away and escaping?

13. The big build-up of the search for the dog, the use of the media, the sensationalism, the various claimants to finding the dog? How enjoyable and accurate was the parody of the search and the people involved in the search, the claimants? The contrast with the almost trite ending on the seashore with the real dog and the uniting of all parties? Was that ending appropriate for this kind of film?

14. The film relied a lot on the impact of its incidentals. What did they contribute: the tours, Grayson and his selling of the bus, the sneak previews, the presentation of the columnists and their questions. the stagehands and their observations, the details of the silent filmmaking, cowboy heroes, gatekeepers, butlers and cleaners, Joan Blondell and the ironic line about Marilyn Monroe as Norma Jean, the dancing black butler, autographs, J.J. Fromberg and his succession of girlfriends, the detailed parody of the Academy Awards and the giving out. the envelopes the stars expecting and Won Ton Ton winning, Victor Mature and the Mafia, The Godfather theme, Mexican pornography, drunks, slapstick comedy?

15. How valuable a contribution to insight of the American movie world?