The Queen and the Dog

A minor but amusing tale to tell. At the behest of a friend seeking drama along the Merchant/Ivory lines, I ended up watching Stephen Frears' wholly negligible The Queen today. I have nothing to say about this inconsequential little film (though it amuses me that, even looking wholly like Queen Elizabeth II, Helen Mirren still manages to be sexy. Like Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon, I wait in marvel for the day that aging will diminish her sex appeal; it has not yet arrived - and in fact I think she's far sexier now than in her youth. Nudie pictures of a young Ms. Mirren here, by the way). Anyhow, I couldn't sit with my friend in the aisle we initally chose because there was a large black Lab, I think, in the theatre; the dog was some sort of assistant -- presumably the attendee was not blind, but the dog was let in to accompany her, and was taking up the space in front of a seat. One rarely sees dogs in movie theatres; I sat elsewhere and forgot about the animal. A moment came when two similar looking dogs appeared onscreen, running alongside members of the Royal Family. To everyone's surprise and delight, the dog in the theatre began to bark. It could just as well have been shouting, "Look! Dogs! Dogs on screen! Dogs! Hello, dogs!" The barks sounded very happy, and everyone in the theatre laughed and felt fondness for the dog. As my friend remarked with delight, "The dog is watching the film!"

Nothing in The Queen was equal to that moment.

This leads to the obvious idea that someone should make movies for dogs; which is subsequently followed by the thought that this is so patently obvious, someone must have already done it. Look: they have!