Heads Up, Ears Down

This blog accurately identifies depictions of violence and cruelty toward animals in films. The purpose is to provide viewers with a reliable guide so that such depictions do not come as unwelcome surprises. Films will be accurately notated, providing a time cue for each incident along with a concise description of the scene and perhaps relevant context surrounding the incident. In order to serve as a useful reference tool, films having no depictions of violence to animals will be included, with an indication that there are no such scenes. This is confirmation that the films have been watched with the stated purpose in mind.


Note that the word depictions figures prominently in the objective. It is a travesty that discussions about cruelty in film usually are derailed by the largely unrelated assertion that no animals really were hurt (true only in some films, dependent upon many factors), and that all this concern is just over a simulation. Not the point, whether true or false. We do not smugly dismiss depictions of five-year-olds being raped because those scenes are only simulations. No, we are appalled that such images are even staged, and we are appropriately horrified that the notion now has been planted into the minds of the weak and cruel.


Depictions of violence or harm to animals are assessed in keeping with our dominant culture, with physical abuse, harmful neglect, and similar mistreatment serving as a base line. This blog does not address extended issues of animal welfare, and as such does not identify scenes of people eating meat or mules pulling plows. The goal is to itemize images that might cause a disturbance in a compassionate household.


These notes provide a heads-up but do not necessarily discourage watching a film because of depicted cruelty. Consuming a piece of art does not make you a supporter of the ideas presented. Your ethical self is created by your public rhetoric and your private actions, not by your willingness to sit through a filmed act of violence.

The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase

The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase. Joshua Oppenheimer, 1997.
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Edition screened: Included on Second Run DVD #102 Joshua Oppenheimer: Early Works, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 10 minutes.

Summary: Chickens are shown in stressful situations a few times, and the film concludes with rats struggling to escape flood waters. There are no scenes of animals physically hurt or killed.











Ethan Frome

Ethan Frome. John Madden, 1993.
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Edition screened: Miramax, released 2003. English language. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.

Summary: Poisoning of a fox.

Details: A subplot involves Frome’s determination to poison a fox that has been raiding his chicken coop. Finally successful, we see a fox lying in the snow with blood around her mouth and body, 1:15:00. Frome nails the body to the outside of his barn through 1:15:29.

Eureka (Roeg)

Eureka. Nicolas Roeg, 1983.
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Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #132, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 130 minutes.

Summary: Rough handling of chickens and snakes during a voodoo ritual. Some knives are swirled around the chickens menacingly, 1:16:10-1:20:30, but we see no killing or blood.

Evangeline

Evangeline. Edwin Carewe, 1929.
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Edition screened: Milestone DVD, released 2013. Scored with English intertitles and some voice audio on parallel sound recordings. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Evil Ed

Evil Ed. Anders Jacobsson, 1997.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Arrow release also includes a new 95-minute “Special Ed” cut.

Evils of the Night

Evils of the Night. Mardi Rustam, 1984.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #129, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Pathetically Tolerable aspects of Evils of the Night:
  • Lifeless, embarrassed performances by John Carradine, Julie Newmar, and Tina Louise
  • Connie “the dumb girl” (G.T. Taylor) packed into her little shorts
  • The silly, silly plot and alien costumes
Unbearably Atrocious aspects of Evils of the Night:
  • Unending witless sexual banter
  • Insufferable original music.
  • Lyrics to the insufferable original music.

Math can be nutty sometimes. Despite three items on each list, Evils of the Night is far more Unbearably Atrocious than Pathetically Tolerable.

The Exterminator

The Exterminator. James Glickenhaus, 1980.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.

Summary: Off-screen, but violent, killing of a dog.

Details: A Doberman attacks an intruder in the kitchen at 44:06. The dog and the man wrestle violently on the floor, but all we really see is blood accumulating and the man’s arm trying to reach an electric carving knife. He finally gets he knife, we hear it start up, followed by the dog howling at 44:37. The blood-covered man stands up and puts the gore-covered electric knife on the counter.

Extract

Extract. Mike Judge, 2009.
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Edition screened: Miramax Blu-ray, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Faces of Harlow

Faces of Harlow. Derrick Knight, 1964.
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Edition screened: Included in the BFI 4-DVD set Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film in Post-War Britain 1951-1977, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 29 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A public relations film about the planned town of Harlow, convincingly indicating that it is an intellectual prison.

The Fall of the House of Usher (Harrington)

The Fall of the House of Usher. Curtis Harrington, 1942.
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Edition screened: Included on Flicker Alley Blu-ray The Curtis Harrington Short Film Collection, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 10 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Fallen Idol

The Fallen Idol. Carol Reed, 1948.
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Edition screened: Criterion DVD #357, released 2006. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: Implied murder of a pet snake.

Details: The nasty housekeeper previously had told the boy to flush his little garden snake down the toilet. She finds where the boy has hidden the harmless snake, and then is seen pushing a bundle of newspaper containing something into the coal stove at 25:52 with a satisfied smirk on her face. 

Fanny

Fanny. Marc Allégret, 1932.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #883, included in Marseille Trilogy box set #881, released 2017. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 127 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.


Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. David Yates, 2016.
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Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 133 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Fast Cars Fast Women/Starship Eros

Fast Cars Fast Women/Starship Eros. Scott McHaley, 1979-1981.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome DVD #079 Peekarama: Fast Cars Fast Women/Starship Eros, released 2015. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 144 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals in either feature.

Fast Cars Fast Women, 1981, approximately 77 minutes. 2.5/5
Starship Eros, 1979, approximately 67 minutes. 3.5/5

Fear of Fear

Fear of Fear (Angst vor der Angst). Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1975.
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Edition screened: Included in Arrow DVD box set The Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Commemorative Collection 73-82 Volume 2, released 2007. German language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence toward animals.













Felicia’s Journey

Felicia’s Journey. Atom Egoyan, 1999.
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Edition screened: Lionsgate DVD, released 2000. English-like language known only to Bob Hoskins with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 116 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (Joshû 701-gô: Sasori). Shunya Itô, 1972.
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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Female Prisoner Scorpion: The Complete Collection released 2016. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 87 minutes.

Summary: Clubbing of a dog.

Details: While trying to escape from prison, Nami clubs a German Shepard that is attacking another prisoner, 3:48-4:00. The scene clearly is staged, and after being “beaten” with the club the dog lies on his side like a Good Boy, smiling at the other actors and wagging his tail.


Female Prisoner Scorpion: The Complete Collection

Female Prisoner Scorpion: The Complete Collection. Shunya Itô and Yasuharu Hasebe, 1972-1973.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray box set, released 2016. Japanese language with English subtitles. Cumulative runtime of feature films approximately 357 minutes.

Summary: The first three films in the series contains scenes of staged animal violence. Click on individual titles for details.

This set includes supplemental material along with all four films in the original Female Prisoner Scorpion saga:

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (Shunya Itô, 1972)


The Film That Never Was

The Film That Never Was. Paul Dickson, 1957.
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Edition screened: Included in the BFI 4-DVD set Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film in Post-War Britain 1951-1977, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 29 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


A corporate film about communication between management and labor, managing to be both plodding and fruity.

First Love

First Love (Pierwsza milosc). Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1974.
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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Dekalog and Other Television Works, released 2016. Polish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 52 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.


A Fish Called Wanda

A Fish Called Wanda. Charles Crichton and John Cleese, 1988.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 108 minutes.

Summary: Repeated and thematic killing of animals for comedic effect.

Details:
1) Michail Palin sequentially kills three Yorkshire terriers walked by an old lady. First, a vicious Doberman is turned loose on the woman and her leashed dogs. The Doberman grabs and kills one at 53:30, runs off with it, and we see the dog’s funeral through 54:12.
2) The second Yorkie is run over by Palin’s car, 1:03:34, with a prolonged view of the funny, hilarious, hee-hee flattened dog 1:03:47-1:03:50, then the funeral through 1:04:16.
3) A huge block of granite is dropped on the third Yorkie at 1:20:10. The old woman dies from shock and we see her lying beside the block of stone that now has blood oozing out from under it, through 1:20:10.
4) Kevin Kline eats live fish from an aquarium, 1:24:04-1:26:12.

FitzPatrick Traveltalks: Volume 1

FitzPatrick Traveltalks: Volume 1. Ruth FitzPatrick and others, 1934-1946.
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Edition screened: Warner Archive 3-DVD set, released 2016. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 521 minutes.

Summary: No graphic depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Volume 1 of James FitzPatrik’s self-starring travelogue series contains a sampling of shorts made over 12 years, most about 8 minutes long. The films are arranged chronologically for the most part but do not include any consecutive runs of Traveltalk episodes. Warner is packaging these sets to mix the best eras in with the stinker years, as was done with some compilations of The Twilight Zone, James Bond films, and other series.

In general, animal violence is limited to the minor fish-cleaning and meat market scenes inevitable to nostalgic touring of Europe. The Land of Alaska Nellie episode stands out as particularly distasteful without showing any actual killing. In this episode we meet Sarah Palin’s old dyke aunt who shows off her hunting trophies and corny fish catchin’ apparatus. That episode also includes a visit to a fur farm where we see baby mink and silver fox pups, followed by a light-hearted explanation of their commercial destiny with an image of three hags modeling fox stoles.

Disc 1
Switzerland the Beautiful (1934)
Ireland: The Emerald Isle (1934)
Zeeland: The Hidden Paradise (1935)
Rainbow Canyons (1935)
Colorful Guatemala (1935)
Los Angeles: Wonder City of the West (1935)
Beautiful Banff and Lake Louise (1935)
Modern Tokyo (1935)
Sacred City of the Mayan Indians (1936)
Rio de Janeiro: City of Splendor (1936)
Yellowstone Park: Nature’s Playground (1936)
Oriental Paradise (1936)
Glimpses of Java and Ceylon (1937)
Hong Kong: Hub of the Orient (1937)
Floral Japan (1937)
Stockholm: Pride of Sweden (1937)
Chile: Land of Charm (1937)
Copenhagen (1937)
Land of the Incas (1937)
Glimpses of Austria (1938)

Disc 2
Czechoslovakia on Parade (1938)
Paris on Parade (1938)
Jaipur: The Pink City ((1938)
Singapore and Jahore (1938)
Java Journey (1939)
Rural Hungary (1939)
Colorful Curacao (1939)
Quaint St. Augustine (1939)
Land of Alaska Nellie (1939)
Seattle: Gateway to the Northwest (1940)
Sitka and Juneau: A Tale of Two Cities (1940)
Glimpses of Australia (1939)
Cavalcade of San Francisco (1940)
Old New Mexico (1940)
Beautiful Bali (1940)
Mediterranean Ports of Call (1941)
Red Men on Parade (1941)
Alluring Alaska (1941)
Glimpses of Kentucky (1941)
Haiti: Land of Dark Majesty (1941)

Disc 3
Glimpses of Florida (1941)
Scenic Grandeur (1941)
Minnesota: Land of Plenty (1942)
Glacier Park and Waterton Lakes (1942)
Exotic Mexico (1942)
Modern Mexico City (1942)
Land of Orizaba (1943)
Motoring in Mexico (1943)
On the Road to Monterrey (1943)
Scenic Oregon (1943)
Through the Colorado Rockies (1943)
A Day in Death Valley (1944)
Salt Lake Diversions ((1943)
Along the Cactus Trail (1944)
Colorful Colorado (1944)
City of Brigham Young (1944)
Monumental Utah (1944)
Shrines of Yucatan (1945)
Merida and Campeche (1945)
Glimpse of Guatemala (1946)

Five Dolls for an August Moon

Five Dolls for an August Moon (5 bambole per la luna d’agosto). Mario Bava, 1970.
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Edition screened: Kino Blu-ray, released 2013. English dub. Runtime approximately 81 minutes.


Summary: Several scenes of a meat locker containing bagged humans and a few animal carcasses, but nothing gory or explicit, animal or human.

The Fjällbacka Murders

The Fjällbacka Murders: The Hidden Child and 5 Other Feature Films (Fjällbackamorden). Various directors, 2014.
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Edition screened: Arrow 3-DVD set, released 2016. Swedish language with English subtitles. Cumulative runtime approximately 545 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Foot and Mouth

Foot and Mouth. Lindsay Anderson, 1955.
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Edition screened: Included in the BFI 4-DVD set Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film in Post-War Britain 1951-1977, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 19 minutes.

Summary: Many images of farm animals dead and being euthanized.

A documentary about the consequences of foot and mouth disease and the need for preventive measures. Contains images of livestock dead or in decrepit condition, and scenes of killing by bolt gun. But the point is Do Not Let This Tragedy Happen.

For Your Consideration

For Your Consideration. Christopher Guest, 2006.
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Edition screened: Warner DVD, released 2006. English language. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Forbidden Room

The Forbidden Room. Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson, 2015.
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Edition screened: Kino Lorber Blu-ray, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 119 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

I’d say this is Maddin’s Master Work in a career of remarkable accomplishments. For now, I am going to go with Option #1 (to say nothing) rather than Option #2 (to write for 5 pages).  If you like mesmerizing, intoxicating, often hilarious film that requires that you pay attention, The Forbidden Room is for you. Otherwise, just skip it and jump ahead to talking about The Emperor’s Clothes, must've being on drugs, and two hours of your life that you’ll never get back.

The Kino Blu-ray also includes the following related works, all free of animal violence:

Endless Ectoloops (approximately 2 minutes). Thematic film manipulations.
Living Posters (approximately 9 minutes). Animated one sheets.
Once a Chicken: Séance with Lazslo Moholy-Nagy (approximately 7 minutes). A beautiful extended film manipulation.