Louie Bluie. Terry Zwigoff, 1985.
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Edition screened: Criterion DVD #532, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 60 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
A charming, entertaining film about Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong, also featuring the talents of well-known string band musicians Yank Rachell, “Banjo” Ikey Robinson, and Ted Bogan.
The Last Island. Marleen Gorris, 1990.
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Edition screened: Cult Epics Blu-ray, released 2023. Dutch language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 101 minutes.
Summary: Animal killing is perceived as necessary in That Survival Lifestyle.
1) A survivor shoots a marsupial for food, 18:34-18:40.
2) A bird is shot, 24:02
3) A snake is beaten with a stick, 58:50.
4) A survivor carries a dead pig on his shoulders and slams it down on a table, 1:00:23.
Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance (Shura-yuki-hime: Urami Renga). Toshiya Fujita, 1974.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray # 791, included in The Complete Lady Snowblood, released 2016. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.
Summary: Dead and endangered animals
Details:
1) A trapper’s two dead rabbits can be seen during plot action, 7:10-7:29, and again 9:13-9:35.
2) A dog corpse floats in water, 32:42-32:50.
3) Chickens are trapped in a burning building, 1:14:58, with no resolution.
The Criterion set also contains Fujita’s original Lady Snowblood (1973).
Jacquot de Nantes. Agnès Varda, 1991.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray box set The Complete Films of Agnès Varda (disc 10) released 2020. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 118 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
I Live In Fear. Akira Kurosawa, 1955.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Eclipse Series 07: Postwar Kurosawa 5-DVD set, released 2007. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Hell Behind Bars (Perverse oltre le sbarre). Gianni Siragusa (as Willy Regant), 1984.
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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. 1/5❤
Gothic Fantastico: Four Italian Tales of Terror. Various directors, 1963-1966.
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Edition screened: Arrow 4-Blu-ray set, released 2022. Italian language with English subtitles. Combined runtime approximately 384 minutes.
Summary: The Third Eye and The Witch include scenes of animal violence. Click titles for details.
The Arrow set includes:
Lady Morgan’s Vengeance (Massimo Pupillo, 1965)
The Blancheville Monster (Alberto De Martino, 1963)
The Third Eye (Mino Guerrini, 1966)
The Witch in Love (Damiano Damiani, 1966)
Gas Pump Girls. Joel Bender, 1979.
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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Dream Scenario. Kristoffer Borgli, 2023.
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Edition screened: Watched in a theatre. English language. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The Disappearance of Alice Creed. J. Blakeson, 2009.
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Edition screened: Anchor Bay DVD, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.
Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.
A Christmas Story Christmas. Clay Kaytis, 2022.
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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Cemetery of Terror (Cementerio del terror). Rubén Galindo, Jr., 1985.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #337, released 2020. Spanish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.
Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.
Anyone But My Husband/‘Sweet Punkin’ I Love You. Roberta Findlay (as Robert Norman) 1975-1976.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray VS Peek-009, released 2022. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 151 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals in either feature.
• Anyone But My Husband. 1975, approximately 70 minutes. 2.5/5❤
• ‘Sweet Punkin’ I Love You. 1976, approximately 81 minutes. 2/5❤
Agnès V. by Jane B. Walter Hart, 2020.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray box set The Complete Films of Agnès Varda (disc 9) released 2020. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 16 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Afire (Roter Himmel). Christian Petzold, 2023.
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Edition screened: Watched online. German language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.
Summary: Animals killed and suffering in a forest fire.
Details:
1) At 1:22:28 a baby boar runs down a hill with its back on fire. We then see what appears to be a small fox suffering and then die.
2) At 1:31:35 we see a dead baby deer(?) in the burnt woods.
Ad Astra. James Gray, 2019.
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Edition screened: 20th Century Studios Blu-ray, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 123 minutes.
Summary: Killing a baboon in a life-or-death struggle.
Details: While being attacked by a baboon onboard a spaceship, Brad Pitt separates himself from the monkey by closing an airlock door between them. The baboon apparently explodes from decompression as evidenced by a bloody smear on the other side of the door’s window panel.
Armageddon Time. James Gray, 2022.
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Edition screened: Focus Blu-ray, released 2023. English language. Runtime approximately 114 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
A 1974 Gottlieb Big Indian, is featured in a row of pinball machines.
Bad Taste. Peter Jackson, 1987.
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Edition screened: Televista DVD, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.
Summary: Killing of animals for comedic effect.
Details:
1) Depiction of pigeons being squashed and killed with blood and organs shown, but it’s overtly fake as the pigeons are robotic (37:53-38:00).
2) A sheep is blown up with a missile (1:21:08-11:21:11).
The Bob’s Burgers Movie. Loren Bouchard and Bernard Derriman, 2022.
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Edition screened: 20th Century Studios Blu-ray, released 2022. English language. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
A long scene in Mr. Fischoeder’s lair under the boardwalk recalls The Residents’ Bad Day on the Midway.
Daisy Kenyon. Otto Preminger, 1947.
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Edition screened: Kino Lorber Blu-ray, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 99 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Damien: Omen II. Don Taylor and Mike Hodges, 1978.
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Edition screened: Included in 20th Century Fox The Omen Collection Blu-ray set, released 2008. English language. Runtime approximately 107 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The Omen Collection includes:
The Omen (1976 Richard Donner)
Damien: Omen II (1978 Don Taylor and Mike Hodges)
Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981 Graham Baker)
The Omen (2006 John Moore)
The Devil, Probably (Le diable probablement). Robert Bresson, 1977.
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Edition screened: Viewed online. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.
Summary: Bludgeoning of a seal; typical fishing abuse.
Details:
1) A man beats a seal on the head three times with the wooden handle of a sickle, 8:44-8:48. Blood appears on the seal’s coat.
2) Characters hook a fish and bring it up on land, the fish still thrashing about on the rod (56:17-56:30).
Don’t Worry Darling. Olivia Wilde, 2022.
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Edition screened: New Line Blu-ray, released 2022. English language. Runtime approximately 123 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Trippy populuxe fun!
Electric Edwardians: The Lost Films of Mitchell & Kenyon. Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon, 1900-1910.
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Edition screened: Milestone DVD, released 2006. Scored, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
A compilation of short films capturing regular folks of the British Isles during the first decade of the 20th century. Back then, regular folks mostly stared at the camera and waved their hats.
I Dream of Jeanie. Allan Dwan, 1952.
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Edition screened: Alpha Video DVD, released 2004. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
In this film we learn that Stephen Foster not only composed famous songs of 19th-century America, but also said things like “I’m so mad I could go bite a mule. On the ankle!”
The Idiot (Hakuchi). Akira Kurosawa, 1951.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Eclipse Series 07: Postwar Kurosawa 5-DVD set, released 2007. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 166 minutes.
Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Inside. Vasilis Katsoupis, 2023.
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Edition screened: Focus Blu-ray, released 2023. English language. Runtime approximately 105 minutes.
Summary: Eating pet fish.
Details:
1) About 60 minutes in we see a dead pigeon outside the apartment window.
2) About 70 minutes in, Willem Dafoe scoops one of several exotic fish out of an aquarium . . . cut to mashing the fish’s flesh with crumbs to make it edible. Later in the film we see that the other aquarium fish also are gone.
Interrogation (Przesluchanie). Ryszard Bugajski, 1982.
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Edition screened: Second Run DVD #007, released 2005. Polish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 111 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
No Hard Feelings. Gene Stupnitsky, 2023.
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Edition screened: Sony Blu-ray, released 2023. English language. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
No Home Movie. Chantal Akerman, 2015.
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Edition screened: Icarus DVD, released 2016. French language with English. Runtime approximately 115 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The Omen. Richard Donner, 1976.
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Edition screened: Included in 20th Century Fox The Omen Collection Blu-ray set, released 2008. English language. Runtime approximately 111 minutes.
Summary: A bowl containing about five large goldfish falls a great distance onto a hardwood floor, dooming all within (51:00-51:24).
The Omen Collection includes:
The Omen (1976 Richard Donner)
Damien: Omen II (1978 Don Taylor and Mike Hodges)
Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981 Graham Baker)
The Omen (2006 John Moore)
Salaam Bombay! Mira Nair, 1988.
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Edition screened: MGM ‘World Films Special Edition” DVD, released 2003. Hindi language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 114 minutes.
Summary: Murdered chickens.
Details:
1) The opening scene includes brief images of caged bears and dogs.
2) A man cuts a chicken’s head off with a knife, then two children pull the feathers off a couple of chickens by hand (1:01:27-1:02:35).
The MGM DVD also includes six short films by Dinaz Stafford and Greg Carson, all stories of actors and corporate entities instrumental in making Salaam Bombay! None contains images of violence to animals:
One Chance in a Million (Dinaz Stafford, 7 minutes)
A Color in the Hand of the Painter (Dinaz Stafford, 6 minutes)
I Got Love (Dinaz Stafford, 6 minutes)
No Guts, No Glory (Greg Carson, 7 minutes)
It Gave Me a Career (Dinaz Stafford, 7 minutes)
So Kids Like Us Can Learn Forever (Dinaz Stafford, 11 minutes)
Smile. Finn Parker, 2023.
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Edition screened: Paramount Blu-ray, released 2023. English language. Runtime approximately 116 minutes.
Summary: We meet a sweet attractive house cat early in this psycho-horror film, so of course later discover the cat has been murdered (45:32 -46:30).
South (Sud). Chantal Akerman, 1999.
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Edition screened: Icarus DVD, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 71 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
Akerman was in the American south to make a documentary about William Faulkner when the horrific murder of James Byrd Jr. hit the news. She benched the Faulkner story and went to Jasper, Texas, where she filmed local people, a church service, and native landscapes to create South just days after Byrd’s race-based murder.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Martin McDonagh, 2017.
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Edition screened: 20th Century Studios Blu-ray, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 115 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
The Unknown. Tod Browning, 1927.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray set #1194 Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers, released 2023. Scored, with English intertitles. Runtime approximately 67 minutes.
Summary: A performing horse in distress but not physically harmed.
Details: Starting at 1:03:55, two horses run on treadmills at a moderate pace as part of a stage performance. No discomfort or harm to them there, but we get a long scene of one of the horses in distress when the treadmill stops and he remains attached to the harnessing contraption while rearing (1:05:51-1:06:46). The horse is quieted after that ordeal and the movie ends a minute later.
Very Ralph. Susan Lacy, 2019.
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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 107 minutes.
Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
This autobiography of Ralph Lauren should have been forty-five minutes. The first twenty minutes or so was an inspiring story of how young Lauren started in the fashion business. The remainder of the film was a parade of family members, peers, and employees lauding his style and vision, using the same words and examples. Even smart people like Anna Wintour repeated the same lifeless phrases. I now am less interested in Ralph Lauren and his cultural contributions.
Young Soul Rebels. Isaac Julien, 1991.
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Edition screened: BFI Blu-ray, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 105 minutes.
Summary: Unkind vending of goldfish
Details: At 1:21:40, a punk sees a stall vendor selling goldfish in small water-filled plastic bags and comments: “Hey, this is cruelty to animals. How’d you like to be stuffed up in a plastic bag? Is this your idea of fun, is it? You’re sick is what you are.” A small win.
Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC (1969-1989).
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Edition screened: BFI Blu-ray box set, released 2016. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 29 hours and 48 minutes.
Summary: With most of the films viewed, only Penda’s Fen includes any animal cruelty. Updates will be provided as possible.
In addition to supplemental materials, feature films by Clarke in this gigantic collection include:
