Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 10, 2017

Michael Winner's "Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood" (1976) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. There are no supplemental features on the release. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The great savior

It seems to me that there could be only two scenarios that logically explain why Michael Winner felt compelled to direct Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Save Hollywood. The first involves a time machine that somehow Winner got a hold of and used to travel to the future, the year 2017 to be exact, where he witnessed how dangerously unhinged Hollywood had become. Winner then drove right back to the year 1976, rolled up his sleeves and started shooting. Though mostly quite funny, his film was actually meant to serve as a warning that unless things changed Hollywood was about to fall into the abyss of madness. Later on, however, a lot of his colleagues and the critics discarded his film as a silly tribute praising an entirely different period from Hollywood’s illustrious history. The second scenario involves money, which Winner probably desperately needed, so when Paramount offered to pay him to do a film with Arnold Schulman and Cy Howard’s screenplay, he immediately accepted and did the best that he could with it.

I like the first scenario a lot more, and while I will concede that the chances of Winner actually using a time machine are slim, there really is no denying that his film is a lot more relevant today than it was during the 1970s -- almost suspiciously so. Indeed, it is pretty incredible to see how the overwhelming majority of the exaggerations and just flat-out silly material in it are now part of Hollywood’s big and beautiful bubble where its brightest stars enjoy the fruits of their labor, and how the bizarre logic that Winner’s film targets is exactly the type of ‘proper thinking’ that they have been passionately promoting.

The film is set in the early 1920s and follows a stray mutt that captivates the imagination of a prominent Hollywood studio boss (Art Carney) who decides to produce a ‘brilliant’ blockbuster with it that will create ripple effects across the industry. As the production process begins, a young actress looking for her big break (Madeline Kahn) and an ambitious but possibly jinxed screenwriter (Bruce Dern) attempt to use their relationship with the mutt to advance their careers, but instead are routinely forced to make all sorts of awkward compromises. Initially the producer’s instincts are proven right, but as it often happens in Hollywood eventually Lady Luck turns her back on him, the mutt and his friends and their success story quickly evolves into a sad horror story.

As a light comedy about a smart and charming dog that is able to perform some nice tricks the film is mostly disappointing, but as a satire that targets the lunatics that continue to run Hollywood it is pretty effective. A bit like Robert Altman did in The Player, Winner reveals the two completely different realities that the haves and have-nots reside in and how the latter essentially allow to be treated like idiots so that they can enter the precious bubble where dreams become reality. Winner goes back to the 1920s while Altman stays in the present, but their films are concerned with the same bubble and the exact same flawed reality that its inhabitants have manufactured for themselves.

The number of stars that step in front of cinematographer Richard Kline’s camera is astonishing, though their contribution to the film is difficult to describe as meaningful. (This is another interesting similarity with Altman’s The Player, which also grouped a massive number of Hollywood stars).

There is a very nice retro soundtrack that helps the period atmosphere quite well, which was created by the prolific composer Neal Hefti (TV’s Batman, The Odd Couple).

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Michael Winner's Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

The release is sourced from an older master that could have been struck from an interpositive. It is difficult for me to tell, but the type of limitations that I see suggest that it is a secondary source. Regardless, most close-ups actually boast decent to good depth, and density is typically quite pleasing. The wider shots, however, reveal some limitations that impact the dynamic range (screencapture will give a very good idea what type of limitations to expect). Furthermore, it is obvious that the film has a unique period look that favors softer primaries and delicate nuances, but they are not accurately reproduced and as a result there are some pretty obvious balance issues. Also, there are issues with the brightness settings that futher impact the dynamic range (see screencapture #19). The good news is that there are no traces of recent degraining or sharpening adjustments. Image stability is good. Lastly, there are no large damage marks, debris, cuts, or torn and warped frames, but there are tiny flecks and even some small dirt spots. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

There are no major flaws to report, but it was quite easy for me to tell that the audio has not been recently remastered because from time to time there are some minor dynamic fluctuation that produce sporadic flatness. So I assume that if one day Paramount remaster Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood the audio will end up having an overall better balance. The dialog is stable and easy to follow.

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray release.

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There is something of an Altman-esque vibe running through Michael Winner's Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood and I think that its satirizing of the lunatics that run Hollywood is actually surprisingly effective. The obvious problem with the film is that there is also a part of it that genuinely wants to be equally effective as a comedy, but the material Winner had to work clearly wasn't good enough. The Blu-ray release is sourced from an older master with some obvious limitations, but the film has a mostly decent organic appearance. RENT IT.