Brought to America from Belgium in the late 1920s after having been trained as a working military dog in his home country, Muro found an outlet for his many skills in Hollywood. Film studios were quick to capitalize on his background, as well as the recent memory of the Great War, and publicized Muro as both canine royalty and a decorated war dog hero known as Count Muro purely for propaganda value.
A purebred Belgian Tervuren, Muro was surprisingly not the first Belgian Shepherd to take Hollywood by storm. That honor goes to Ranger, a Belgian Malinois who started acting in the mid-1920s. Still an early ambassador for his breed, Muro remains to this day the only major Belgian Tervuren movie star ever. Credited as both Muro and King in his films, he had as many titles and taglines as films, including: Dog Marvel; Emperor of All Dogs; and King the Wonder Dog.
Today, we can only guess at the true number of Muro’s films. Thankfully, he received top billing in a few surviving titles so we still have a record of some of Marvel Dog Muro’s daring deeds.
Untamed Justice (1929) (First known credit, although Muro was probably in small roles before it. This silent film may be one of the thousands that have been lost.)
The Phantom of the North (1929) (Another starring credit and a mostly lost film. Only the first 20 minutes of this film has been preserved.)
The Lone Trail (1932) (A feature film edit of the Sign of the Wolf serial.)
Do you know any more Count Muro films? Or the identity of his trainer? Please let us know!
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✯ Heroes of the Northwest ✯
Since the first major Hollywood movies casting dogs in the starring roles, like Baree, Son of Kazan (1918) and The Silent Call (1921), the dog of the wilderness concept became ubiquitous with dog movies and canine movie stars. Strongheart, Rin-Tin-Tin, Peter the Great, and nearly all of the early German Shepherd Dog stars played at least one wolfdog, dog raised by wolves, or dog serving humans in the Northwest—such as sled dogs, prospectors’ dogs, or crime-fighting partners of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
This adventure genre, with its brave, almost supernatural archetype hero dogs, and rugged human male leads, was so popular from the 1920s through the 1950s, it deserves its own page. Many of the stars were German Shepherds, many were based on James Oliver Curwood or Jack London novels, but variations on plots and dogs kept stories interesting enough for viewers to come back for more.
Luckily, many of these old films have found DVD or digital release for the first time and can be enjoyed by a new generation of reel dog enthusiasts.
There is even a novel, Shadow of the North, which takes a satirical look at the films and lives of these dogs and trainers in Hollywood during the 1930s:
✯ The Movies ✯
Here are some highlights of the wilderness genre from early feature films to the 1980s.
The Return of Grey Wolf (1926)
Renfrew Of The Royal Mounted (1937) (series)
Snow Dog 1950 (part of series)
Northwest Territory (1951) (part of series)
Nikki: Wild Dog of the North (1961)
The Courage of Kavik, the Wolf Dog (1980)
The title links will take you to Amazon movie pages (Reel Dogs earns a referral fee at no cost to you) or, for rarer titles, alternative sources for the films.
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Page under construction!
The title links will take you to Amazon movie pages (Reel Dogs earns a referral fee at no cost to you) or, for rarer titles, alternative sources for the films.
The Wizard of Oz * Year: 1939 * Country: US * Breed content: Medium
Most iconic of all Cairn films, with the immortal Terry playing “Toto”.
Under Construction
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You can send new dog movie info to moviedogs@gmail.com. Thank you!
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