I gt a chance to see this at a friends house the other day after recording it off of TCM in December when it had it's premier. I hadn't seen this film in over 35 years but it has always stuck with me.
Dick Powell stars in this bizarre comedy about a rich business owner who dies and leaves his fortune to his dog, King. One day King is found dead and suspicion falls upon the caretaker of the dog named Ellen Hathaway (Peggy Dow).
The dog is allowed to return from Heaven to find his killer. Powell does a great job as detective Rex Shepard, the dog snack eating, growling, bone chewing former canine who is now human. Sherpard if accompanied by Goldie Harvey (Joyce Holden) aka Golden Harvest who was a winning horse on the track during her animal life.
The comedy basically comes from the witty dialogue and some incredible set pieces including the scene where Goldie boards a bus running 45 miles an hour and Powells' Shepard acting more like a dog is some scenes while trying to stay human.
The tale comes to a great end when the killer is nabbed and Goldie returns to animal heaven while Rex stays behind after falling in love with Ellen and discovering that she too was an animal in a past life.
I love this film and always will. I first saw it many years ago on KWGN TV from Denver as a young boy and fell in love with it, then caught it again on KGST TV from Sacramento on Movies Till Dawn.
It has finally made it to TCM as well as DVD from Universal, and so I guess I'll be buying that disc very soon. If you like good, clean comedies and just plain fun, then I can't recommend this one enough. Lou Breslow wrote the story, the screenplay and handled the directing chores. A triple threat job well handled.
The rest of the cast for this great, underrated film includes Charles Drake, Frank Gerstle, Frank Nelson and Albert Sharpe. Again, see this film. You won't regret it.
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