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A Dog of Flanders (1959 film)

1959 film by James B. Clark

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ3948410 ↗
Source-derived summary

A Dog of Flanders is a 1960 American drama film directed by James B. Clark, with stars David Ladd, Donald Crisp and Theodore Bikel. It is based on the 1872 novel of the same name by Ouida. It was released on March 17, 1960, by 20th Century Fox in CinemaScope and Color by De Luxe.

Unlike the novel, which has a tragic end; also like the 1935 different RKO film as well as the 1999 Warner Bros./Woodbridge film, the film has a happy ending for the boy and his dog.

"Patrasche" is played by Spike the Mastador, best known for playing the title character in the 1957 Disney film Old Yeller.

Plot

The emotional story of a boy, his grandfather, and his dog. The boy's dream of becoming a great classical painter appears shattered when his loving grandfather dies.

Cast

David Ladd as Nello Daas

Donald Crisp as Jehan Daas

Theodore Bikel as Piet Van Gelder

Max Croiset as Cogez the miller

Monique Ahrens as Corrie

Siobhan (incorrectly credited as "Siohban") Taylor as Alois Cogez

Gijsbert Tersteeg as the landlord

John Soer as the peddler

Katherine Holland as the miller's wife

Lo van Hensbergen as the priest

Spike the Mastador as Patrasche

Hans Tiemeyer

Maxim Hamel

John De Freese

Mathieu van Eysden

Katja Berndsen

Heleen van Meurs

Ulla Larsen

Production

Robert L. Lippert enjoyed success with a children's film starring David Ladd called The Sad Horse.

The film was announced in March 1959. Robert L. Lippert says the film was originally shot in black and white "but everything was so beautiful so we changed it to color."

Filming started June 22, 1959.

Editorial summary

“A Dog of Flanders (1959 film)” enters the record as 1959 film by James B. Clark. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Flanders, film and James can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1960, 1872, 1935, 1999—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Flanders, film and James.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“A Dog of Flanders (1959 film)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Flanders, film and James provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3948410. The first chronological checks are 1960, 1872, 1935 and 1999.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “A Dog of Flanders (1959 film)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow A Dog of Flanders (1959 film) primary sources, A Dog of Flanders (1959 film) archive and Flanders research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “A Dog of Flanders (1959 film)”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “A Dog of Flanders (1959 film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.