He eventually started to try to find a way for his beloved Rinty to work at the movie studios. He was named after popular dolls in France.ĭuncan managed to get them back to the U.S. He gave away all but the last two puppies – Nanette, and her brother, Rin Tin Tin. He found and rescued a German Shepherd mother and her puppies.ĭuncan couldn’t feed and care for the whole family. Lee Duncan found “Rinty” during WWI on the battlefield of France. She discovered an incredible story of one man’s love for his dog. Orlean spent 10 years investigating the story of the dog who became a huge movie star.

Rin Tin Tin Became A Huge Movie Star in the Silent Era Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend is Susan Orlean’s examination of the career of the famous German Shepherd in films and TV. Spanning almost one hundred years of history, from the dog’s improbable discovery on a battlefield in 1918 by an American soldier to his tumultuous rise through Hollywood and beyond, this book is a love story and “a masterpiece” (Chicago Tribune) that is also a quintessentially American story of reinvention, and a captivating exploration of our spiritual bond with animals, and a stirring meditation on mortality and immortality. So begins Susan Orlean’s sweeping, powerfully moving account of Rin Tin Tin’s journey from abandoned puppy to an international movie star who appeared in twenty-seven films throughout the 1920s. Source: Advanced Reading Copy from the publisher.

Even readers coming to Rin Tin Tin for the first time will find it difficult to refrain from joining Duncan in his hope that Rin Tin Tin's legacy will 'go on forever.' (Oct.Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean Orlean directs a sympathetic gaze toward these men so haunted by their memories of the dog that swept them into stardom. Though Rin Tin Tin's contracts began to lapse in later years, Duncan never ceased grooming canine successors and shopping around scripts, and producer Bert Leonard lived on friends' couches as he poured money into colorizing old episodes of The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. The book follows Rin Tin Tin's trajectory from early Hollywood's 'Poverty Row,' where Duncan sought the dog's first film deal, to international celebrity in silent films, radio shows, and TV programs. After spending a lonely childhood in an orphanage, the young soldier Lee Duncan discovers on the battlefield of WWI France the puppy that will make a name for him as one of Hollywood's top dog trainers, and become his life's guiding purpose.

With this stirring biographical history, Orlean follows up her bestselling The Orchid Thief with another tale of passion and dedication overcoming adversity and even common sense%E2%80%94this one centering on Rin Tin Tin, the German shepherd who founded a film and TV dynasty.

Rin tin tin book review