A Dog of Flanders (1999 film)

A Dog of Flanders
DVD cover
Directed by	Kevin Brodie
Produced by	Frank Yablans
Screenplay by	Kevin Brodie Robert Singer
Based on	A Dog of Flanders by Ouida
Starring	Jack Warden Jeremy James Kissner Jesse James Jon Voight Cheryl Ladd Steven Hartley Bruce McGill
Music by	Richard Friedman
Cinematography	Walther van den Ende
Edited by	Annamaria Szanto
Production company	Woodbridge Films
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	27 August 1999 (USA)
Running time	113 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$7 million
Box office	$2,165,637

A Dog of Flanders is a 1999 film directed by Kevin Brodie and starring Jack Warden, Jeremy James Kissner, Jesse James, Jon Voight, Cheryl Ladd, Steven Hartley, and Bruce McGill. The screenplay was written by Brodie and Robert Singer, based on the novel of the same name by Ouida. The film was shot on location in Belgium. It was the fifth film based on the original novel.

Impoverished and alone, fine artist Mary Daas (Deborah Pollitt) braves a blizzard with her toddler son, Nello, to reach the remote forest home of her father Jehaan Daas (Jack Warden). The journey has brought Mary close to death. Mary asks Jehaan to promise to care for Nello after she is gone. Jehaan keeps the promise, helping his grandson to become an intelligent and sensitive young man.

As the two live a very poor existence, Nello (Jesse James) and Jehaan make ends meet delivering milk to the nearby city of Antwerp, where they are welcomed and respected by the community. One afternoon on their way home, they encounter a Bouvier des Flandres dog beaten and left for dead in the woods. Taking him home, Jehaan and Nello nurse the dog back to health, with Nello naming him Patrasche; the boy and his new friend are inseparable from thereon out. With Jehaan's guidance, Nello hones his skill as an artist with Patrasche as his subject; his artwork comes to closely resemble that of his mother.

Nello soon introduces Patrasche to his lifelong companion and artistic muse Aloise (Madylin Sweeten), daughter of the local mill owner Nicholas Cogez (Steven Hartley). Meanwhile, Nello and Jehaan struggle to appease their wicked, heartless landlord Stephens (Andrew Bicknell). Despite this plight, Nello sets his hopes on winning a famous art contest to gain respect from the art world. Aloise wholly supports her friend in this endeavor, as does the gregarious local blacksmith William (Bruce McGill). Nello gains a mentor when he meets artist Michel La Grande (Jon Voight) by the statue of Peter Paul Rubens outside the Cathedral of Our Lady. After defending the boy against Patrasche's vagrant first owner, Michel brings him into his study and begins his tutelage, though he leaves for business in Rome soon afterward.