Movie Type: Family-Oriented Adventure, Animal Picture
Themes: Finding a Way Back Home, Man's Best Friend, Heroic Mission
Main Cast: Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, Dame May Whitty, Edmund Gwenn, Nigel Bruce, Elsa Lanchester
Release Year: 1943
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
Female dogs tend to shed while in heat; this is why all the collies who've played doggy heroine Lassie in the movies have actually been well-disguised males. A magnificent animal named Pal was the screen's first Lassie in 1943's Lassie Come Home. Set in Yorkshire during the first World War, the film gets under way when the poverty-stricken parents (Donald Crisp, Elsa Lanchester) of young Joe Carraclough (Roddy McDowall) are forced to sell his beloved Lassie. While her new master, the duke of Rudling (Nigel Bruce), is pleasant enough, Lassie prefers the company of Joe and repeatedly escapes. Even when cared for by the duke's affectionate granddaughter, Priscilla (Elizabeth Taylor), Lassie insists upon heading back to her original home. This time, however, the trip is much longer, and Lassie must depend upon the kindness of strangers, notably farmers Dally (Dame May Whitty) and Dan'l Fadden (Ben Webster) and handyman Rowlie (Edmund Gwenn). Based on the novel by Eric Knight (originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post), Lassie Come Home was released quite some time after Knight's death. Like all the Lassie sequels turned out by MGM between 1943 and 1951, Lassie Come Home was lensed in Technicolor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Lassie Come Home is one of the best-loved family classics of all time. Based on the novel by Eric Knight, the story has all the elements that would become formulaic over the years: an honest, hardworking family must sell the child's pet; the pet goes to the new home only to run away; the pet endures great hardships in returning home; and the happy-ending reunion. In Lassie Come Home, the actors fully inhabit their characters, making them come alive as though they were real people. Donald Crisp is excellent as the father, and Roddy McDowall is perfectly cast as the son who loves Lassie. There's even a nice bit part for the young Elizabeth Taylor, as the granddaughter of the dog's new owner, Nigel Bruce. The film has the usual high-quality MGM look, thanks greatly to the production designs of Edwin B. Willis and Cedric Gibbons and the Oscar-nominated cinematography of Leonard Smith. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Paul Groesse - Art Director, Fred Wilcox - Director, Ben Lewis - Editor, Daniele Amfitheatrof - Composer (Music Score), Leonard Smith - Cinematographer, Samuel Marx - Producer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Mildred Griffiths - Set Designer, Warren Newcombe - Special Effects, Hugo Butler - Screenwriter, Eric M. Knight - Book Author
The original film saw a sequel, Son of Lassie in 1945 with five other films following at intervals through the 1940s. A British remake of the 1943 movie was released in 2005 as Lassie to moderate success. The original film and its sequels continue to air on television and have been released to VHS and DVD.
Set in Depression-era Yorkshire, England, Mr. and Mrs. Carraclough are hit by hard times and forced to sell their collie, Lassie, to the rich Duke of Rudling, who has always admired her. Young Joe Carraclough grows despondent at the loss of his companion. Lassie will have nothing to do with the Duke, however, and finds ways to escape her kennels and return to Joe. The Duke finally carries Lassie to his home hundreds of miles distant in Scotland. There, his granddaughter Priscilla senses the dog's unhappiness and arranges her escape. Lassie then sets off for a long trek to her Yorkshire home and the boy who loves her. She faces many perils along the way—dog catchers and a violent storm—but also meets kind people who offer her aid and comfort. At the end, when Joe has given up hope of ever seeing his dog again, the weary Lassie returns to her favorite resting place in the schoolyard at home. There, Lassie is joyfully reunited with the boy she loves.
Cast
Pal as Lassie, a collie and the companion animal to the boy, Joe Carraclough. Pal was credited as "Lassie" (rather than Pal) in the film.
Roddy McDowall as Joe Carraclough, a Yorkshire schoolboy and Lassie's companion human and guardian.
During the film's production, MGM executives previewing the dailies were said to be so moved that they ordered more scenes to be added to "this wonderful motion picture."[2]
Some sources say that, initially, a female collie was selected for the title role, but was replaced when the dog began to shed excessively during shooting of the film in the summer.[3] The trainer, Rudd Weatherwax, then substituted the male collie, Pal, in the role of "Lassie". Pal had been hired to perform the rapids stunt and, being male, looked more impressive in the part.[4] Still other accounts, such as a 1943 New York Times article written while the film was in production, say that Pal was cast by director Fred Wilcox after first being rejected, because no other dog performed satisfactorily with the "near human attributes" he sought for the canine title role.[5]Weatherwax would later receive all rights to the Lassie name and trademark in lieu of back pay owed him by MGM.[6]
Reception
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Color and later the character of Lassie received a Star on the Walk of Fame at 6368 Hollywood Blvd. In 1993, Lassie Come Home was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Bosley Crowther in the New York Times of October 8, 1943 uniformly praised the performers and production, noting that the film "tells the story of a boy and a dog, tells it with such poignance and simple beauty that only the hardest heart can fail to be moved."[7]
Almost 50 years after the film's release, Parade magazine discussed its lasting cultural impact, quoting the Saturday Evening Post which said the film launched Pal on "the most spectacular canine career in film history". Lassie Come Home was also cited as a cultural icon in Jane and Michael Stern's 1992 book, Encyclopedia of Pop Culture.[3]
