Lassie Come Home (1943)

Director:

Fred M. Wilcox

Writers:

Hugo Butler (screenplay)
Eric Knight (novel)

Release Date:

December 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Family

Tagline:

A Thrilling Saga Of Courage And Loyalty !

Plot:

After her destitute family is forced to sell her, a collie named Lassie escapes from her new owner and begins the long trek from Scotland to her Yorkshire home.

Plot Keywords:

Dog | Lassie | Scotland | Duke | Escape

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins

Cast

Roddy McDowall	...	Joe Carraclough
Donald Crisp	...	Sam Carraclough
Dame May Whitty	...	Dally
Edmund Gwenn	...	Rowlie
Nigel Bruce	...	Duke of Rudling
Elsa Lanchester	...	Mrs. Carraclough
Elizabeth Taylor	...	Priscilla
Ben Webster	...	Dan'l Fadden
J. Pat O'Malley	...	Hynes (as J. Patrick O'Malley)
Alan Napier	...	Jock
Arthur Shields	...	Andrew
John Rogers	...	Snickers
Alec Craig	...	Buckles
Pal	...	Lassie (as Lassie)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:G (video rating) | Netherlands:6 (2008) | West Germany:6 (f) | Finland:S | Norway:A | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #8995) | USA:G (re-rating) (1971) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

After a nationwide hunt for a suitable dog for this movie failed, MGM called in dog trainer Rudd Weatherwax, who had many purebred collies, but Pal, his one-year old male collie (who had no papers), easily won the role. Pal retired at age 5, after which all subsequent Lassie films used direct descendants of Pal.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: While speaking about whether to keep Lassie or not it is obvious that the large hearth behind the elderly couple is a drop screen. Shadows from the lights show behind the couple left to right as you watch, but the shadows on the hearth shine from the opposite direction right to left.

Quotes:

Mrs. Carraclough: Oh, well. Ye may as well know it right off. Lassie won't be waiting for ye at school anymore.
Joe Carraclough: Why not? What's happened?
Mrs. Carraclough: Because she's sold; that's why not.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Three's Company: Chrissy Come Home (#2.23)" (1978)

Soundtrack:

I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls

For Dog Lovers Everywhere

A magnificent British collie struggles to cover the hundreds of miles that separate her from the family she loves.

LASSIE COME HOME is one of the truly great family films. Crafted with care by MGM and based on the classic novel by Eric Knight, it will strike a warm response in the heart of anyone who has ever loved a dog.

The production values are first rate and the color photography is spectacular. While the scenery & filming locations are strictly Western North America, they nevertheless make evocative stand-ins for the settings in the book. It might be worth the viewer's time to check the relationship of the Yorkshire Moors with the Scottish Highlands on a map, so as to better appreciate the phenomenal journey which the dog undertakes.

The casting is excellent throughout: Donald Crisp, Elsa Lanchester & Roddy McDowall as the poor, proud family which must sell their only treasure, Lassie; Nigel Bruce as the gruffly tenderhearted Duke which buys the dog; a young Dame Elizabeth Taylor plays his lively granddaughter. J. Pat O'Malley portrays the brutal dog handler employed by the Duke.

Along her journey Lassie encounters old folks who need her companionship (Dame May Whitty & real-life husband Ben Webster, in his last film role), a traveling tinker who values her protection (Edmund Gwenn), and suspicious sheepmen on the watch for killer dogs (Alan Napier & Arthur Shields).

Lassie is played by Pal, a male dog trained by the celebrated Rudd Weatherwax (1907-1985), who was responsible for generations of Lassies which appeared in movies & television. Pal gives a remarkable performance, providing the very heart & soul of the film.

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Eric Mowbray Knight was born in Yorkshire, England, on April 10, 1897. Moving to America in 1912, he became a student in New York, but left to join the Canadian Armed Forces with the outbreak of World War One. In 1932 he published a collection of his wartime letters - Portrait Of A Flying Yorkshireman. Later came two novels which made good use of authentic Yorkshire dialect: Invitation To Life (1934) and Song On Your Bugles (1937). He didn't think much of his 1940 children's book, Lassie Come-Home and was very surprised at its great success. His next novel, This Above All (1941), a World War Two romance, was also popular. Knight joined the United States Army and rose to the rank of Major. Working with an Army film unit under the direction of Frank Capra, Eric Knight was tragically killed in a plane crash off the coast of Suriname on January 15, 1943. MGM dedicated LASSIE COME HOME, which was released later that year, to his memory.

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The snatch of ballad Edmund Gwenn is singing while shaving in his first scene is "I Dreamt That I Dwelt In Marble Halls" from the 1843 operetta The Bohemian Girl by Michael William Balfe (1808-1870).