Lassie Come Home (1943)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director: Fred M. Wilcox

Starring: Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp

Honors:

National Film Registry

One of cinema history’s most well-known stars makes its film debt in Lassie Come Home, it just so happens to be a dog. This cinematic adaptation of the popular novel would spawn several new film and television productions based on the tale of a gifted, intelligent collie who shares a remarkable bond with his best friend and owner. Today Lassie brings to mind a passé production of a trained dog that somehow communicates well with people through his barking, but to audiences of 1943 this movie shared a touching tale of an emotional bond between dog and boy, impacting many who saw it.

Lassie Come Home is a family drama about a dog separated from his best friend, trekking hundreds of miles to return to the boy she loves. When times get tough for a poor Yorkshire family the Carraclough’s (Donald Crisp and Elsa Lanchester) make the difficult decision to sell their prized collie Lassie, despite it being the best friend Joe (Roddy McDowall), their son. After several escapes by Lassie, Lassie’s new owner, the Duke of Rudling (Nigel Bruce), takes the intelligent canine with him and his granddaughter Priscilla (Elizabeth Taylor) hundreds of miles away to Scotland. Sensing the collie’s great sadness Priscilla helps Lassie escape once again, setting Lassie of a long trek back to Yorkshire, through mighty rivers, storms, and nearly being caught by dog catchers, while along the way also meeting a number of new friends. With Lassie finally reunited with Joe the Duke’s heart is softened, offering the Carraclough father a much needed job to the great delight of Lassie’s family.

With Lassie Come Home popular culture was introduced to the one of the most iconic live action canine characters in motion picture history. Although the Lassie character would later evolve into the more heroic and highly intelligent pup, this inaugural feature film portrays Lassie as simply a lovable, determined, and very gifted family dog determined to be with the boy he loves. It provides a heartwarming tale, with moments of minor amazement in the actions and tricks performed by its four legged star. In the end it remains a feel good tale of how love wins out in all situations.

The genesis of Lassie comes from a short story in The Saturday Evening Post by Eric Knight in 1938 which he would later flesh out into a novel published in 1940. A success commercially and with critics alike, MGM saw it as an opportunity for heartwarming piece centered on a lovable dog. A story filled with morals and sappy values, which was right up studio head Louis B. Mayer’s ally. Lassie Come Home was produced in bright Technicolor shot in Washington state and Northern California to capture the lush greens to resemble English countryside with great care and art direction. In a way this dog picture would be a mini prestige picture for the mighty MGM, however without any major stars featured.

With Lassie being female collie, a female dog originally cast in the title role. However, due to excessive shedding on set the female collie was replaced by her male stunt collie, Pal. Pal’s performance in early production dailies impressed studio producers so much that they ordered the addition of more scenes for the canine star to further share his well-trained skills. Pal and his trainer, Rudd Weatherwax, would spin the Lassie character into a highly success franchise as Pal would continue to work on a series MGM/Lassie pictures. When Pal retired form performing the Lassie, and Lassie style characters he would be replaced by hit direct descendants as the Lassie collection continued to grow further in films and television.

As for the human roles in the feature, the most prominent would be that of Joe Carraclough as portrayed by then 14 year-old child actor Roddy McDowall. Fresh off his work in the Academy Award winning How Green Was My Valley McDowall was quickly becoming an industry star as a dramatic juvenile. With reserved, yet emotional performance would be perfect complement for this drama when compared to the usual wide-eyed, over the top styles on most child actors of that day.

While on set McDowall would meet and work with another child actor who would become a lifelong friend who one day became a major name in Hollywood, Elizabeth Taylor. Featured in the minor supporting role of Priscilla, Taylor was only eleven and already a cast off from Universal for not giving off the same energy or vibrancy as a Shirley Temple or Judy Garland. With that the English-born actress with the big eyelashes found her way to MGM and was cast as Priscilla possibly for simply her English accent. Little did audiences know that one day this little girl would become one of Hollywood’s biggest names in years to come.

The remainder of the supporting cast was filled with quite frankly some of the finer character actors in the MGM stable of supporting actors. The revered Donald Crisp and Elsa Lanchester portray the emotional parents who must handle the financial burdens and the sad choice to separate their innocent son from his best friend. Nigel Bruce of “Sherlock Holmes” fame as Watson portrays the snooty Duke of Rubling, who wants to keep Lassie as a trophy dog instigates the separation of dog from boy, yet in the end brings the change of heart.  Also featured in supporting roles are Dame May Witty, her husband Ben Webster, and Edmund Gwenn, each of whom become friends with Lassie as she travels back to Joe. It is easy to tell that the cast was assembled to add to the authenticity of the tale’s setting as each acting member of the cast was British born actor portraying characters from their homeland.

Upon release Lassie Come Home become a major box office success garnering millions in profit in return for this beautifully shot Technicolor feature. Its vivid color cinematography the film was nominated at that year’s Academy Awards for its rich use of the pricey medium. With the film’s success spawned a franchise of motion pictures, books, and television series’ based on the lovable collie, becoming perhaps the most popular canine in motion picture history, most rivaled by perhaps Rin Tin-Tin. In 1993 the film received the honor of being preserved in the National Film Registry as one of the most culturally significant feature in American cinema history.

Lassie as a motion picture character has lived well beyond what was originally going to be a film adaptation of a novel. It was the talents of a stunt dog that made him indelibly one of the most praised non-human performers ever portrayed on celluloid. Since then Lassie, as a character, has become passé in popular culture, but in studying this initial portrayal of Lassie we see just how this character initially became a film icon that lives on in the medium’s history.