LASSIE COME HOME
US, 1943, 88 Minutes, Colour.
Roddy Mc Dowell, Donald Crisp, Edmund Gwenn, Dame May Whitty, Nigel Bruce, Elizabeth Taylor.
Directed by Fred. M. Wilcox.
Lassie Come Home was the original Lassie film. Based on a novel by Eric Knight which had great popularity, this film had a great deal of charm and appealed to all audiences who liked films about animals. Directed by Fred M. Wilcox who directed several of the Lassie films, it is made in attractive colour. Roddy Mc Dowell who had made an impact in such films as How Green Was My Valley is an engaging young hero (and he had quite a successful career in films and television over many decades). Donald Crisp, also in How Green Was My Valley joins such engaging character actors as Edmund Gwenn, May Whitty, Nigel Bruce and Elsa Lanchester. There is a rather brief appearance by Elizabeth Taylor who was to make her mark soon with horses in National Velvet. There were many Lassie films over the next ten years. Wilcox directed Courage of Lassie with Elizabeth Taylor and The Hills of Home with Gwenn, Crisp and Janet Leigh. There were later television series. In the 70s there were more Lassie films, one of which starred Sally Boyden and The Magic of Lassie directed by Don Chaffey, with James Stewart.
1. This film is considered a classic. Why? Does it deserve its status?
2. What is the appeal of films about animals? About dogs? Children with dogs? Animal adventures? What is the appeal of this particular film?
3. The film was released in 1943? Comment on the atmosphere of the war, the tribute to the author, Eric Knight. The film's use of colour, music, appeal to family audiences?
4. Comment on the film's focussing on Lassie: the way the dog was photographed, the emphasis on the dog, people's regard, the skill of the dog, the detail of the adventure?
5. The film's showing the atmosphere of the town, of Yorkshire, of the people in the village, ice at school, Joe and his family.
6. The relationship between Joe and Lassie? How well was it shown? The details in the home. The changing relationship when Lassie went? Lassie continually returning home? A preparation for the later journey from Scotland?
7. The film and the atmosphere of poverty, Joe's parents and the way these were developed as characters, the needs of the father, the care and love of the mother, having to sell Lassie as the only possession? Trying to find a way to tell Joe this? His response of continually looking for Lassie?
8. The Lord and Priscilla? The contrast of the upper classes, a new way of life for Lassie, the cruelty of the trainer, Lassie's continued escape? Priscilla and her making friends with Lassie?
9. Lassie in Scotland and the beginning of the adventures: the escape after the cruelty, encountering the hunters and being shot at, the danger for the sheep, fighting the sheep-dog, taken in by the kindly couple and their sense of the dog's going on a journey, taking up with the traveller and his caravan, the encounter in the city, the dog-catcher's chasing Lassie and the fall from the window etc.? Why do audiences respond to these adventures so well?
10. How satisfactory was the happy resolution for the family, ice's father getting the job, the Lord employing him, Lassie being allowed to remain, Lassie going to Joe at school, Joe and Priscilla riding their bikes at the end?
11. How well did the film blend humanity, love of animals, sentiment and humour?
