LASSIE
UK, 2005, 100 minutes, Colour.
Samantha Morton, Peter O’ Toole, Hester Odgers, Peter Dinklage, Steve Pemberton, John Lynch, Jonathan Mason, Gemma Redgrave, Edward Fox, John Standing, Angela Thorne, Brian Pettifer, Kelly Mc Donald, Robert Hardy.
Directed by Charles Sturridge.
The press notes tell us that there have been eleven Lassie films or television series. And none of them filmed in Britain where Eric Knight wrote and set his story, Lassie Come Home.
Actually, it is over 60 years since Roddy Mc Dowell and Elizabeth Taylor shed their tears over Lassie. They were war refugees from Britain, working in Hollywood, and their film was a wartime morale booster.
The war is still the time frame of the story but veteran director Charles Sturridge (Brideshead Revisited, A Handful of Dust), who also wrote the screenplay, takes his team to Ireland, Scotland and northern England to recreate the Yorkshire and Scotland of the story.
It’s a very nice and enjoyable film, especially with its Christmas setting. In fact, it is somewhat miraculous. The film critics enjoyed it!
The dogs portraying Lassie are marvellous-looking Collies. The little boy (Jonathan Mason) who plays Joe is very little but very believable, Hester Odgers plays Cilla, the Duke’s granddaughter. Joe’s parents, a miner and his hard-working housewife, are played with strength by Samantha Morton and John Lynch. Peter O’ Toole is as eccentric as ever as the Duke. Steve Pemberton (from the League of Extraordinary Gentleman) is one of the most convincing ‘hiss the villain’ types for some time.
The bulk of the story is Lassie’s hard journey from Scotland back to Yorkshire, managing, surviving. There is a very pleasing interlude where she meets a tinker (Peter Dinklage from The Station Agent) but not everybody is kind to Lassie.
It’s hard to go wrong with Lassie. In fact, it’s hard to go wrong with a boy and his dog story. This version of Lassie succeeds on all counts (well, Peter O’ Toole is very mannered – but he means well).
1.The popularity of Lassie Come Home? The story? The sequels? The differing film and television versions over the decades?
2.The film made in the UK, the past films made in the US? The Scottish and Yorkshire settings? Filming in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man? The orchestral score?
3.The re-creation of the period, Britain before World War Two, the attitudes, the status of the duke and his family, the ordinary people, the miners? The boarding schools? The city of Glasgow?
4.The social atmosphere and its re-creation, the world of the miners, the mines and the closure? The duke and his estate, his mansion? The fox hunt? The world of servants? The schools? The contrasting worlds of classes, the meeting of classes?
5.The perennial appeal of a dog story? Lassie and the beauty of the collie? The other dogs in the film, the hunters, the small dogs? Toots? The pets, the training and the breeding? The look of the dogs, Lassie in action? Themes of loyalty, the journey?
6.The hunt, Lassie saving the fox, the fox going into the mines? Hynes and his working for the duke? Cilla and her wanting the dog?
7.Joe, small, his age, at school, daydreaming, being hit with the ruler? The severity of the teacher? Lassie waiting for him, Lassie at home? The poverty of the family, the meals? His reaction to the selling of Lassie? His having to say that he did not want her again, the hurt, the pain? His parents, their characters, poverty, the losing of the job at the mine? Christmas and the return?
8.Cilla, liking the dog, the duke buying the dog, the dog continually running away, burrowing under the net, diving over the cage, the exasperation of Hynes? Cilla going to school, her wanting to run away like Lassie? The Christmas ending – Cilla and her happily giving the dog back to Joe, Joe coming to live on the estate, Joe and Cilla with the dog at the end?
9.The family, hard times, the decision to sell the dog, the father going away to war, the mother staying at home and working, going to the church, the ceremony, the carols? Christmas at home – and the return of Lassie?
10.The duke and his style, his attitude towards Hynes, Daisy and her arriving with Cilla, the hunt, his going to buy the dog, playing cards with Cilla? Resisting Cilla saying he was kind? Offering the job to the father?
11.Hynes as the villain, severity with the dog, hitting with the belt – and his trousers falling down? Seeing the dog at the end, bringing the police? His being fired – and the duke disowning him?
12.Lassie’s journey, Cilla opening the gate, the people seeing him on the way, the police, the duke in pursuit? The potato truck and the accident? The police, Glasgow, her being impounded? The young girl and her kindness, the man helping her – and their becoming a couple? In the court, the judge and his attitude, Lassie escaping? The encounter with Rowli, with Toots, his helping Rowli against the robbers? Rowli letting Lassie go?
13.Rowli, the dwarf, the character, the tinker, with his puppets, the incident with the robbers, his kindness towards Lassie? The killing of Toots, his grieving? Letting Lassie go?
14.Lassie returning home, the vet, her recovering, the staunch devotion?
15.A film that appeals both to children and adults, a family film?
