Lassie Come Home (1943) Online
Hard times came for Carraclough family and they are forced to sell their dog to the rich Duke of Rudling. However, Lassie, the dog, is unwilling to leave the young Carraclough boy and sets out on the long and dangerous journey in order to rejoin him.
Complete credited cast: | |||
Roddy McDowall | - | Joe Carraclough | |
Donald Crisp | - | Sam Carraclough | |
May Whitty | - | Dally (as Dame May Whitty) | |
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) |
Elizabeth Taylor replaced Maria Flynn in the role of Priscilla. Some sources say Flynn was afraid of the dog on the set. Others say that she grew taller than Roddy McDowall or that the strong Technicolor lighting caused her eyes to water. In any case, production was halted. The producer was walking the 600 block of North Foothill Road in Beverly Hills doing his nightly patrol as an air raid warden when he met Francis Taylor, who patrolled the 700 block. Knowing he and Sara wanted to get their daughter into the movies, he asked him to bring Elizabeth to the studio. There she was introduced to Lassie and the production resumed.
After a nationwide hunt for a suitable dog for this movie failed, MGM called in dog trainer Rudd Weatherwax. He 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 his direct descendants.
Pal, who played Lassie, earned a salary of $250 per week, while young Elizabeth Taylor was paid $100 per week.
Though Lassie is supposed to be a female dog, this and all subsequent Lassie films have used male dogs to play her, supposedly because males are easier to train.
The number of purebred collies registered in the United States in the late 1940s increased from 3,000 to 18,400, probably because of the Lassie series of films.
The film was shot in the state of Washington and in Monterey, CA, while the rapids scene was shot on the San Joaquin River in California.
First in a series of seven MGM films starring "Lassie."
Many people misinterpret the title of this movie. The title is not "Lassie, Come Home" (with a comma). It's not as if anyone is commanding Lassie to come home. The title is "Lassie Come Home" (with no comma), which is heard in the last line of the film: "You're my Lassie come home." Another way of saying this is, "You are my Lassie who has come home." In the title and the last line, the phrase "come home" is an adjective that describes "Lassie," not a verb in the imperative mood. "You're my Lassie come home" has the same grammatical structure as "She's a lamb gone astray," "It was problem met head-on," and "There's one houseplant left outdoors."
Feature debut of director Fred M. Wilcox.
This film was first telecast in Philadelphia Sunday 14 April 1957 on WFIL (Channel 6), and in Los Angeles Friday 19 April 1957 on KTTV (Channel 11), followed by Altoona PA 28 April 1957 on WFBG (Channel 10), by Chicago 11 May 1957 on WBBM (Channel 2), by New York City 3 June 1957 on WCBS (Channel 2), by Hartford CT 14 June 1957 on WHCT (Channel 18), by Honolulu 4 August 1957 on KHVH (Channel 13), by Memphis 31 August 1957 on WHBQ (Channel 13), by both Salt Lake City and Tampa 2 September 1957 on KTVT (Channel 4) and on WFLA (Channel 8), by Baltimore 12 September 1957 on WJZ (Channel 13), by Seattle 18 November 1957 on KING (Channel 5), and by San Francisco 3 May 1958 on KGO (Channel 7). At this time, color broadcasting was in its infancy, limited to only a small number of high rated programs, primarily on NBC and NBC affiliated stations, so these film showings were all still in B&W. Viewers were not offered the opportunity to see these films in their original Technicolor until several years later.
User reviews