Lassie Come Home facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Lassie Come Home |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Fred M. Wilcox |
| Produced by | Samuel Marx Dore Schary |
| Screenplay by | Hugo Butler |
| Starring | Pal (credited as "Lassie") Roddy McDowall Donald Crisp Dame May Whitty Edmund Gwenn Nigel Bruce Elsa Lanchester Elizabeth Taylor |
| Music by | Daniele Amfitheatrof |
| Cinematography | Leonard Smith |
| Editing by | Ben Lewis |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | October 7, 1943 |
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $666,000 |
| Money made | $4,517,000 |
Lassie Come Home is a 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Technicolor feature film starring Roddy McDowall and canine actor Pal, in a story about the profound bond between Yorkshire boy Joe Carraclough and his rough collie, Lassie. The film was directed by Fred M. Wilcox from a screenplay by Hugo Butler based upon the 1940 novel Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight. The film was the first in a series of seven MGM films starring "Lassie."
The original film saw a sequel, Son of Lassie in 1945 with five other films following at intervals through the 1940s. A British remake of the 1943 movie was released in 2005 as Lassie to moderate success. The film has been released to VHS and DVD.
In 1993, Lassie Come Home was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and recommended for preservation.
Plot
Set in Depression-era Yorkshire, England, Mr and Mrs Carraclough are hit by hard times and forced to sell their collie, Lassie, to the rich Duke of Rudling, who has always admired her. Young Joe Carraclough grows despondent at the loss of his companion.
Lassie will have nothing to do with the Duke, however, and finds ways to escape her kennels and return to Joe. The Duke finally carries Lassie to his home hundreds of miles distant in Scotland. There, his granddaughter Priscilla senses the dog's unhappiness and arranges her escape.
Lassie then sets off for a long trek to her Yorkshire home. She faces many perils along the way, dog catchers and a violent storm, but also meets kind people who offer her aid and comfort. At the end, when Joe has given up hope of ever seeing his dog again, the weary Lassie returns to her favorite resting place in the schoolyard at home. There, Lassie is joyfully reunited with the boy she loves.
Main cast
- Roddy McDowall as Joe Carraclough, a Yorkshire schoolboy
- Donald Crisp as Sam Carraclough, Joe's father
- Dame May Whitty as Dally, an elderly woman who aids Lassie on her journey homeward
- Edmund Gwenn as Rowlie, a tinker who befriends Lassie
- Nigel Bruce as Duke of Rudling, grandfather to Priscilla
- Elsa Lanchester as Mrs. Carraclough, Joe's mother
- Pal as Lassie (credited as Lassie)
- Elizabeth Taylor as Priscilla, a young girl sympathetic to Lassie's plight
- Ben Webster as Dan'l Fadden, married to Dally
- J. Patrick O'Malley as Hynes
- Alan Napier as Jock
- Arthur Shields as Andrew
- John Rogers as Snickers
- Alec Craig as Buckles
- George Broughton as Allen (uncredited)
Music
In 2010, Film Score Monthly released the complete scores of the seven Lassie feature films released by MGM between 1943 and 1955 as well as Elmer Bernstein’s score for It's a Dog's Life (1955) in the CD collection: Lassie Come Home: The Canine Cinema Collection, limited to 1000 copies. Due to the era when these scores were recorded, nearly half of the music masters have been lost so the scores had to be reconstructed and restored from the best available sources, mainly the Music and Effects tracks as well as monaural ¼″ tapes.
The score for Lassie Come Home was composed by Daniele Amfitheatrof.
Track listing for Lassie Come Home (Disc 1)
- Main Title*/The Story of a Dog* – 2:23
- Time Sense—Second Version*/Have a Good Time/Waking Up Joe*/Lassie is Sold – 6:30
- Lassie is Sold, Part 2 – 1:07
- Joe is Heartbroken*/Priscilla Meets Lassie – 2:40
- Time Sense—Second Version*/First Escape (beginning)* – 1:33
- Hynes Arrives/Time Sense—Second Version*/Second Escape – 2:09
- Day Dreaming – 1:30
- Bid Her Stay*/Honest is Honest/Lassie Goes to Scotland*/Lassie in Scotland – 4:45
- Lassie is Chained* – 0:51
- Hynes Walks Lassie – 0:59
- Time Sense—Second Version*/Lassie Runs Away*/The Storm/Over the Mountains*/The Lake & Time Sense #3/Lassie vs. Satan*/The Dog Fight (Amfitheatrof–Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco)*/Lassie vs. Satan, Part 2*/A Surprise for Joe*/Crossing the River* – 13:09
- Dan and Dally*/Lassie Recovers/Joe Can’t Sleep*/Time Sense—Second Version* – 4:40
- Lassie is Not Happy/Time Sense—Second Version*/Goodbye, Girl*/Meeting Palmer/Lassie Refuses Food*/Lassie Follows Palmer – 6:28
- Lassie Wants to Go That Way/Lassie is a Lady/Next Morning – 3:11
- Toots Gives a Performance*/The Dogs Play*/Thousand Kronen (Bronislau Kaper)*/Last Fight*/Toots is Dead/It’s Goodbye, Then*/The Dog Catchers*/Out of Work/Lassie Comes Home*/Duke Arrives* & This is No Dog of Mine*/Time Sense—Second Version*/Lassie Finds Joe & End Title* – 23:19
Bonus tracks
- Dog Fight (Amfitheatrof–Castelnuovo-Tedesco) – 0:44
- The Accident – 0:44
- Pump and Chicken House (Lennie Hayton) – 0:49
Bonus track for Lassie Come Home (Disc 4)
- First Escape (complete)*† – 3:07
Contains Sound Effects
†Contains Dialogue
Total Time: 80:79
Remake
A German remake was released in 2020
See also
In Spanish: La cadena invisible (película de 1943) para niños
