Lassie come home

Drama 1943 / 89 minuytes RATING: 8/10 No boy has ever had a more loyal and loving dog than young Joe Carraclough – each day when school is done, he can be sure his beloved collie Lassie will be there waiting for him in the schoolyard. Lassie is brilliant, too, able to tell time, bow on command, and carry Joe's school books. The two are inseparable. That comes to an end when the Depression hits England hard, and his family is forced to sell Lassie to the local Duke who has been trying to buy her for the last three years. Joe is crushed. But Lassie isn't away for long – the first chance she gets, Lassie escapes her kennel and heads back home. That'd make for a short movie, except that the Duke's dog handler knows just where to look for the missing dog, and takes her back from the Carracloughs. Twice. When the Duke takes Lassie to Scotland, it finally seems she is gone for good. But everyone is underestimating the loyalty of Joe's best friend. Lassie escapes again, and this time has to trek through wild forest, flee angry sheep farmers, swim through swamps, and fight off angry bandits. Thankfully, Lassie also meets some companions along the way, who help her when she most needs it. Cautions Lassie is attacked and bloodied, but the biggest concern here is what happens to one of her dog friends, a little mutt named Toots. When bandits ambush Toots' master, Lassie and Toots join the fight. They say it isn't the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog, but that doesn't prove true this time. The football-sized Toots gets kicked aside, never to get back up. That'll be a most unexpected tragedy to any children raised on modern fare. But Lassie Comes Home was made during WW II, and maybe everyone was tougher back then, including the kids. Those different sensibilities come out right at the start with the film's opening dedication to the author of Lassie Comes Home. We are told he, "survived the First World War as a British soldier, only to die in the Second World War, killed in the line of duty in the uniform of the country he had adopted... America. With reverence and pride, we dedicate this picturization of his best-loved story to the late Major Eric Knight." Yes, sometimes good men die for a good cause. So, would we expect less of a good dog? Conclusion This is the first and very best of the Lassie movies (and the only one to be nominated for an Oscar). And it is sure to make a dog-lover out of any boy watching. ...