While there have been many enjoyable boy-and-his-dog movies over the years--Old Yeller stands out, and more recently My Dog Skip and the underrated Shiloh have made their mark--this MGM classic from 1943 is the granddaddy of them all. Though the tale of a collie that travels all the way from Scotland to Yorkshire to reunite with her young master (Roddy McDowall) boasts a great cast of British character actors--Nigel Bruce, Donald Crisp, Elsa Lanchester, Edmund Gwenn, Dame May Whitty--and a supporting turn by the then 10-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, the dog easily outshines them all, and her adventures, alternately exciting, comic, and sentimental, are all the more impressive given the fact that they are presented without modern special effects or computer imaging. The luminous Technicolor images come across reasonably well in the new digitally remastered transfer, and the disc includes a fascinating historical curiosity: a 1943 MGM short that purports to be an autobiographical portrait of FDR's pooch Fala, with the subject's voice provided by the familiar Pete Smith (obviously designed as an aid to the war effort, the film features not only the president, but also Winston Churchill and the daughter of FDR aide Harry Hopkins). Highly recommended. [Note: the sequels Courage of Lassie and Son of Lassie are also available.] (F. Swietek)
Lassie Come Home
Warner, 89 min., G, DVD: $14.98 Volume 19, Issue 6
Lassie Come Home
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