Lassie Come Home is the first film in the Lassie series. It is a 1943 film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, starring Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, Elsa Lanchester, an 11-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, and a male collie named Pal, who played the title role.
Joe Carraclough (McDowell) is a schoolboy in a village somewhere in Yorkshire. His family is poor, but they boast one fine possession: a beautiful Rough Collie female dog, named Lassie. Times are tough in The Great Depression, though, and Mr. and Mrs. Carraclough (Crisp and Lanchester) are having a rough time making ends meet, with Mr. Carraclough struggling to find work. They get desperate enough that Mr. Carraclough sells Lassie to the local lord, the Duke of Rudling (Nigel Bruce). The Duke's little granddaughter Priscilla (Taylor) takes a shine to the dog, but Lassie is determined to get home to Joe. Twice Lassie escapes, and twice Mr. Carraclough has to bring him back. Then the Duke takes Lassie to another estate way up in Scotland, only for Lassie to escape once again, and go on a harrowing journey back to Yorkshire and Joe.
Lassie Come Home was based on a novel by Eric Knight. Five more films would be made with Pal the dog, then a television series (with other dogs) that lasted nineteen years, as well as cartoons, film reboots, and other TV shows. This film also was a big break in the career of child actress Taylor, who would become a bona-fide star the next year with National Velvet.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Dye-Job: Priscilla has flaxen hair in the book, but in the movie, she's played by the dark-haired Elizabeth Taylor.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: The Duke is more affable compared to his bad-tempered book counterpart.
- Animals Lack Attributes: Lassie, definitely a girl collie, was actually played by a male dog, with his hair groomed to hide his block and tackle. This became standard procedure not just with Pal in the movies, but with all the other dogs used in the TV show and other adaptations.
- Babies Ever After: The last shot has Joe and Priscilla riding bicycles together, followed by Lassie, followed by five puppies.
- A Boy and His X: The short story and novel by Knight are the Ur Examples, but this wildly popular film is surely the Trope Maker. Joe and Lassie are inseparable. Lassie in fact refuses to be separated from Joe.
- Crosscast Role: Pal, a male collie, employed to play Lassie.
- Determinator: Lassie will trot over rocks with her paws bleeding. She'll dodge hunters looking for sheep-killing dogs. She'll climb mountains, she'll jump out of high windows, she'll swim the River Tweed. Anything to get back to Joe.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Cripes, Lassie sure does suffer a lot on the way back to Joe. She almost gets shot. She has to fight off another dog. She has to fight off human bandits. She almost croaks but is rescued by a kindly old couple. She leaps from a high window to avoid a couple of dog catchers. But she makes it back.
- Escape Artist: Lassie escapes from her kennel by digging under the fencing. When Hynes the jerky the kennel master buries more fencing, Lassie jumps over the kennel fence. When Lassie is brought back yet again, she waits until it's time for a walk, then she slips the leash and goes on her trek back to Yorkshire.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Both Lassie and Rowlie's own dog Toots are all a-barking when two men approach Rowlie's camp. The two men are in fact bandits.
- Heroic Dog: Not nearly as present in this film as in some of the later films or in the TV show, but Lassie does help her temporary master Rowlie fight off a couple of bandits. The smaller Toots also does her best to help fight off the bandits, even though she's sadly killed during the scuffle.
- Oop North: Lots of thick accents in Yorkshire, as well as the habit of using "thou" and its forms in conversation.
- Spoiled Sweet: Priscilla is obviously a ridiculously pampered child, granddaughter to a duke. But she's a sweet little girl, and she deliberately opens the gate to let Lassie escape the Duke's estate in Scotland.
- Title Drop: The last line has Joe hugging his dog and saying "You're my Lassie come home."
- Traveling Salesman: Rowlie, who takes charge of Lassie for a while, is a tinker, who travels around northern England selling and mending pots.
- Tropey, Come Home: Another Trope Maker. Lassie goes on a long and difficult journey to make it back to Joe.
- Undying Loyalty: Lassie is willing to go through any hardship to get back to Joe.
