Lassie Comes Home

I was never fond of the Lassie television series, but the boy-and-his-dog story at the center of the Eric Knight novel is timeless and often moving. Adapted for the screen in 1943, Lassie Come Home, starring Roddy McDowell and Elizabeth Taylor, is an excellent film and holds up well sixty years later.

British director Charles Sturridge has returned to the source material and delivers a well-crafted and beautifully photographed film about a poor English family who sells their beloved Lassie to the Duke of Rudling, who takes the dog to Scotland under the care of a cruel and abusive kennel keeper. Lassie escapes and makes the 500 mile journey home to the boy she loves.

This is Lassie, after all, and the filmmakers turn up the cute factor as often as they can. But the schmaltz is not overdone, and the result is a pleasing, touching family film that is, incidentally, one of the best-reviewed films out there right now. (The Rotten Tomatoes web site rates it 92% fresh). Peter O'Toole has long been one of my favorite actors, and it's good to see the 74-year-old thespian heading the cast as the Duke. And the young actor who plays Joe, Jonathan Mason, is just adorable.

This is a good film. Pin your heart to your sleeve and go see it.