Son of Lassie (1945)

Purely Joyful Movie!

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Blistering performances.

Shot when the 3rd Reich was on it's knees. the scripted locations are in Yorkshire, England and coastal occupied Norway, mostly shot in several Canadian locations, most noticeably in Banff National Park, as backdrops for many of the Norwegian scenes. It's the first of 6 MGM sequels to the first in the series: "Lassie Come Home". We have several personnel changes among the stars. Thus, Peter Lawford takes the place of Roddy McDowell, as Joe , while June Lockhart takes the place of Elizabeth Taylor, as Joe's girlfriend: Pricilla .. Both are young adults, whereas Roddy and Elizabeth were children or mid-teens. Donald Crisp returns as Joe's father: Sam, while Nigel Bruce returns as the Duke of Radling, although his estate has been relocated from the Scottish highlands to Yorkshire.......The film begins with puppy capers, as Lassie's young puppy, Laddie, generally makes a mess of things, including chewing up the Duke's flower bed. We go through a phase of genuine slapstick, with little Laddie causing several people or things to fall to the ground, making off with some laundry. The kids should like that. ......But, then things turn more serious, as an older Laddie tries out being a War Dog. True to expectations, he funks the tests badly. Nonetheless, he's given a collar saying War Dog? He gets involved with the nearby airbase, following Joe's bus all the 40 miles, Jumping on or in planes Joe is in, chasing his airplane taking off, and even being a stowaway on a reconnaissance mission to coastal Norway. Of course, their plane is shot down, necessitating a parachute exit. Lassie lands with no problem, but Joe's still attached parachute drags him, until his head hit's a boulder, knocking him out. Laddie goes looking for help, finding a couple of German soldiers. They read War Dog on his collar, but fortunately Joe has recovered and left by then. Laddie runs away, being shot at. The soldiers look for him and Joe, who remain separated. At one point, Laddie discovers the cabin where Joe and his friend Brown are hiding out. Brown is there, and locks Laddie in a closet when he sees a couple of German soldiers coming. The soldiers figure out that Brown is a spy, and shoot him, being unaware of Laddie. Before leaving, they throw a bomb in the cabin, destroying it. However, Laddie survives, under some rubble, which he manages to push out of the way enough to allow escape. The film continues with Laddie's and Joe's adventures in Norway, mostly separate, but reunited near the end, when they take a fishing boat back to England. To me, it's at least as entertaining as "Lassie Come Home", so I give it a high mark. It's on a DVD. Chose the economical 4 MGM Lassie film package.

I was surprised I enjoyed this film as much as I did. Originally I only had it on in the background on TCM while I was getting ready for work. Before I knew it I was peeking at the TV instead of looking for a shirt to wear. I was getting absorbed in the story and losing track of the time. Sure I was was going to be late for work...but I had to know, would Laddy turn out to be as brave trusty as Lassie? Would he continue to follow his master even through war torn Norway and seemingly endless obstacles including heartless German soldiers and miles of snow ? These were all questions I had to find out before I headed to my job ! Lucky for me I found a blank video tape to record the ending so I still made it.I loved this film. It had wonderful acting by all involved, including the dog. Visually it contained beautiful scenery, even great shots of the WWII planes I like so much . The production was top notch. Lots of action, and best of all a good old fashioned happy ending. What more can you ask for? These days gems like this are considered way to sugary by our cynical 21st century society to be produced. To bad cause once in awhile it's very refreshing to see the good guys and the dog all live happily ever after.If you love animals and haven't seen this one yet, get a box of hankies and some popcorn cause you are in for a real treat. Now excuse me while I go hug my beagle.

If Laddie really were the Son of Lassie, we'd have to hope that she had a lot of other pups in the litter because the writing of this movie makes Laddie into one dumb dog! (In reality, if you check out the Trivia section, this dog is Pal, the original Lassie from Lassie Come Home movie of two years before and the progenitor of every Lassie thereafter, but we'll forget those confusing realities for the moment and pretend this is really the "Son of Lassie").Right from the outset, Laddie betrays his family lineage. Where Lassie always knew the good guys from the bad guys, Laddie tries to get help from Nazis which results in them trailing him and the Allies for the rest of the movie. You start wishing after a while that someone would shoot the dog so he doesn't give away any more secrets as he reveals Allies and their hiding places wherever he goes.Where Lassie only whined when someone else was in trouble, Laddie spends the whole movie whining (and giving away Allies whenever he does so). When trapped in a cabin, instead of finding the way out (as Lassie would have done), old Laddie gets the guy hiding him shot and the only way Laddie escapes is surviving having the entire cabin blown up around him.I must also take exception to the person who wrote how "realistic" the war/POW scenes are. Through the whole movie the Nazis are obsessed with killing the dog (strangely even though they know he will lead them to an Allied parachuter) so when the dog ends up at the POW camp they just let him in to help a blind prisoner. (In reality, both the blind guy and the dog would have been killed a long time ago.) There are some redeeming qualities about the film, though. Beautiful colors and gorgeous scenery worth watching for that alone. And old friends of Lassie, Donald Crisp and a very young June Lockhart who would one day be TV Lassie's matron (Timmy's Mom). And young Billy Severn as Henrik is really great as the little boy who befriends the wounded Laddie. (You'll cringe as he touches the wounded dog with a bloody paw...Making you want to remind children again not to touch a wounded dog). It's amazing how much violence there is in this a "children's" movie in fact. Explosions and several death scenes and shootings. Maybe the kids of the war era were thought to be of sterner stuff. Anyway, as little Henrik cries in his prayers to God to find the lost "puppy", my eyes actually teared up. "I FOUND him and I LOVE him..." Sniff, sniff...He names the dog "Mr. Simply" and it's no wonder since you wonder if it's because the dog is so simple minded.All's well that ends well in a happy reunion, but you leave the movie thinking that Laddie is one dumb dog!! But, even though he's every bit as big as Mama Lassie, you leave the movie thinking "Maybe it's because he's just a puppy after all", and forgive the dumb but sweet critter in the end.

Breathtakingly beautiful location photography (Banff National Park, Canada) provides a colorful background for a war story involving Lassie, Peter Lawford, June Lockhart, Donald Crisp, Leon Ames, William Severn and an early performance by Terry Moore when she was a child actress. Dealing with the warm relationship between Joe (Peter Lawford) and his war-trained pup, it has moments of high suspense, humor and classic Lassie challenges as the dog attempts to become reunited with his master. Not as overtly sentimental as "Lassie Come Home", it scores on its own as one of the best in the string of Lassie films MGM made following the success of the first one.The war scenes are well handled with much of the action having a realistic look, as does the German village, with everyone contributing their own well acted moments to an intriguing film. Little William Severn is appealing as the boy who discovers the wounded dog and must protect it from the German soldiers. June Lockhart is refreshingly natural as Lawford's sweetheart and there are the usual pleasant performances from Donald Crisp and Nigel Bruce. Lawford and Lassie have some strenuous stunts to perform in the rapids as they escape. Definitely a Lassie film worth watching.