Lassie Come Home

Lassie Come Home released on October 7th 1943 is the first Lassie film to be created.It is based on the screenplay by Hugo Butler, which is based on the 1940 novel Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight. It was directed by Fred M Wilcox and distributed by by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1945 A sequel called Son of Lassie was made. Lassie Come Home was remade as Lassie in 2005.

Plot
Set in Depression-era Yorkshire, England, Mr. and Mrs. Carraclough (Donald Crisp and Elsa Lanchester) are hit by hard times and forced to sell their collie, Lassie, to the rich Duke of Rudling (Nigel Bruce), who has always admired her. Young Joe Carraclough Roddy_McDowall grows despondent at the loss of his companion.

Lassie will have nothing to do with the Duke, however, and finds ways to escape her kennels and return to Joe. The Duke finally carries Lassie to his home hundreds of miles distant in Scotland. There, his granddaughter Priscilla (Elizabeth Taylor) senses the dog's unhappiness and arranges her escape.

Lassie then sets off for a long trek to her Yorkshire home. She faces many perils along the way, dog catchers and a violent storm, but also meets kind people who offer her aid and comfort. At the end, when Joe has given up hope of ever seeing his dog again, the weary Lassie returns to her favorite resting place in the schoolyard at home. There, Lassie is joyfully reunited with the boy she loves.

Cast

 * Pal as Lassie
 * Roddy McDowall as Joe Carraclough, a Yorkshire schoolboy
 * Donald Crisp as Sam Carraclough, Joe's father
 * Elsa Lanchester as Mrs. Carraclough, Joe's mother
 * Elizabeth Taylor as Priscilla, a young girl sympathetic to Lassie's plight
 * Nigel Bruce as Duke of Rudling, grandfather to Priscilla
 * Dame May Whitty as Dally, an elderly woman who aids Lassie on her journey homeward
 * Ben Webster as Dan'l Fadden, married to Dally
 * Edmund Gwenn as Rowlie, a tinker who befriends Lassie
 * J. Pat O'Malley as Hynes
 * Alan Napier as Jock
 * Arthur Shields as Andrew
 * John Rogers as Snickers
 * Alec Craig as Buckles
 * George Broughton as Allen