Lassie Come Home

For the original Eric Knight novel, see Lassie Come-Home. For the TV movie, see Psych 2: Lassie Come Home.

Lassie Come Home
An illustration of a boy and his dog in a forest staring toward the horizon.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byFred M. Wilcox
Screenplay byHugo Butler
Based onLassie Come-Home
1940 novel
by Eric Knight
Produced bySamuel Marx
Dore Schary
StarringPal (credited as "Lassie")
Roddy McDowall
Donald Crisp
Dame May Whitty
Edmund Gwenn
Nigel Bruce
Elsa Lanchester
Elizabeth Taylor
CinematographyLeonard Smith
Edited byBen Lewis
Music byDaniele Amfitheatrof
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • October 7, 1943 (1943-10-07)
Running time
89/90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$666,000[1]
Box office$4,517,000[2][1]

Lassie Come Home is a 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Technicolor feature film starring Roddy McDowall and canine actor Pal, in a story about the profound bond between Yorkshire boy Joe Carraclough and his rough collie, Lassie.[3] The film was directed by Fred M. Wilcox from a screenplay by Hugo Butler based upon the 1940 novel Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight. The film was the first in a series of seven MGM films starring "Lassie."

The original film saw a sequel, Son of Lassie in 1945 with five other films following at intervals through the 1940s. A British remake of the 1943 movie was released in 2005 as Lassie to moderate success. The film has been released to VHS and DVD.

In 1993, Lassie Come Home was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and recommended for preservation.[4][5]

  1. ^ a b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ Eyman, Scott. Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer, Robson, 2005, p. 355.
  3. ^ Variety film review; August 18, 1943, page 10.
  4. ^ "Librarian Announces National Film Registry Selections (March 7, 1994) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 18 November 2020.