Son of Lassie
Son of Lassie is a 1945 MGM feature film starring Peter Lawford, Donald Crisp, June Lockhart and the dog actor Pal. The film is a sequel to the first MGM Lassie film Lassie Come Home and follows an adult Joe Carraclough and Lassie’s son, “Laddie” in the RAF. It is the second of MGM’s seven “Lassie” films.
Plot
Joe Carraclough, now an adult, joins the RAF during World War II. Departing for training school, he is forced to leave behind his dog Lassie and her pup, Laddie. Laddie follows Joe to training school and then stows away on his master’s plane, just as it takes-off on a dangerous mission over Nazi-occupied Norway. The two are forced to parachute when hit by enemy fire. Laddie seeks help for her injured master and thereafter the two race for their lives to reach friendly lines as the Nazis pursue them.
Production
Son of Lassie was the first movie to be filmed using the Technicolor Monobook method.[citation needed]
Vancouver Island, off the coast of British Columbia, and the glaciers of the Canadian Rockies were sites for most of the film shoot. Los Angeles locations and studio lots were also sites.
Reception
Bosley Crowther in the New York Times of June 11, 1945 felt the sequel to Lassie Come Home fell short of “being a worthy heir to the champion” and further noted, “The resulting film, which, while it undoubtedly will be a delight for dog lovers, evolves mainly as a lengthy, contrived and only occasionally suspenseful melodrama handsomely dressed in the lovely polychromes of Technicolor.” He praised the main players and concluded, “it is the winsome Laddie and Lassie who romp away with the acting laurels of this pretty but incredible picture.”