Lassie Come Home

(Fred M. Wilcox, US 1943, 98 min., 35mm)

Dryden Kids. The ultimate boy-and-his-dog movie—and the first in the warmest, fuzziest film franchise of all time—stars young Roddy McDowall as Joe Carraclough, an impoverished Yorkshire lad who must sell off his best friend, a Rough Collie named Lassie (beautifully played by legendary canine star Pal), when his family falls upon hard times. Lassie’s aristocratic new owner (Nigel Bruce) ships Lassie off to Scotland, where his granddaughter (a 10-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, in her second film) helps a homesick Lassie plot her escape. Free for ages 17 & younger.