The Story of Lassie

I was so pleased to see this hour-long documentary made at the time the 1994 Lassie movie was being made. It is hosted by the amazingly prolific June Lockhart now in her 97th year and still doing a bit of voice acting. She played Ruth Martin in the 1958-1964 TV Lassie series and had appeared as Priscilla in the 1845 movie 'Son of Lassie.' We get to see choice scenes from the MGM Lassie films with Margaret O'Brien and Elizabeth Taylor and Roddy McDowall. Roddy McDowall mentions the propaganda value of the first two Lassie films made in wartime. The original Lassie was played by a male rough collie called Pal. We hear Pal's markings became the prescribed look that all Lassie dog actors had to have in the years since. Pal earnt a lot of money for MGM so he got to be centre stage for MGM's 1949 group of stars photo shoot. But by 1951 wanted to ditch the Lassie films and offered to pay off the dog's owner and trainer, Rudd Weatherwax. He refused the $40,000 MGM were offering and instead asked for the trademark rights of the Lassie character. Family movies moved to TV a lot after 1951 and we get to see the various TV Lassies and hear the actors' stories of those lovely times.