Son of Lassie *** (1945, Peter Lawford, Donald Crisp, June Lockhart, Nigel Bruce, William Severn, Leon Ames, Fay Helm, Nils Asther, Donald Curtis) – Classic Movie Review 4,647  

June Lockhart (June 25, 1925 – October 23, 2025) plays the key role of the adult Priscilla in MGM’s 1945 American Technicolor film Son of Lassie.

Director S Sylvan Simon’s sentimental but pleasing 1945 children’s American Techncolor adventure film Son of Lassie finds its beating heart in Laddie, the son of Lassie, who joins Joe Carraclough (Peter Lawford) as a stowaway in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War Two.

They are shot down over the enemy territory of Nazi-occupied Norway and for a while lead a dog’s life, but finally everything comes up roses.

The eternally optimistic story by Jeanne Bartlett is a difficult shaggy dog tale to swallow, maybe, but the MGM studio ensures that this pleasant sequel to its 1943 hit Lassie Come Home is enjoyable and particularly easy on the eye thanks to a handsome production and Charles E Schoenbaum’s beautiful Technicolor photography.

The appealing performances help a lot, with Lawford (supposedly the now grown-up version of Roddy McDowall’s character in Lassie Come Home) underplaying attractively. And there is a cute dog as Laddie, too (played by Pal, the same male collie that was Lassie in 1943!). Another dog, Major, plays Lassie.

June Lockhart plays Priscilla supposedly the now grown-up version of Elizabeth Taylor’s character in Lassie Come Home, but Donald Crisp and Nigel Bruce both return from the original as the father Sam Carraclough and the Scots Duke of Rudling.

Pleasing though it is, McDowall, Taylor and Elsa Lanchester (the mother in 1943) are much missed. Lanchester was to play the adult Priscilla but shortly after filming began, the 20-year-old Lockhart took over the role of Priscilla, the Duke of Rudling’s granddaughter. In 1958, Lockhart took the role of Ruth Martin, who adopts orphan Timmy (Jon Provost) in the long-running TV series Lassie (1954–1971).

It was shot at Vancouver Island and Christopher Point in British Columbia and Banff National Park in Alberta, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Los Angeles in the United States. The wartime airfield scenes were shot at Patricia Bay air base, Victoria International Airport.

It was shot from 22 May 1944 to mid-November 1944,

Release date: April 20, 1945.

Also in the cast are William Severn, Leon Ames, Fay Helm, Nils Asther, Donald Curtis, Robert Lewis, Peter Helmers, Otto Reichow, Patricia Prest, Terry Moore (billed as Helen Koford, her birth name), Leon Tyler, Lotte Palfi, Eily Maylon, Wally Cassell, Pedro de Cordoba, William Tannen, Arthur Space, Susan Simon, Hans Schumm, Lester Matthews, Charles Trewin, Leyland Hodgson, Frederick Giermann, and Frederic Brunn.

The cast

The cast are Peter Lawford as Joe Carraclough, Donald Crisp as Sam Carraclough, June Lockhart as Priscilla, Nigel Bruce as Duke of Rudling, Donald Curtis as Sgt Eddie Brown, Robert Lewis as Sgt Schmidt, Nils Asther as Olav, William Severn as Henrik, Leon Ames as Anton, Fay Helm as Joanna, Terry Moore as Thea, Peter Helmers, Otto Reichow, Patricia Prest, Leon Tyler, Lotte Palfi, Eily Maylon, Wally Cassell, Pedro de Cordoba, William Tannen, Arthur Space, Susan Simon, Hans Schumm, Lester Matthews, Charles Trewin, Leyland Hodgson, Frederick Giermann, and Frederic Brunn.

June Lockhart (June 25, 1925 – October 23, 2025)

June Lockhart made her film debut opposite her parents Gene Lockhart and Kathleen Lockhart in A Christmas Carol in 1938. She played supporting parts in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944); Sergeant York (1941); All This and Heaven Too (1940) and The Yearling (1946) before her role in Son of Lassie (1945).

June Lockhart turned 100 on 25 June 2025 and died of natural causes at her home in Santa Monica, California, on 23 October 2025.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4,647

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