Pal the Dog Movies

Female dogs tend to shed while in heat; this is why all the collies who've played doggy heroine Lassie in the movies have actually been well-disguised males. A magnificent animal named Pal was the screen's first Lassie in 1943's Lassie Come Home. Set in Yorkshire during the first World War, the film gets under way when the poverty-stricken parents (Donald Crisp, Elsa Lanchester) of young Joe Carraclough (Roddy McDowall) are forced to sell his beloved Lassie. While her new master, the duke of Rudling (Nigel Bruce), is pleasant enough, Lassie prefers the company of Joe and repeatedly escapes. Even when cared for by the duke's affectionate granddaughter, Priscilla (Elizabeth Taylor), Lassie insists upon heading back to her original home. This time, however, the trip is much longer, and Lassie must depend upon the kindness of strangers, notably farmers Dally (Dame May Whitty) and Dan'l Fadden (Ben Webster) and handyman Rowlie (Edmund Gwenn). Based on the novel by Eric Knight (originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post), Lassie Come Home was released quite some time after Knight's death. Like all the Lassie sequels turned out by MGM between 1943 and 1951, Lassie Come Home was lensed in Technicolor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gang member Joe Cobb celebrates his tenth birthday by baking his own cake since his widowed mother can't afford to buy one. Later, Joe wonders why none of the Our Gang kids have responded to his party invitations. He soon discovers that all the kids have converged at a rival party held by wealthy Jackie Condon. Sensing Joe's disappointment, Jackie invites him to bring his cake to the "better" party, thereby combining the two happy celebrations. But the revelers have a few surprises in store for them thanks to Joe's kid sister, who has "helpfully" stuffed the cake with soap, tacks, old shoes, and other such party favors. Originally released on March 13, 1927, the silent, two-reel Ten Years Old was partially remade as the 1932 Our Gang talkie Birthday Blues. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While the Our Gang kids are beating the summer heat with their own elaborate version of a "slip-n-slide," a fire alarm rings, and the men from the nearby firehouse race to the conflagration. Tagging along, the youngsters manage, through a series of incredible coincidences, to put the fire out themselves. Impressed, the fire chief deputizes the kids and helps them organize their own fire brigade. As usual, the gang takes its new responsibilities with the seriousness of any adult: They even build their own fire engine, which though unwieldy is certainly fast and efficient. But will the gang be able to extinguish a fire in a chemist's lab and escape being blown to bits by a hidden reserve of dynamite? Largely filmed on the familiar Hal Roach Studios back lot (sharp-eyed comedy fans can spot such "landmarks" as the A to Z Pawnshop and the Pink Pup Café), The Fourth Alarm was originally released on September 12, 1926. The film was meticulously remade in 1932 as Hook and Ladder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ignored by her parents and browbeaten by her governess (May Beatty), poor little rich girl Mary Kornman finds comfort only in her collection of dolls, which bear a striking resemblance to the familiar Our Gang kids. And well they should: The dolls were carved by an Italian gardener who used the kids as his models. After an enchanting sequence in which Mary dreams that her dolls have come to life, who should arrive at her home to deliver a basket of laundry but the Our Gang-ers themselves. The nasty old governess, who previously threw away Mary's dolls, gets her comeuppance when the presence of the real kids convinces her that she's gone crazy. An uneasy combination of charming whimsy and traditional Our Gang slapstick, the silent, two-reel Mary, Queen of Tots was originally released on August 23, 1925. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Living in a crowded tenement neighborhood, the Our Gang kids habitually run afoul of the nasty, ill-tempered cop on the beat, "Hard-Boiled" McManus. Upset at McManus' ill-treatment of the youngsters, Inspector Malone replaces him with the more likable Officer Mac. The kids take an immediate shine to Mac, who reciprocates by deputizing the gang as junior officers. The kids take their new responsibilities seriously -- so seriously, in fact, that they manage to capture a genuine crook. As a bonus, the youngsters finally settle accounts with "Hard-Boiled" McManus, in an abrupt but satisfying finale. Originally released on June 28, 1925, Official Officers is one of those ubiquitous Our Gang silent comedies that seemed to pop up on a daily basis in the early days of television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy The Buccaneers was originally released on March 9, 1924. As the film's title suggests, the gang decides to become pirates, but their jerry-built galleon sinks to the bottom of the harbor the moment it's christened with a ketchup bottle. Undaunted, the kids stow away on Captain Whelan's scow and before long find themselves on the high seas. Rescued by a passing Navy battleship, the kids are immediately put to work by the captain, who intends to discourage the youngsters from yearning for a life at sea. Although the kids manage to elude the captain and the crew, they're not so lucky when their parents catch up with them. A subplot involves the efforts by fat Joe Cobb to deliver a package of fish -- which mysteriously disappears thanks to a pack of hungry felines. An abbreviated version of The Buccaneers, retitled The Pirates, was included in theMischief Makers TV package in 1960. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Philip Verrill Mighel's Bruvver Jim's Baby, about a shiftless gold miner whose life changes with the discovery of an abandoned baby, was made into a fine silent Western starring the dependable Harry Carey. There is a villain (Charles Brinley), who's after Carey's gold, and a nice postmistress (Carol Holloway), who is willing to become both wife and mother. Universal surrounded their veteran Western star with a fine supporting cast in this film, including former serial queen Holloway as the post mistress, rotund comedy actor George Bunny, and one Minnie Prevost, a Native American supporting player who, billed as "Minnie Ha Ha", had made an indelible impression in Mabel Normand's Mickey (1919). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide