Held auf vier Pfoten

Not only did she play two different parts in this film (with three different names) but she had two deathbed scenes and played a war hero who turns into a crazed killer. Any actress in Hollywood would have killed for a chance to play that kind of character, which usually leads to an Oscar nomination. But this was no ordinary actress and she wasn't even a female or even a human. We're talking about Lassie, who was played by the greatest female impersonator in the history of the silver screen, otherwise known as Pal.The star of this vehicle not only got away with playing both a male and a female in this picture (a son and his mother) but he/she was such a mega star that the producers could call the film COURAGE OF LASSIE without the character Lassie even being in it.(You wouldn't find Johnny Weissmuller playing the Thin Man in a Tarzan movie, would you?)Be that as it may, Lassie (or should I say Pal?) plays Bill with such acting skill that there should have been an Oscar awarded for the performance. Of course, the Academy would have had the dilemma of not sure whether to give the statuette for the Best Actor or Best Actress. Toss in some cute animal scenes at the beginning and a tear-jerking ending, with some beautiful location footage at Lake Chelan in north central Washington in the middle, and you've got one of the most heartwarming animal movies of that era. You just wouldn't have wanted to tell the star that he/she was an animal. Thespians can be sensitive about that kind of thing. Dale Roloff

If you enjoy watching "A-Dog-As-A-Shining-Hero" movie, then you're sure to get a satisfying charge out of Courage Of Lassie (COL, for short) from 1946.

Featuring plenty of carefully staged wildlife photography (especially within its first 20 minutes), COL had our favourite celebrity canine, Lassie, heading out on one daring, brave and big-hearted adventure after another.

As something of a bonus - COL starred a fresh-faced, 14-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, who played young Kathie Merrick, the easily-excitable daughter of simple sheep ranchers etching out a modest living in the American North-West.

All-in-all - COL was, for the most part, an enjoyable enough feature film, but I seriously think that its story was probably best suited for a much younger audience than myself.

*Note* - What didn't make a whole lot of sense to me was that, even though this film's title clearly named this prized collie-dog as Lassie, Kathie kept repeatedly calling this pedigree pooch, Bill, for whatever reason.

This film starts off with a collie named Bill who breaks away from his family and encounters all kinds of friends in the woods which are bears, ravens, hawks and even travels on a pile of wood through all kinds of rapids that almost drown him. Bill no sooner takes a chance and relaxes in the grass when he is shot by hunters and Katie Merrick, (Elizabeth Taylor) comes to his rescue who had been following Bill because he ran off with her pants as she was swimming in the a lake. Kattie manages to tell the hunters not to kill Bill, because she is going to bring him to get help from a good friend of hers, Harry MacBain, (Frank Morgan) who manages to bring Bill back to health. There are many problems that face Katie with her collie dog and Bill is even recruited in the Army. Very nice film from the past. Enjoy.

This is a Lassie movie. It stars Lassie. Lassie's name is above the title. It is not an Elizabeth Taylor movie, although her presence is just as lovely, young and innocent. Lassie here is played by the very first and original Lassie collie---who was in most, not all, of the Lassie movies. There were nine Lassies. Today, April, 2005, we have the ninth Lassie, all descendants of this very first Lassie. Courage of Lassie is a sweet and very sad story at times with a plot and storyline particular to WWII and is is not unrealistic or spectacular. It is a family movie and a throwback to a time when Lassie movies were popular. It must be viewed in that light. I recommend it,as I would recommend all Lassie movies and I, personally, am looking forward to seeing the new Lassie movie currently being filmed.

How can you not like a movie in which Lassie is inducted into the army and comes out warped into a serial killer? Like so many MGM stars during wartime Lassie found himself pressed into morale-building patriotic duty. When Frank Morgan tells Elizabeth Taylor he has a son in the Philippines, it's almost a foregone conclusion that Lassie (who goes by a variety of aliases here) will find his way to some kind of military heroism. The truly bizarre twist is that, pushed past the breaking point by his desperate Army masters to lead them to the rescue of a trapped patrol, he comes out with a grudge against the world, and winds up, essentially, on trial for murder. Ultimately, Morgan's courtroom summation turns this odd story into a surprisingly moving allegory for the situation of returning combat vets. (And I'd leap off a moving train, too, if I had little Liz Taylor waiting for me at home.)