A Boy and His Dog

A BOY AND HIS DOG suffers from being nothing more than a short tale about a boy who sets free a dog being cruelly treated by a neighborhood man (RUSSEL SIMPSON). When the man tries to reclaim his dog, there's a trial at which the country judge (HARRY DAVENPORT) decides in favor of the boy as the new owner of the mistreated animal. That's it.

Strangely enough, this is directed by LeRoy Prinz, who later became the dance director for many a Warner film. And the boy is played by BILLY SHEFFIELD, who looks like he would have made a good Tom Sawyer except his acting skills are unremarkable. He's the brother of Tarzan's Johnny Sheffield. DOROTHY ADAMS lends some warmth to the tale with her portrait of the boy's sympathetic mother.

But it's a sugary confection, easily forgotten.

A Boy and His dog is a wonderful sweet short film (1946) that I saw on Turner Classic movies late one night that followed the 1943 classic "Lassie Come Home". Oh, I can't wait to get a dog someday! Given the Oscar for Best Short Subject it brings to light the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). Luckily TCM plays shorts often and they are always such gems. Harry Davenport, the great character actor, plays the squire. You'll remember him as Dr. Meade from Gone With The Wind.

A country boy (Billy Sheffield, brother of Johnny of the Tarzan movies), who has recently lost his father, befriends a mistreated coon hound which is owned by an ornery cuss(a character actor you will recognize if you have seen many westerns from the 30s and 40s). The hound follows the boy home after being extricated from an entanglement. After tracking the dog to the boy's house and being run off by the boy, the owner files a complaint, and a short trial ensues. The judge, played by venerable actor Harry Davenport, actually presides at two short trials involving the dog. According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, this was from the golden age of film shorts, and made by Warner Bros.

"Davy" (Billy Sheffield) returns home to his recently widowed mum (Dorothy Adams) with a new best four-legged friend. He claims that he found the hound, and asks to keep it. She agrees and that turns out be a shrewd decision as it's not bad at helping him catch rabbits. Then their curmudgeonly neighbour "Thorneycroft" (Russell Simpson) shows up claiming the dog was stolen. "Davy" refuses to hand him over, so they are summoned to court. It would seem like a bit of a no-brainer, but the kindly judge (Harry Davenport) is quite a wily old gent as he wants the spirit of the law to be adhered to as well as it's letter. This is one of those gentle stories, a parable of sorts, that seems designed to encourage that "the law is right and we must do what is right" - regardless of our own feelings. This decently produced film picks a pet as I reckon many people care more about their animals than they do about other people - but it makes it's point clearly. Sentimentally and in soft-focus, but clearly. You will never remember it, but it is a watchable little feature.

A barefoot orphan and his faithful basset hound meet up with a folksy Harry Davenport in this manipulative short from Leroy Prinz, who should have stuck to dance numbers. Not recommended to anyone who doesn't have a good supply of insulin on hand.