A Boy and His Dog

"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 Boy and His Dog won an Oscar in 1946 for Best Short Subject and in its less than 30 minute running time spins a nice tale of a dog choosing its own master.

Young Billy Sheffield frees a cruelly mistreated dog from a trap and the hound follows him home. That of course doesn't sit well with owner Russell Simpson. Homespun and wise country judge Harry Davenport shows just why he is a judge in that neck of the woods in his decision.

Basically that's the sum and substance of the film. I couldn't help feeling that it could have been expanded and been a nice feature film.

Though Harry Davenport is true to type, Russell Simpson plays very effectively against his usual roles. I'd never seen him as a bad guy before, but he was quite effective.

A Boy and His Dog is still a nice family film. And I do love seeing Harry Davenport make Russell Simpson an offer he can't refuse.

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.

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.

Boy and His Dog, A (1946)

*** (out of 4)

Oscar winning short about a young boy (Billy Sheffield) who rescues an abused dog only to have its evil owner (Harry Davenport) take him to court to try and get it back. If you're a diabetic then you might fall into a coma due to all the sugar sprinkled on this thing but the film succeeds at doing what it tries. The film certainly just wants to be sweet and on that level it works as director Prinz does a very good job at telling the story and doing so in a loving nature. He also manges to make a great villain with Davenport, a well-known character actor, doing a great job at just being plain mean. The story doesn't really offer us anything new or original but it's all handled in a good fashion. The biggest problem with the movie is the performance by Sheffield who comes off very weak especially in any scene where he's suppose to show emotion.