MartinHafer "Lassie Goes Nuts"....or, perhaps another title that might fit for this one is "Lassie Goes Through Hell and Ends Up With PTSD". This is because Lassie (here actually called Bill) is tortured and goes through more in one film than most of his others combined!!! In this film, he loses his mother, gets shot, gets run over, gets sent to war and almost dies...and, naturally, ends up losing his mind. While the term was never used, he obviously was suffering from PTSD...and the film was actually a metaphor for the millions of damaged soldiers coming home from Europe and Asia following WWII...which ended the year before.Fortunately, the film is not just one series of torment after another for good 'ol Bill/Lassie. When he's not suffering, he's living with a lovely little girl (Elizabeth Taylor) and loves her dearly. But he gets lost and goes through the worst before he ultimately is reunited with her. The movie is enjoyable and the scenery AMAZING...having been filmed in the Pacific Northwest in beautiful color. And, because it was a prestige project (after all, Lassie was a BIG star at MGM), the studio used some of its best supporting actors (Frank Morgan, Harry Davenport and Tom Drake, among others) and it really is a lovely film. But some might tire of seeing the animal going through torment, so it's not nearly the film as "Lassie Come Home"!Finally, although I liked the movie I really would have loved a scene with Lassie lying on the couch being psychoanalyzed near the end of the story!

SDAim Seeing this in 2013 for the first time and as a 50-year-old adult, I really tried to imagine what I would have thought of this film had I been a young teen back in the late 1940s. I think I might have had a different reaction, but I have to say I didn't care for it at all and thought it was pretty odd.I won't recap the plot -- you can read other people's comments for that -- I'll just skip to what bugged me the most. Aside from the multiple "Oh, c'mon!" moments that made no sense at all, I thought the acting was very over the top by everyone -- with the possible exception of the dog. Several characters did highly moronic things, which, although they moved the story along, were very unbelievable, irresponsible, and disturbing.I'll give the film two stars for the outdoor sequences which had some gorgeous scenery, although I was wondering for about the first 15 minutes if I hadn't recorded a National Geographic nature flick by mistake.

wes-connors Lassie should have barked, "RE-WRITE!" during the third in the series, "Courage of Lassie". Elizabeth Taylor takes over the reigns as Lassie's owner. Obviously, the filmmakers were still not sure how to use Lassie as a name; so it's implied that the dog you love as Lassie is playing "Bill" (but it's really "Pal" playing "Lassie" playing "Bill"; and, it gets even more complicated in the film).Since it is 1946, we'll just have to go along with Lassie being drafted; but, is this "Lassie Come Home from World War II" - is Lassie an unpatriotic deserter? Then, the poor dog comes down with Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome, becomes a killer, and goes on trial. On the plus side: Lassie is terrific, as usual; the dog tries to make a bad script hunt. Elizabeth Taylor and the film look very nice in color; and, Frank Morgan feels like a good substitute for Donald Crisp, who was in the last Lassie film, and will be in the next one… **** Courage of Lassie (7/24/46) Fred M. Wilcox ~ Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Morgan, Tom Drake

Scoval71 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.