A Boy and His Dog

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 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.

Young Davy Allen rescues a dog brutally chained to a fence. He releases the collar and brings the dog home. Mean Mr. Thornycroft comes looking for the dog but Davy refuses to hand him over. Thornycroft sends the sheriff to force the issue. The judge holds court in the local general store. It turns out that the magistrate is also a local director of the SPCA.

He did steal the dog. I mean to say that Davy did steal the dog. It's not like the dog was being beaten. Thornycroft is the classic mean old man. I also don't know about treating the dog as an individual. That's a bit too progressive. Again it would help if Thornycroft would give the dog a few wacks. Otherwise, there is no real evidence against him. Being a mean old man is not enough to steal his dog. This won the Oscar for best short subject.

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.