FAQ

Challenge to Lassie is based on the 1912 novel Greyfriars Bobby by American writer Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson. The novel was adapted for the screen by American screenwriter William Ludwig.

Yes. Bobby was a Skye Terrier who spent 14 years guarding the grave of his master, John Gray, after Gray died of tuberculosis in 1858 and was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. Bobby guarded the grave until his own death in 1872. In 1873, a statue was erected to commemorate his loyalty.

After John Trail (Edmund Gwenn) relates the story of how Lassie came to steadfastly stand guard over the grave of his master, John "Jock" Gray (Donald Crisp), Dr Lee (Arthur Shields) attempts to convince the court that Lassie is a loyal and well-behaved dog. Even when the children from the town storm the court and plunk down their 12 shillings for license, the court holds steadfast to the law that says a dog without a recognized owner cannot be licensed and must be put to death. Suddenly, the sunset bugle sounds and Lassie goes berserk, eventually crashing through a window in order to get outside. The judge rules that Lassie is a dangerous beast and should be destroyed, but Trail explains that Lassie wants only to stand guard on Jock's grave, as she does every night when the sunset bugle sounds, and he offers to prove it to the court. Everyone from the judge to the smallest child traipses down to the Greyfriars cemetery. Sure enough, there is Lassie, lying contentedly on Gray's grave. The Lord Provost (Alan Napier) decides to confer upon Lassie the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh, "and a free citizen of Edinburgh needs no license." In the final scenes, the Provost charges Sergeant Davie (Reginald Owen) to stand guard at the cemetery gates and answer questions from the press and other interested passersby. "Woof! Woof!" says Lassie.