Movies that were made by MGM in the 1950s and before were known for their high quality in terms of filmmaking. They were also responsible for distributing a good majority of movies featuring the famous dog Lassie. Unfortunately, like any other studio, they have a few bad films under their belt, and one of them happened to feature Lassie. Say hi to 1951's "The Painted Hills", which is often considered to be the worst of the Lassie movies, and for good reason.
The movie goes like this: Jonathan, a gold prospector that hit pay dirt, but unfortunately, his partner has recently died, leaving his only son Tommy without a father. Jonathan, who is the owner of a dog named Shep (played by Lassie), decides to give Tommy the dog so that he won't be alone. In the meantime, Jonathan gets a new partner named Lin (our villain), who is interested in keeping the gold all to himself, and would even kill to get it all, which is what he does. Lass--I mean, Shep, finds out what happened and then tries to warn Tommy. So, in short, it's a revenge story about a backstabbing partner whose plan is ultimately foiled and is killed by one of the most recognizable dogs in movies and television.
This movie is the equivalent to that of a really bad Lassie episode, in that the acting is pretty horrible, as if every actor is reading off a cue card held by the director. The story, as you can clearly see from the synopsis I've just given, is rather basic and cookie-cut that you can easily predict what will happen next, making it not even worth sitting through, despite its short running time of approximately one hour. That is, unless you watch the film via Mystery Science Theater 3000, which is what most people have done. That's right. The movie was bad enough to warrant an MST3K episode, and seeing that the movie is in the public domain, it's basically open season for anyone willing to riff the hell out of it.
If you find this movie in a bargain bin, don't even bother picking it up. Even if you're wanting to give it to your kids for them to watch, don't even bother. They'll probably want to watch something else, most likely a Disney film, or probably any movie other than this.
The movie goes like this: Jonathan, a gold prospector that hit pay dirt, but unfortunately, his partner has recently died, leaving his only son Tommy without a father. Jonathan, who is the owner of a dog named Shep (played by Lassie), decides to give Tommy the dog so that he won't be alone. In the meantime, Jonathan gets a new partner named Lin (our villain), who is interested in keeping the gold all to himself, and would even kill to get it all, which is what he does. Lass--I mean, Shep, finds out what happened and then tries to warn Tommy. So, in short, it's a revenge story about a backstabbing partner whose plan is ultimately foiled and is killed by one of the most recognizable dogs in movies and television.
This movie is the equivalent to that of a really bad Lassie episode, in that the acting is pretty horrible, as if every actor is reading off a cue card held by the director. The story, as you can clearly see from the synopsis I've just given, is rather basic and cookie-cut that you can easily predict what will happen next, making it not even worth sitting through, despite its short running time of approximately one hour. That is, unless you watch the film via Mystery Science Theater 3000, which is what most people have done. That's right. The movie was bad enough to warrant an MST3K episode, and seeing that the movie is in the public domain, it's basically open season for anyone willing to riff the hell out of it.
If you find this movie in a bargain bin, don't even bother picking it up. Even if you're wanting to give it to your kids for them to watch, don't even bother. They'll probably want to watch something else, most likely a Disney film, or probably any movie other than this.