Michael_Elliott Adventures of Rusty (1945)*** (out of 4) Surprisenly fun tale of a young boy (Ted Donaldson) trying to cope with life after his beloved dog is killed and his father (Conrad Nagel) marries a new woman (Margaret Lindsay). Soon he befriends a cruel and rather vicious German Shepherd named Rusty and plans on teaching him how to act right. ADVENTURES OF RUSTY was the first in a series of movies from Columbia and there are so many reasons why this thing shouldn't work but I was surprised to see how effective it actually was. This is more of a coming of age film because the main focus is on the boy and him being unable to accept his new mother and I thought the film made some interesting connections. The boy couldn't relate or get along with his new mother no matter how hard she tried and the dog wouldn't be good to the boy no matter how hard he tried. I thought it was rather interesting that they would be working on two different story lines and both of them were entertaining to the fullest. There are some pretty good moments scattered throughout the film but I think something that is really beneficial is the fact that you can believe all of the situations because this family really does come across as a real one and not just actors thrown together for a movie. Donaldson, Nagel and Lindsay are all extremely good in their roles and the chemistry is certainly there. The only weak thing with the film is a weird subplot about a couple escaped German men but where they escaped from and what their crime was is never explained so I'm really not sure what the point of adding it was. Still, ADVENTURES OF RUSTY should entertaining the young and old.

lugonian THE ADVENTURES OF RUSTY (Columbia, 1945), directed by Paul Burnford, stars child actor Ted Donaldson, best known for his supporting role as Neely Nolan in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (20th Century-Fox, 1945), in the lead performance not as Rusty, who happens to be a dog, but as a youngster named Danny Mitchell.In what has developed into a programmer film series from 1945 to 1949, this initial entry starts off in the spring of 1944 where a little boy named Danny (Ted Donaldson)is seen fishing with his dog Skipper on the very day his widowed father, Hugh Mitchell (Conrad Nagel) is to remarry a woman named Ann (Margaret Lindsay), a close friend of his deceased wife, Laura. Ann loves Danny like a son, but because she is now a member of the family, doing things for his father he used to do, he starts to resent her. On a car bound for their honeymoon where Danny is left under the care of Ann's friend, Louise (Gloria Holden), Skipper runs after them only to be killed by a passing truck, causing Danny to place the blame on Ann. And where does Rusty come in? Well, while one afternoon in the country hunting for rabbits with his friends, Danny, who had earlier encountered a vicious German shepherd called Rusty (Ace, the Wonder Dog), owned by Will Nelson (Robert Williams) of Fisherman's Creek, meets up with the animal again with an injured paw. Hoping to win the dog's affection, Danny takes Rusty home, and with the permission of his father, gets to adopt Rusty from Mr. Nelson. Since Rusty was an Army war dog in Germany, and understands only German, Danny decides to take up the German language in order to communicate with the animal. Because the dog continues to growl and bark at Danny, he goes to Doctor Banning (Addison Richards) a psychiatrist, to learn the reason why. Regardless of Ann's good intentions towards both Danny and Rusty, Danny continues to resent Ann, especially after Rusty disappears, causing Ann to walk out on her marriage, leaving Hugh alone and depressed.Regardless of its title, there's little adventure for Rusty and more family problems for the Mitchell family. ADVENTURES OF RUSTY, however, could very much be labeled as a predecessor to family television shows of the 1950s, resembling episodes of the more popular boy and his dog series, "Timmie and Lassie." As with "Lassie," Rusty is there for moral support for the family, particularly the boy, creating circumstances to allow the dog to come to the rescue. One scene midway finds Danny encountering a couple of Germans (Arno Frey and Eddie Parker) who had drifted ashore on a raft in the middle of the night, who take and use the drifting Rusty to supply them with food by stealing farm animals for them. As Danny, who has located Rusty, threatens to take back his dog, who had been missing for a week, the Nazis attempt to shoot Danny for his interference.Also in the supporting cast are Douglas Madore (Billy); Bobby Larson (Henry); Gary Gray (Berbie); Ruth Warren (Floredce Nelson); Lloyd Ingraham (The Minister); and Billy Gray (Harry).A quickly paced but sometimes uneven 67 minutes, THE ADVENTURES OF RUSTY, which turned up on cable television's Turner Classic Movies April 16, 2007, as part of its "No Animals Were Harmed" theme, was successful enough for Columbia to come up with seven more sequels. Veteran actors Conrad Nagel and Margaret Lindsay, who were by now reduced to enacting in "B" products such as this, would be substituted by other actors, namely John Litel and Ann Doran, in future installments. Next in the series: THE RETURN OF RUSTY (1946).(** Barks)

MCL1150 I wasn't born until 1963, but I have a great love of 1930s and 40s America. Until TCM began airing the "Rusty" series, I had no idea that the films even existed. I'm glad they do though. Considered corny and unrealistic by todays standards, I find them to be wonderful little time capsules of post-war USA. The reason they can't make something like this today is simply because today's world is too caught up in selfishness and lack of respect for others. It must have been nice to live in a time in which a Boy and His Dog series of films was what the public wanted to see. Unfortuanately for todays audiences, these 60 year old time pieces deal in such "boring" subjects as parents caring about their kids and the kids learning from their mistakes. If they were made today, they'd have to toss in drive by shootings, drugs, teen pregnancy and lots of profanity in order to attract an audience. And, of course, the kids would have to be smarter than the parents and all the other adults. Anyway, if you enjoy simple, predictable stories in which the kids don't hate their parents and even love them for caring about their proper upbringing, then certainly give these films a shot. All I know is these simple portraits of America in the 1940s leave me with a nice, nostalgic feeling for a time that we'll never see again. After all, the world of today is all about how the young being totally disrespectful to anyone over 30 and anything else would be seen as hopelessly corny and boring to watch. I was truly born about 50 years too late!

sol (Some Spoilers) Unusual dog movie about a former German police dog who was brought back to the states by a GI who ends up capturing two German saboteurs. The movie "Rusty" is also about a young boy Danny,Ted Donaldson, who after his mother tragically died has his dad Hugh Mitchell, Conrad Nagel, marry his new love Ann, Margaret Lindsay, which cause friction between him and his step-mother for his father affection and attention. After Danny's dog Skipper gets killed in a traffic accident the boy is left without his best friend as well as losing his dad who now has no time for his after he married Ann. Later Danny spots this vicious German Shepherd, that he later names Rusty, at his neighbors Will Nelson, Robert Williams,home and offer to take the unruly dog off his hands.At the Mitchell home Rusty is both wild and unapproachable and every time Danny goes near him, and tries to pet the dog, he takes a snap at him and once almost tears his hand off. It's obvious that the dog being trained by the German Army during WWII, the movie takes place in 1944, is anything but a Lassie or Rin-Tin-Tin. The only way to treat the poor dog is to be as unfeeling to him as he is to Danny and thus not show him any love or affection since he's unable to respond to it.Rusty felling unwanted and at the same time unable to show any friendliness toward Danny, because of his brutal training back in Germany,breaks away from his lease at the Mitchell's home doghouse and runs off into the nearby woods. It just happens that these two German saboteurs are landed by a U-Boat and they both start to do their work to blow up US military installations. All the Germans seem to do in their attempts to "Blow up America" is just go camping and then steal a number of kitchen utensils as they later run into the lost and confused Rusty. Rusty immediately responds and obeys the two Gremans, like he was trained to back in Germany, whom they use to catch rabbits and chickens from the locals hen houses and chicken coops for food for the saboteurs and Rusty to eat.Danny looking for Rusty with his friends run into him and his new masters, the Germans. Rusty after hesitating to attack Danny and friends, as he was ordered by the Germans, turns on them when one of the Nazis pulls out a gun and is about to shoot his real friend Danny. After almost getting his arm ripped off by the courageous Rusty the other German saboteur is caught by the boys and Rusty after he's hit in the head with a sling-shot by Hurbie (Gary Gray) who's the smallest of the boys looking for Rusty. The two outer Germans are finally saved from the rampaging Rusty, a former comrade of theirs, by the US Navy MP's who just happened to come on the scene. Besides the obvious boy and his dog-type story "Rusty" also showed how difficult it is for a young boy to get along with someone replacing his mom, Ann. In the end both Danny and Ann overcame those difficulties and came together, with Danny's dad Hugh, as a happy and loving family. But that wouldn't have happened if it was not for the brave and selfless Rusty who brought them all together.