Rusty!

In the summer of 2007, just after I graduated from high school, TCM started showing the Rusty films - a series of cornball kiddie films made by Columbia in the late '40s. They center on Danny Mitchell (Ted Donaldson), an American Everykid living in Lawtonville, Illinois, his friends and family - and his dog, the German Shepherd Rusty. What started out as a bit of morbid curiosity grew to a regular Saturday morning viewing experience that year. Rusty remained a silly memory until TCM started to re-run the series about a month ago, and given my odd affection for these films and the existence of this blog, it seems a logical subject for a blog piece.

In 1945, Columbia Pictures produced The Adventures of Rusty. Rusty was conceived as a competitor to the hugely successful Rin Tin Tin and Rex the Wonder Dog, with Ace the Wonder Dog in the title role and child star Ted Donaldson (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) as his master Danny Mitchell. The initial film was successful enough to warrant a sequel; ultimately, there would be eight installments in the Rusty series. These films would be pretty typical children's fare of the time, not dissimilar from stuff like Leave it to Beaver, with the same childhood lessons and morals taught at the end of the films, Danny learning his lesson but never seeming to grasp the big picture (with lots of threats of going to military school in the bargain).

Ace would not last long in the role. An unidentified dog played Rusty in The Return of Rusty; Flame would play the part a total of five times; a dog approrpiately named Rusty would take the role in Son of Rusty. To be fair, though, Rusty underwent a horrible series of tortures - being shot, crushed by a trailer, blown up, snake-bitten, run over by a car, paw caught in a trap, nearly drown, caught in barbed wire, and kidnapped - that it's little wonder they had to change dogs. Also, Danny's aberrant behavior throughout the film can be explained by the fact that his parents were played by two actresses and three actors. Ted Donaldson, a not-bad child actor whose career petered out as he got older, plays Danny throughout all eight films. What a traumatic childhood he must have led, waking up every morning not knowing if his parents would be the same people as when he went to sleep!

The second entry in the series, The Return of Rusty, was never shown on TCM, and is perhaps a lost film. However, that will not dissuade us from examining the other entries in the series.

The Adventures of Rusty (1945)

Poor Danny Mitchell is living a hard life. His mother has died, and his dad (Conrad Nagel) has remarried old friend Ann (Margaret Lindsay, later re-named Ethel), much to Danny's disapproval. Worst, Danny's dog Skipper gets run over by a truck the day of his parents' honeymoon. While Danny struggles to adjust to his new mom, he befriends Rusty, a vicious ex-Gestapo police dog (no, seriously) brought back from WWII by a local veteran (Robert Williams). So basically it's a family soap opera with a Nazi dog thrown in.

About midway through a pair of Nazi spies (Arno Frey and Eddie Parker) come ashore via U-Boat for no particular reason, leading to some tension with Rusty and Danny. As Lawtonville is later established as being in Illinois, this would make it the only Midwestern city with access to the sea. Rusty as played by Ace is mostly a snarling, Kraut-speaking jerk, helping the Nazis steal chickens (surely the Fuhrer's most diabolical plot) but ultimately turning the tables on them after Danny trains him to be nice. But it's not really about Rusty then, is it?

Rating: 3 bones out of 10 (with apologies to the Video Hound)

For the Love of Rusty (1947)

This third entry in the series, directed by John Sturges (!), sets the tone for the rest of the series. Here, Rusty (played by Flame for the first time) plays a wholly secondary role. Flame is a handsome, very-talented German shepherd who mostly stands around looking adorable and performing occasional dog tricks for the camera. It makes up for a lack of anything substantiative to do as the story becomes a family soap opera about Danny's difficult relationship with his dad Hugh (now Tom Powers) and his friendship with a local eccentric, the creepy "Doctor" Fay (Aubrey Mathers). There isn't much to recommend this entry, aside from an amusing carnival scene where Rusty is driven wild by a potato-peeling carny (Eddie Fetherston) and mauls him half to death. It's also the first time a borderline-crazy eccentric shows up in town for no reason - and hardly the last. Lawtonville is a regular magnet for transients, vagrants, criminals and crazies, as we'll soon discover.

Rating: 2 bones out of 10

Son of Rusty (1947)

Son of Rusty is one of the most entertaining entries in the series (admittedly not a great achievement). Moody, outcast Air Force vet Jed Barlow (Stephen Dunne) shows up in Lawtonville, setting up shop in an abandoned farm. Being the usual small-town, Lawtonville begins spreading rumors about the admittedly-unfriendly stranger and treating him like dirt - especially after Danny discovers that he was imprisoned in a military jail while in the service. Things come to a head when Jed accidentally blows up Rusty (here played by "Rusty") with dynamite (!) and goes on trial for careless use of explosives, with the town eager to tar and feather the "jailbird".

The dubious highlight of the film is Thurston Hall, playing an obnoxious, eccentric town lawyer. Towards the end, he gives a five-plus-minute long lecture on the evils of intolerance to the town, speaking like a pompous dime-store Clarence Darrow happy to have a platform for his ego and pomposity. I'm sure kids in the '40s appreciated the lengthy lecture just as much as they did getting caned by their parents every night.

Now, after reading that description, I know just what you're thinking: Why the hell is this installment called Son of Rusty? Why, because jailbird Jed has a bitch that Rusty falls for, romances (inasmuch as dogs can romance, I suppose) and knocks up, and so at the very end she has a litter of puppies, at least one of which is a boy! Totally worth naming the movie after, eh wot? (I suppose it's a better title than Son of a Bitch, I grant you...)

Rating: 5 bones out of 10

My Dog Rusty (1948)

My Dog Rusty gives us another lecture on the dangers of spreading gossip and truth telling, in case you hadn't yet got it. Danny's dad runs for Mayor against the mean, crooked Mayor Fulderwilder (Lewis L. Russell), who will do anything to win. Danny does everything he can to help his dad, including sneaking out at night and lying to his dad about it - what's a Rusty film without Father-son tension? Danny works for local doctor Toni Cordell (Mona Barrie, seemingly channeling Celia Johnson), who just happens to be Hugh's old college flame, and makes a lab error that leads to an accusation of tainted water supply against the Mayor. On top of everything else, the movie offers yet another grim tale of animal abuse: adorable blind guy Whitford Kane accidentally crushes his cute little terrier with a vase, and Rusty gets snakebit in the forest. Good thing the ASPCA wasn't around back then.

Here, Danny goes through yet another change in father. John Litel takes over the role of Hugh Mitchell, and he's easily the best of the lot; he has a warm, friendly manner that makes him convincingly fatherly compared to the stiff Conrad Nagel and crusty Tom Powers. He has genuine chemistry with his "wife" and "son" and isn't a bad actor either, although the screenwriters' attempt to supply him and Mrs. Mitchell with Hawksian banter are pretty lame. In an oddly appropriate continuity error, Danny writes a letter referring to his father's sixteen-year marriage to wife Ethel (Ann Doran) - apparently forgetting the first entry in the series, he had so much trouble adjusting to his father's re-marriage! I guess when your parents transform so often, you're liable to forget such things.

Rating: 5 bones out of 10

Rusty Leads the Way (1948)

Rusty yet again plays a secondary role here to the story of blind girl Penny (Sharyn Moffet), who arrives in Lawtonville with her mom (Peggy Converse), befriends Danny and Rusty, and debates whether to take on a guide dog or go to a school for blind children. It's not a very good entry, with lengthy and interminable scenes of Danny's dad and the school board debating how to deal with Penny's educational situation, though Penny's little Boxer Tubby is adorable (Penny herself, less so). In a truly odd moment, the scene where Penny and Tubby get confused whilst walking along a loud and busy street is directed with the sharp editing and vivid imagery of a Hitchcock film - heaven knows why.

Rating: 2 bones out of 10

Rusty Saves a Life (1949)

I tend to enjoy kids' programs most when I can get some morbid, perverse enjoyment out of the affair, and in this regard Rusty Saves a Life is by far the best entry in the series. Here, the kids' friend Counselor Gibson passes away, and his crabby nephew Fred (Stephen Dunne, previously "jailbird" Jed Barlow), who accidentally runs over Rusty the moment he shows up in town (a dog's life, I guess). Danny and his pals go from mildly mischevious scamps to outright juvenile delinquents, declaring a private war on the snot-nosed Fred, sending him threatening notes, throwing rocks through his window and setting his property on fire. The town gets in on the act, turning a cold shoulder to Fred and revealing the Counsellor's words about the tolerance and friendliness to be a bitter, sick, twisted joke on the part of a man who spent ten minutes haranguing the townspeople on their intolerance in his prior appearance.

Most of the enjoyment this installment has to offer is watching the kids be complete jerks and get their comeuppance. The townspeople's conversion, instigated by Fred's would-be love interest Gloria Henry, is a bit much, but John Litel and Ted Donaldson have some of their best acting moments in the series as Danny's delinquency escalates. Stephen Dunne is a mediocre actor but the script gives him a fairly layered character to work with - he's admittedly a jerk but he has a reason to be bitter towards his Uncle, and the kids and townspeople don't make his stay in Lawtonville any easier. The only question is whether the film was deliberately ironic in its having a character who previously harangued the town for intolerance, force his nephew to stay in a town he praises for its friendliness. I somehow doubt it, but then I refuse to believe Douglas Sirk was a satirist rather than a bone-headed mook either.

Rating: 6 bones out of 10

Rusty's Birthday (1949)

This final installment in the series comes not a moment too soon, as Danny is a high school junior ready to attend a military academy (I guess it's no longer an empty parental threat). This entry has Rusty accidentally falling in with a group of transient workers who try and find a home Lawtonville. Unfortunately for everyone, it features the horribly annoying kid Jimmy Hunt (who would gain some degree of immortality for starring in Invaders From Mars), who refers to Rusty as "Gladly" with a toxically-cute voice and demeanor. He's adorable you just want to throw him under a train. The movie has a few moments, including a fist-fight between Danny and jerk hobo boy Bill (Mark Dennis), but mostly you're just waiting anxiously for the series to finally end; we've seen this too many times and that horribly annoying punk isn't helping. At the end, Rusty's gal has another litter of puppies, the Mitchells give one to the obnoxious kid and zzzzz. Let's just say we're glad it's all over at this point. We've had more than enough of Danny, Rusty and Co. by this point.

Rating: 2 bones out of 10