Starting in 1937, M-G-M’s series of Mickey Rooney/Andy Hardy programmers had the most consistently profitable cost-to-gross ratio of anything in Hollywood. Naturally, other studios took note, or rather ‘notes,’ as this Columbia Pictures knock-off demonstrates. Starting in 1945, with the Hardy Family in terminal decline, likable teen Ted Donaldson, moved from 20th/Fox A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN/’45 to Mid-America (on the Columbia lot) for a series of eight Boy & his Dog meets something like the Hardy Family pics. But in entry #3, it’s Dad (Tom Powers) rather than the kid with a lesson to learn. Rusty (handsome German Shepard ‘Flame’) hasn’t all that much to do; no heroics, no tricks, yet still saves the day just by getting injured. Elsewise, dull, dull, dull, with one weird exception: Aubrey Mather as a creepy vagabond vet, the role modeled after Frank Morgan’s benign mountebank in THE WIZARD OF OZ, but oozing perverse interest. There’s even a sleep-over! Yikes! Mostly this one’s worth a look as an early, unlikely credit for director John Sturges, years before BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK/’55 preceded THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN/’60 and THE GREAT ESCAPE/’63. Note the first half-reel: clever camera moves, rhymed intro shots, all-in-one framing to cover character & narrative. You can almost hear the producer yelling down the hall after viewing the ‘dailies.’ ‘Sturges, WTF. It’s a RUSTY for crap’s sake. We got 20 thou and a 12-day shoot. Stop trying to be Orson Welles.’ (Welles indeed on the Columbia lot making LADY FROM SHANGHAI in ‘47.) Sure enough, the rest of the film entirely without visual interest.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: For overlooked John Surges, try THE SATAN BUG/’65. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-satan-bug-1965.html
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