Adventures of Rusty

Ace the Wonder Dog gives a great performance as ‘Rusty.’ There are noobvious places where they added noises to the dog (growls, yelps, barks,etc.) His performance is very believable. That dog is a good actor and verywell trained.

At times this movie can be a little melodramatic, and has a fairlypredictable ending, although it does add a few unexpected elements. TheGermans aren’t viewed in a terribly favorable light, but that is to beexpected, as this film was made during World War II. Rusty was a Germandog.Although it does exactly say why he was so aggressive, it implies that theGerman methods create a fearsome, untrusting dog. This, of course, would bea generalization, but German dog training methods as a general rule arestricter (although it doesn’t create aggressive dogs).

Nothing incredible about this movie, but it is fun to watch with a solidscript, good values, fair acting and great dogs.

2) (Some Spoilers) Unusual dog movie about a former German police dog whowas brought back to the states by a GI who ends up capturing two Germansaboteurs. The movie "Rusty" is also about a young boy Danny,TedDonaldson, who after his mother tragically died has his dad HughMitchell, Conrad Nagel, marry his new love Ann, Margaret Lindsay, whichcause friction between him and his step-mother for his father affectionand attention.

After Danny's dog Skipper gets killed in a traffic accident the boy isleft without his best friend as well as losing his dad who now has notime for his after he married Ann. Later Danny spots this viciousGerman Shepherd, that he later names Rusty, at his neighbors WillNelson, Robert Williams,home and offer to take the unruly dog off hishands.

At the Mitchell home Rusty is both wild and unapproachable and everytime Danny goes near him, and tries to pet the dog, he takes a snap athim and once almost tears his hand off. It's obvious that the dog beingtrained 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 poordog is to be as unfeeling to him as he is to Danny and thus not showhim any love or affection since he's unable to respond to it.

Rusty felling unwanted and at the same time unable to show anyfriendliness toward Danny, because of his brutal training back inGermany,breaks away from his lease at the Mitchell's home doghouse andruns off into the nearby woods. It just happens that these two Germansaboteurs are landed by a U-Boat and they both start to do their workto blow up US military installations.

All the Germans seem to do in their attempts to "Blow up America" isjust go camping and then steal a number of kitchen utensils as theylater run into the lost and confused Rusty. Rusty immediately respondsand obeys the two Gremans, like he was trained to back in Germany, whomthey use to catch rabbits and chickens from the locals hen houses andchicken coops for food for the saboteurs and Rusty to eat.

Danny looking for Rusty with his friends run into him and his newmasters, the Germans. Rusty after hesitating to attack Danny andfriends, as he was ordered by the Germans, turns on them when one ofthe 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 theother German saboteur is caught by the boys and Rusty after he's hit inthe head with a sling-shot by Hurbie (Gary Gray) who's the smallest ofthe boys looking for Rusty. The two outer Germans are finally savedfrom the rampaging Rusty, a former comrade of theirs, by the US NavyMP's who just happened to come on the scene.

Besides the obvious boy and his dog-type story "Rusty" also showed howdifficult it is for a young boy to get along with someone replacing hismom, Ann. In the end both Danny and Ann overcame those difficulties andcame together, with Danny's dad Hugh, as a happy and loving family. Butthat wouldn't have happened if it was not for the brave and selflessRusty who brought them all together.

3) THE ADVENTURES OF RUSTY (Columbia, 1945), directed by Paul Burnford,stars child actor Ted Donaldson, best known for his supporting role asNeely Nolan in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (20th Century-Fox, 1945), inthe lead performance not as Rusty, who happens to be a dog, but as ayoungster 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 boynamed Danny (Ted Donaldson)is seen fishing with his dog Skipper on thevery day his widowed father, Hugh Mitchell (Conrad Nagel) is to remarrya woman named Ann (Margaret Lindsay), a close friend of his deceasedwife, Laura. Ann loves Danny like a son, but because she is now amember of the family, doing things for his father he used to do, hestarts to resent her. On a car bound for their honeymoon where Danny isleft under the care of Ann's friend, Louise (Gloria Holden), Skipperruns after them only to be killed by a passing truck, causing Danny toplace the blame on Ann. And where does Rusty come in? Well, while oneafternoon 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) ofFisherman'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 thepermission of his father, gets to adopt Rusty from Mr. Nelson. SinceRusty was an Army war dog in Germany, and understands only German,Danny decides to take up the German language in order to communicatewith the animal. Because the dog continues to growl and bark at Danny,he goes to Doctor Banning (Addison Richards) a psychiatrist, to learnthe reason why. Regardless of Ann's good intentions towards both Dannyand Rusty, Danny continues to resent Ann, especially after Rustydisappears, causing Ann to walk out on her marriage, leaving Hugh aloneand depressed.

Regardless of its title, there's little adventure for Rusty and morefamily problems for the Mitchell family. ADVENTURES OF RUSTY, however,could very much be labeled as a predecessor to family television showsof the 1950s, resembling episodes of the more popular boy and his dogseries, "Timmie and Lassie." As with "Lassie," Rusty is there for moralsupport for the family, particularly the boy, creating circumstances toallow the dog to come to the rescue. One scene midway finds Dannyencountering a couple of Germans (Arno Frey and Eddie Parker) who haddrifted ashore on a raft in the middle of the night, who take and usethe drifting Rusty to supply them with food by stealing farm animalsfor them. As Danny, who has located Rusty, threatens to take back hisdog, who had been missing for a week, the Nazis attempt to shoot Dannyfor his interference.

Also in the supporting cast are Douglas Madore (Billy); Bobby Larson(Henry); Gary Gray (Berbie); Ruth Warren (Floredce Nelson); LloydIngraham (The Minister); and Billy Gray (Harry).

A quickly paced but sometimes uneven 67 minutes, THE ADVENTURES OFRUSTY, which turned up on cable television's Turner Classic MoviesApril 16, 2007, as part of its "No Animals Were Harmed" theme, wassuccessful enough for Columbia to come up with seven more sequels.Veteran actors Conrad Nagel and Margaret Lindsay, who were by nowreduced to enacting in "B" products such as this, would be substitutedby other actors, namely John Litel and Ann Doran, in futureinstallments. Next in the series: THE RETURN OF RUSTY (1946).(** Barks)

4) I wasn't born until 1963, but I have a great love of 1930s and 40sAmerica. Until TCM began airing the "Rusty" series, I had no idea thatthe films even existed. I'm glad they do though. Considered corny andunrealistic by todays standards, I find them to be wonderful littletime capsules of post-war USA. The reason they can't make somethinglike this today is simply because today's world is too caught up inselfishness and lack of respect for others. It must have been nice tolive in a time in which a Boy and His Dog series of films was what thepublic wanted to see. Unfortuanately for todays audiences, these 60year old time pieces deal in such "boring" subjects as parents caringabout their kids and the kids learning from their mistakes. If theywere made today, they'd have to toss in drive by shootings, drugs, teenpregnancy and lots of profanity in order to attract an audience. And,of course, the kids would have to be smarter than the parents and allthe other adults. Anyway, if you enjoy simple, predictable stories inwhich the kids don't hate their parents and even love them for caringabout their proper upbringing, then certainly give these films a shot.All I know is these simple portraits of America in the 1940s leave mewith 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 totallydisrespectful to anyone over 30 and anything else would be seen ashopelessly corny and boring to watch. I was truly born about 50 yearstoo late!

5) TED DONALDSON (who was the child star in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN asNeely, the little brother), appeared the same year in this programmer,THE ADVENTURES OF RUSTY, a rather routine little melodrama fromColumbia. It's all about a period of adjustment for a boy who just losthis little dog in an accident and has to adjust to his father (CONRADNAGEL) marrying a new mom (MARGARET LINDSAY).

The boy befriends a German Shepherd with a nasty attitude toward othersthat has to be tamed before his parents allow him to adopt the dog fora pet. But relations between the boy and his step-mom are anything butsmooth, with both of them seeking the help of a psychiatrist to helpthem amend their ways.

The last twenty minutes of the story brings a sub-plot involving thearrival of two German men who interact with Rusty. Turns out they'reGerman spies (it takes place before the end of WWII), and the plot hasthe dog saving the day by pinning the men down so they can be picked upby the Shore Patrol.

It's an uneven film, obviously made on the cheap, a quickie thatprobably played the lower half of double bills in the days of doublefeatures at the movies. TED DONALDSON is nowhere as lovable here as hewas in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. Most of the time he's a sullen littleboy who's selfish and completely ill-mannered toward a kindly step-momwho only wants to help him. CONRAD NAGEL and MARGARET LINDSAY doprofessional jobs in less than convincing roles.

Summing up: A trifle hardly worth the trouble to watch–but Ace theWonder Dog can certainly snarl well on cue.

6) I always try to catch this movie when it's on TCM. During World War II,a boy named Danny tames a dog and in the process learns to control hisown anger at his new step-mother Ann and fight off German spies alongthe way. Looking at the film today, it's striking how all the men wearsuits and ties–even the German spies wear suits, ties and hats whenthey land in their lifeboat.

Danny's parents are kind-hearted and progressive for their time (Anneven goes to a psychiatrist). But eventually, Danny's anger wears herout, and she moves in with her best friend, Louise. Danny comes overand pleads with her to come back home; he misses having her around todo "women's work." At Louise's, Ann isn't shown wearing an apron ordoing housework (as she is when she was living with Danny and his dad).She and Louise spend their time hooking rugs, smoking cigarettes andwearing great clothes. In the end, Danny wins her over and by the endof film she's back on duty taking care of the menfolk. The postwar urgeto push women out of the workforce to make way for the returning warvets was already beginning.