The first in a series of eight "Rusty" films about a German Shepherd dog and the boy who owns him, featuring Ted Donaldson as Danny Mitchell; Ace the Wonder Dog plays the title role in this one.It's a family drama, directed by Paul Burnford, with a screenplay from Aubrey Wisberg that was based on a story by Al Martin. The cast includes two Hollywood veterans well past their prime, Margaret Lindsay and Conrad Nagel; Gloria Holden plays Lindsay's friend Louise.Danny is upset because his widower father (Nagel) is remarrying, even though Ann (Lindsay) is someone the boy likes, having known her while his mother was alive. A stereotypical conflict ensues especially because Danny's other best friend, his pet dog, was killed on the wedding day, making the boy resent his stepmother even more for the loneliness caused by his father's lack of time for him. So Danny attempts to befriend his neighbor Will Nelson's (Robert Williams) mean and vicious German Shepherd, which had been trained by the Nazis during World War II; Rusty was brought home to the states by Nelson after his service in the army.When Danny learns that Mr. Nelson may have the dog put down, he begs his parents to allow him to adopt it. After her initial caution for Danny's safety, Ann believes that the boy should be allowed to keep the dog. In fact, even though Ann has been kind, unusually understanding, and more than patient with Danny's lack of acceptance of her, she seeks the help of a professional psychiatrist named Dr. Banning (Addison Richards) hoping that he may advise her about how to deal with the boy. Ironically, Danny had seen the doctor for advice about how to train Rusty to be less vicious and more appreciative of his efforts.Danny begins to treat Rusty with a combination of indifference and praise for good behavior at the same time that Ann attempts to do the same, hoping that the boy will come to him, but the tactic doesn't work for either of them. Instead, Rusty chews threw his rope leash and runs away where he happens upon two German spies (Arno Frey and Eddie Parker), who take charge of him to steal for them.When Danny and his friends go searching for Rusty, the dog helps the boys to miraculously capture the luger wielding Germans. Meanwhile to solve her problem, Ann decides to leave husband Hugh and his boy. After seeing how depressed this makes his father, Danny finds her at Louise's and begs her to come home by promising that he'll never upset her again. She returns home so that the three (four if you count Rusty) of them can live happily ever after (and all go fishing together).

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.

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 his own anger at his new step-mother Ann and fight off German spies along the way. Looking at the film today, it's striking how all the men wear suits and ties--even the German spies wear suits, ties and hats when they land in their lifeboat.Danny's parents are kind-hearted and progressive for their time (Ann even goes to a psychiatrist). But eventually, Danny's anger wears her out, and she moves in with her best friend, Louise. Danny comes over and pleads with her to come back home; he misses having her around to do "women's work." At Louise's, Ann isn't shown wearing an apron or doing housework (as she is when she was living with Danny and his dad). She and Louise spend their time hooking rugs, smoking cigarettes and wearing great clothes. In the end, Danny wins her over and by the end of film she's back on duty taking care of the menfolk. The postwar urge to push women out of the workforce to make way for the returning war vets was already beginning.

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)