Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog
Directed by Don Chaffey
Written by Robert Westerby; story by Eleanor Atkinson
1961/USA
Walt Disney Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] “I heard of Bobby first early in the winter, from a Bible-reader at the Medical Mission in the Cowgate, who saw the little dog’s master buried. He sees many strange, sad things in his work, but nothing ever shocked him so as the lonely death of that pious old shepherd in such a picturesque den of vice and misery.” “Ay,” ― Eleanor Atkinson, Greyfriars Bobby[/box]
This wholesome story of a dog’s devotion is for the whole family.
As the story starts, Auld Jock is ending his 60 year’s working as a shepherd. The Farmer (Gordon Jackson) says he is forced to let him go, despite his chronic cough and advanced years. Jock gives his sheepdog Bobby, a Skye Terrier, to the little girl of the family. The farmer and Jock depart for Edinburgh and Bobby manages to escape and keep up with them for the 20-mile journey.
The Farmer leaves the shepherd off with nary a penny to scrape together. Fortunately, he has been coming to the same market for many years and people reach out to help him. He accepts a free meal but adamantly refuses to go to the infirmary about his cough. At night, he resorts to an inn of very low repute for a bed. By morning he has died of pneumonia.
The pub owner that fed Jock finds out about this and buries the illiterate Jock in Greyfriars churchyard, where Edinburgh’s elite have been interred for centuries. The rest of the story follows Bobby’s persistence in spending each night atop his Master’s grave for the next fourteen years, despite many efforts to remove him. With Donald Crisp as the caretaker of the churchyard.
If you are looking for something sweet, funny, and sentimental, this could be just the ticket. It went down well with me.
What a career Donald Crisp had! He appeared in his first film in 1908. My earliest memory of him was his scary performance as Battlin’ Butler in D.W. Griffith’s Broken Blossoms. All these years later he is still rock solid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM2PbWivJUM
Trailer
