The Sun Comes Up
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''The Sun Comes Up'' is a 1949
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
picture with Lassie. Jeanette MacDonald had been off the screen for five years until her return in ''
Three Daring Daughters ''Three Daring Daughters'' (UK title: ''The Birds and the Bees'') is a 1948 musical Technicolor film directed by Fred M. Wilcox and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay was written by Albert Mannheimer, Frederick Kohner, Sonya Levien ...
'' (1948), but ''The Sun Comes Up'' was to be her last. In it, she had to share the screen not with an up-and-coming younger actress but with a very popular animal star. Although her retreat from a film career can be blamed largely on an increasingly debilitating heart ailment (which eventually took her life at the age of 61 in 1965), MacDonald continued to make concert and TV appearances after this. Her last radio performance was a broadcast version of this same story on Screen Guild Theater in March 1950.


Plot

Ex-
opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
singer Helen Lorfield Winter (
Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette Anna MacDonald (June 18, 1903 – January 14, 1965) was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (''The Love Parade'', '' Love Me Tonight'', ''The Merry Widow'' and '' On ...
) rents a house in the small town of Brushy Gap, in the hills not too far from the Smokies, Blue Ridge, and Atlanta
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
with her dog, Lassie, after the tragic death of her son. There she befriends Jerry, a young orphan (
Claude Jarman Jr. Claude Jarman Jr. (born September 27, 1934) is an American former child actor, entrepreneur, former executive director of the San Francisco International Film Festival and former director of Cultural Affairs for the City of San Francisco. ...
). Growing attached to Jerry, but not wanting children so soon after the death of her own son, Helen leaves Brushy Gap to resume her singing career. While she is away, Jerry is caught in heavy rain returning Lassie home and develops
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
. Helen returns to Brushy Gap to find the owner of the house, Thomas Chandler (
Lloyd Nolan Lloyd Benedict Nolan (August 11, 1902 – September 27, 1985) was an American film and television actor. Among his many roles, Nolan is remembered for originating the role of private investigator Michael Shayne in a series of 1940s B movies. B ...
), nursing Jerry back to health. Soon after Jerry has recovered, the orphanage catches on fire, and Lassie and Tom both rescue Jerry from the blaze. Helen then decides to adopt Jerry and remain in Brushy Gap.


Main cast

*
Pal Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
(credited as "Lassie") as Lassie *
Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette Anna MacDonald (June 18, 1903 – January 14, 1965) was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (''The Love Parade'', '' Love Me Tonight'', ''The Merry Widow'' and '' On ...
as Helen Lorfield Winter *
Lloyd Nolan Lloyd Benedict Nolan (August 11, 1902 – September 27, 1985) was an American film and television actor. Among his many roles, Nolan is remembered for originating the role of private investigator Michael Shayne in a series of 1940s B movies. B ...
as Thomas I. Chandler *
Claude Jarman Jr. Claude Jarman Jr. (born September 27, 1934) is an American former child actor, entrepreneur, former executive director of the San Francisco International Film Festival and former director of Cultural Affairs for the City of San Francisco. ...
as Jerry *
Lewis Stone Lewis Shepard Stone (November 15, 1879 – September 12, 1953) was an American film actor. He spent 29 years as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was best known for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the studio's popular ''Andy H ...
as Arthur Norton *
Percy Kilbride Percy William Kilbride (July 16, 1888 – December 11, 1964) was an American character actor. He made a career of playing country hicks, most memorably as Pa Kettle in the ''Ma and Pa Kettle'' series of feature films. Early life Kilbride was b ...
as Mr. Willie B. Williegood * Nicholas Joy as Victor Alvord * Margaret Hamilton as Mrs. Golightly * Hope Landin as Mrs. Pope * Esther Somers as Susan, the maid


Production

Parts of ''The Sun Comes Up'' were filmed in Glenwood, California, and lumber from the set was used to build the last town post office.


Music

In 2010, ''
Film Score Monthly ''Film Score Monthly'' is an online magazine (and former print magazine) founded by editor-in-chief and executive producer Lukas Kendall in June 1990 in music, 1990 as ''The Soundtrack Correspondence List''. It is dedicated to the art of Film sco ...
'' released the complete scores of the seven Lassie feature films released by MGM between 1943 and 1955 as well as Elmer Bernstein’s score for '' It's a Dog's Life'' (1955) in the CD collection ''Lassie Come Home: The Canine Cinema Collection'', limited to 1000 copies. Due to the era when these scores were recorded, nearly half of the music masters have been lost so the scores had to be reconstructed and restored from the best available sources, mainly the Music and Effects tracks as well as monaural ¼″ tapes. The score for ''The Sun Comes Up'' was composed by André Previn. Track listing for ''The Sun Comes Up'' (Disc 4) #Main Title*/New Trick for Lassie*/Hank’s Death* - 2:53 #Helen Leaves Her Home*/Sleep in the Car*/Scenery*/Rabbits for Rent*/That’s a Bargain* - 4:27 #I Had a Boy*/Jerry’s Wages* - 2:03 #Adoption* 0:44 #Long Walk*/Tears for Two*/Lassie Herds the Cows* - 4:28 #Storm Over Jerry*/Helen Meets Tom*/I’m Going to Manville*/Pneumonia* - 4:23 #I Always Eat It*/I Can’t Take Jerry Away*/Fare You Well* - 4:49 #Tom & Jerry* - 3:35 #Jerry Runs Away*/One Dog’s Family & End Title*/End Cast - 2:06 Bonus tracks #Tes Yeux (René Rabey) 0:51 #Un Bel Di (Giacomo Puccini) 3:33 #Songs My Mother Taught Me (Antonín Dvořák) 1:09 #Cousin Ebeneezer (Previn–William Katz) 1:13 #If You Were Mine (Previn–Katz) 1:46 #Tom & Jerry*† (film version) 3:33 #Jerry Runs Away*†/One Dog’s Family & End Title*†/End Cast (film version) - 2:06 Contains Sound Effects †Contains Dialogue Total Time: 43:71


Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $2,044,000 at the box office, resulting in a loss of $549,000.


Home media

On November 27, 2012, ''The Sun Comes Up'' was released on DVD through the
Warner Archive The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...
.


References


External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun Comes Up, The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1949 films 1949 drama films American drama films 1940s English-language films Lassie films Films directed by Richard Thorpe Films shot in California Films scored by André Previn Films with screenplays by William Ludwig 1940s American films