The Sun Comes Up

Plot

Ex-opera singer Helen Lorfield Winter (Jeanette MacDonald) rents a house in the small town of Brushy Gap, in the hills not too far from the Smokies, Blue Ridge, and Atlanta Georgia with her dog, Lassie, after the tragic death of her son. There she befriends Jerry, a young orphan (Claude Jarman Jr.). 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. Helen returns to Brushy Gap to find the owner of the house, Thomas Chandler (Lloyd Nolan), 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

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.

Soundtrack

In 2010, Film Score Monthly 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 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)

1. Main Title*/New Trick for Lassie*/Hank’s Death* 2:53
2. Helen Leaves Her Home*/Sleep in the Car*/Scenery*/Rabbits for Rent*/That’s a Bargain* 4:27
3. I Had a Boy*/Jerry’s Wages* 2:03
4. Adoption* 0:44
5. Long Walk*/Tears for Two*/Lassie Herds the Cows* 4:28
6. Storm Over Jerry*/Helen Meets Tom*/I’m Going to Manville*/Pneumonia* 4:23
7. I Always Eat It*/I Can’t Take Jerry Away*/Fare You Well* 4:49
8. Tom & Jerry* 3:35
9. Jerry Runs Away*/One Dog’s Family & End Title*/
10. End Cast

Bonus tracks

1. Tes Yeux (René Rabey) 0:51
2. Un Bel Di (Giacomo Puccini) 3:33
3. Songs My Mother Taught Me (Antonín Dvořák) 1:09
4. Cousin Ebeneezer (Previn–William Katz) 1:13
5. If You Were Mine (Previn–Katz) 1:46
6. Tom & Jerry*† (film version) 3:33
7. Jerry Runs Away*†/One Dog’s Family & End Title*†/End Cast (film version)

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.

DVD release

On November 27, 2012, The Sun Comes Up was released on DVD through the Warner Archive.