The Sun Comes Up (1949) User Reviews

The Son Also Rises

[wes-connors · 7/10 · 17 November 2007]

Jeannette MacDonald (as Helen Lorfield Winter) is an opera singer making a comeback, after three years of mourning for her deceased husband. She is devoted to her son, and he is devoted to his dog, Lassie. After a successful comeback concert, Ms. MacDonald's son is killed in a horrific accident; he is hit by a truck while running for Lassie. MacDonald is understandably devastated. Initially, she blames Lassie for contributing to her son's death, but MacDonald is able to forgive Lassie, and she comes to care for the dog as her son would have wished. Pained by the sound of children playing, MacDonald takes Lassie, and moves to the country, where she hopes to enjoy a life of solitude. Then, she and Lassie meet young Claude Jarman Jr. (as Jerry), from a neighboring orphanage…

The sentimental storyline in "The Sun Comes Up" is most predictable; but, it hardly matters, as the film does what it does well. First of all, this (the fifth in the original series) is the best "Lassie" since the 1943 original. Richard Thorpe is an unexpected success, seamlessly directing a seemingly difficult mix of children, seasoned professionals, and Lassie. In her last feature film, Jeannette MacDonald could not have been more capable; certainly, she ends her movie career on a high note. Jarman Jr., of "The Yearling" is a well-chosen Lassie co-star. Lassie performs expertly. André Previn provides an appropriately swell score. The film ends with a well-done fiery rescue.

When the film threatens to become too predictable, or sentimental, you can enjoy delightful supporting pros, like: Lewis Stone (an MGM classic), Percy Kilbride ("Pa Kettle"), and Margaret Hamilton (Oz' Wicked Witch). Tarzan's "boy" Johnny Sheffield appears (to have hanged up his loincloth). Other kids making impressions are: Dwayne Hickman ("Dobie Gillis") as "Hank", Teddy Infuhr (also from the "Ma and Pa Kettle" series) as "Junebug", and Michael McGuire (who'll possess the "Dark Shadows" cast in 1970) as "Cleaver".

******* The Sun Comes Up (1/27/49)) Richard Thorpe ~ Jeanette MacDonald, Claude Jarman Jr., Lloyd Nolan, Lassie

Jeanette Says Farewell

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 17 March 2006]

Though she didn't intend The Sun Comes Up to be her final film, it turned out that way for Jeanette MacDonald. In this movie she plays, what else, a concert singer who is a war widow. After a few years of devoting herself to raising her only son, Dwayne Hickman, MacDonald is encouraged by her manager Lewis Stone to go back to the concert stage.

She goes back and becomes a great success in her comeback. But after the concert she sees her son run down by a truck as he was trying to save their collie Lassie from the same fate.

That just about destroys her and who could blame her for wanting to get away from it all. She rents an unused house deep in the Appalachians in North Carolina that's owned by Lloyd Nolan. She and Lassie go to live there and get involved with a group of kids from the county orphanage. Especially one young man, Claude Jarman, Jr., who reminds her of her late son.

Jeanette gets some good opera and concert material to sing, items that were staples in her real concerts. The highlights for me are Un Bel Di from Madame Butterfly and Romance.

And she gets her most cooperative co-star ever in Lassie. The beloved collie pulls off quite a rescue in the climax, but didn't steal any scenes from Jeanette MacDonald.

She never planned that The Sun Comes Up would be her last film. She had a lot of ambitions to return to the screen. During the Fifties she did The King and I in summer stock and hoped to be cast in the film adaption as Anna Leonowens. I think the part would have suited her perfectly and she wouldn't have to have been dubbed as Deborah Kerr was.

And one part she really wanted was as the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music. She loved the song Climb Every Mountain. But by the time the film version of Sound of Music was being cast, Jeanette's health was failing.

Still The Sun Comes Up is a fine family film and a fitting end for a screen legend.

A delightfully beautiful family film that is as gorgeous to look at as an ocean sunset.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 21 May 2014]

There are conflicts in reviews I've read of this in my earlier research of the film. Some people refer to this as a "Lassie" film which happens to star Jeanette MacDonald, while others refer to it as just the opposite. For MacDonald to go from her long teaming with Nelson Eddy to the queen of canine movie stars might have seemed literally like going to the dogs, but the results of the film prove otherwise. Jeanette and Lassie definitely share the responsibility for making this one of the most delightful family films, written by the author of "The Yearling", and featuring its star, Claude Jarman Jr. in a most sensitive performance that is a joy to behold.

MacDonald is a widowed opera star who is returning to the concert scene when tragedy strikes her once again. She moves to the country, reluctantly taking along Lassie, yet initially shunning any contact with the locales, especially the children. But the local store owner's handy boy (Jarman) makes a quick impression on her (literally helping save Lassie from a rattle snake), and her closed heart begins to re-open. MacDonald begins to come back to life and is considering another concert tour when she comes to terms with the needs that are really important for her and for the people she's come to love.

The gorgeous color photography makes this an absolute joy to look at, filled with country sides and sunsets and rolling meadows in the hills. Percy Kilbride gives an amusing performance as the country store owner (William Goode-the e is not silent), with Margaret Hamilton and Ida Moore as two local women who are experts with snuff, and Lloyd Nolan as the owner of the house MacDonald rents who comes in late to the story and provides the moral of the story. Lewis Stone has a small role as one of MacDonald's advisers early in the film. She gets to sing a few songs (even an aria from "Madame Butterfly"), and for once, you can actually hear all the lyrics she is singing.

It must have seemed a comedown for Jeanette (here in her last film) to possibly take second fiddle to a dog, but she manages to rise above that thought, still looking equally as gorgeous as she had ten years before. It is a shame that she didn't make any films after this, because she is far from being beyond her prime, and mixes both comedy and pathos with dignity and beauty.

Jeanette MacDonald in Technicolor

[drednm · 26 June 2013]

Jeanette MacDonald stars as a widowed concert singer who suffers another disaster and yearns to retire from the world. She loads up her nifty wood-paneled convertible (a Plymouth?) and dog (Lassie) and sets out. She finds a house in the mountains of a small Southern town and settles in. But she's never runs a household before and discovers she must do her own household chores, cooking, etc. This puts her into contact with the comical-but-wise town grocer (Percy Kilbride) and some other locals. Most annoying, however, is the boy Kilbride has sent to do chores. The boy and dog instantly bond. Slowly, MacDonald gets back her hold on her life, learns to love the boy (Claude Jarman) and return to her own world. But she'll never be the same.

Full of funny moments and a few that will tug your heart strings, this is a nice old-fashioned film and well done by all involved. The Technicolor is also beautiful.

MacDonald, in her final film appearance, looks great and turns in a terrific performance as the woman who learns to love again. She also sings a few songs, including a beautiful rendition of "Un Bel di Vedremo" from MADAMA BUTTERFLY. Kilbride is hilarious as is Margaret Hamilton as the nosy spinster. Jarman is solid in a role that could have been cloying. Others include Lloyd Nolan, Lewis Stone, Ida Moore, Dwayne Hickman, Hope Landin, and Barbara Billingsley.

What a shame the great MacDonald never found another film vehicle. Voice aside, she was a marvelous actress with a great sense of comic timing. Her final film doesn't rank with her unforgettable films with Nelson Eddy, but it's a fine and memorable film in its own right.

Another sweet Lassie flick

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 8 July 2018]

This film was Jeanette MacDonald's last film. And, considering it's a nice little family movie, she went out in style.

Helen is distraught. Her son has just died and she has decided to retreat to the countryside to try to forget. This is made tougher because the boy's dog refuses to leave her and she reluctantly takes the dog along with her. Through the course of the movie, Helen becomes friends with an orphan boy, Jerry (Claude Jarmin Jr.) and the woman who wants to be alone and forget soon learns to live again.

This film is less a Lassie film than most. Sure, the dog's important to the story...but the humans are more important and he's more a supporting player. Overall, very engaging and a nice story that you are sure to enjoy....and made with the usual MGM style and flair.

Beautiful music

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 21 December 2019]

Even if you don't like Jeanette McDonald, and even if you don't like child actors, and even if you don't like Lassie, do yourself a favor and rent The Sun Comes Up just to listen to the main theme during the opening credits. André Previn earned a well-deserved Rag nomination for his first film composition. It's such a beautiful, layered theme that sounds exactly as it's supposed to. It sounds like a sunrise, the promise of a brighter future, and a deep inhalation after years of shallow breathing.

If you want to watch more than the opening credits, you'll get to see Jeanette McDonald in a drama where she barely sings. She starts the movie off as a successful performer, but when her young son is accidentally killed, she tells her manager, Lewis Stone, that she's going to retire and retreat into the country. She packs up her car and her grief and drives to a small mountain town where she can hopefully start over. What she doesn't yet realize is that in a small town, no one leaves you alone! The owner of the one general store, Percy Kilbride, is extremely nosy, a confusing Margaret Hamilton wants to be her friend, and the young errand boy, Claude Jarman Jr., who grows attached to her dog doesn't let her harden her heart as she'd intended.

I didn't really know what to expect out of this movie, but it was pretty enjoyable. My favorite scene was when Jeanette leaves for the countryside. She's left her son's dog, Lassie, behind because it would be too painful to continue to live with her and show her affection; her son was hit by a car while trying to get Lassie out of the middle of the road. But Lassie's lonely and confused too, and it might be some sort of comfort to love who her son loved. Jeanette's very conflicted, and it's a really powerful scene.

I kept waiting for Lloyd Nolan to show up, since he got such a high billing, but he's hardly in the movie. Instead of a romance where a mother can only move on from her tragedy by falling in love, Jeanette grows in other ways. Give this one a shot if it sounds interesting. It gets a bit corny in some parts, but keep in mind it is a Lassie movie. It's supposed to be a little corny.

A New Beginning

[lugonian · 6/10 · 11 June 2018]

THE SUN COMES UP (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1948), directed by Richard Thorpe, is a sentimental drama notable for being both movie featuring the famous collie by the name of Lassie, introduced five years earlier in LASSIE COME HOME (MGM, 1943), and the final movie appearance of opera singer/actress, Jeanette MacDonald. MacDonald has come a long way in movies by this point, making her film debut in THE LOVE PARADE (Paramount, 1929), starring Maurice Chevalier, with whom she teamed in three more musical-comedies. Aside from non-musical works for other studios such as Fox, she found both home and success at MGM starting in 1934, where the studio developed her talents more towards opera, with a new screen partner being Nelson Eddy. By the 1940s, her style of movies began to wane, marking the close for MGM by 1942. In 1948, she returned to the screen, and MGM, this time playing singing-mother roles starting with THREE DARING DAUGHTERS. Whether MacDonald intended on ending her movie career or not with THE SUN COMES UP is uncertain. At least she managed to hold her own against her scene stealing co-stars, especially from the dog named Lassie.

Plot summary: Helen Lorfield Winter (Jeanette MacDonald) is a widowed mother with a teenage son, Hank (Dwayne Hickman) with a collie, Lassie, who adores him. Since the death of her husband, Helen has devoted her time towards her family and home life. A former opera singer by profession, and through the assistance of her manager, Arthur Norton (Lewis Stone), Helen gets her new beginning returning to concert singing for the first time in three years. Her concert proves successful, but her happiness is shattered by the sudden death of her son after getting struck by a passing truck while trying to prevent Lassie from getting hit while on the street. Weeks pass. Helen gives up her career. Unable to be around people, especially children, Helen packs up her belongings to go someplace far away to forget. Though she blames Lassie for her son's death, she takes Lassie with her anyway on a car trip leading her to Bushy Gap, a hillbilly residence located somewhere in the mountains. Helen's new beginning restarts as she rents a furnished home belonging to the out-of-town, Thomas I. Chandler. She soon finds herself disliked by town folks through her attitude towards their children. Through the kindly but blunt assistance of storekeeper, William B. Willigoode (Percy Kilbride), who tells her the truth about herself, Helen's attitude soon changes, especially after meeting with a teenage boy named Jerry (Claude Jarman Jr.). After saving Lassie from a rattlesnake, Helen hires Jerry as her handyboy. Though fond of Jerry, she knows very little about him. It takes her landlord, Thomas Chandler (Lloyd Nolan), having returned from his trip, to let her figure things out for herself. Others in the cast include: Hope Landin (Mrs. Pope); Nicholas Joy (Victor Alvord); Mickey McGuire (Cleaver) and Teddy Infuhr (Junebug).

Not the typical MacDonald movie from the past, THE SUN COMES UP, actually resembles that of an episode from a "Lassie" television series a decade later. Though second billed, Lloyd Nolan comes in 63 minutes into the start of the movie, while Claude Jarman Jr., best known for his performance in THE YEARLING (MGM, 1946), takes up much of the proceedings playing a likable harmonica teenager who bonds well with Lassie. Being more drama than musical, the presence of comical types as Percy Kilbride, Margaret Hamilton and Ida Moore, highlight greatly to its lighter moment. Even MacDonald does a brief comedy turn for one scene involving snuff. Because of MacDonald's reputation as a singer, song numbers are inserted into the story, including: "Un Bel De Vedremo" from Giacomo Puccini's MADAME BUTTERFLY; "Songs My Mother Taught Me" by Antonin Dvorak; Rene Rabey's "Tes Jolies Yeux" "Cousin Ebenezer" (with MacDonald and group of orphan boys); and "If You Were Mine" by Artur Rubenstein.

THE SUN COMES UP may not be a MacDonald favorite for anyone in favor of her singing opposite Nelson Eddy in eight musicals from 1935 to 1942, or working opposite Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy in SAN FRANCISCO (MGM, 1936), but it is satisfactory screen entertainment of MGM's 93 minutes of Technicolor family style mode. Formerly available on video cassette and later on DVD, THE SUN COMES UP, can often be found on the Turner Classic Movies cable channel. (**1/2)

"Bad dog, Lassie!!"

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 1 June 2018]

When the film begins, Helen (Jeanette MacDonald) is about to give a concert--her first since the death of her husband. However, after the concert, her dog, Lassie, runs into the road...and Helen's son is killed trying to catch him. Not surprisingly, Helen is NOT thrilled about keeping Lassie, but does. But she also needs a change and so runs off to the country to get away from it all. There she meets some lovely people...including a teenager (Claude Jarman Jr.) who is in need of a good home. While there is zero surprise in how the film ends up there, the story is enjoyable along the way. Like nearly all the Lassie films, this one is a winner....even if Lassie himself (yes, it's a HE) is a very bad dog in this one!

By the way, this was Jeanette MacDonald's last film. And, oddly, she looks pretty horrible in this one due to the garish colors in the Technicolor film. She looked much better in black & white and the colors they chose for her were frankly not very flattering.

Old Hollywood Sentimentality

[princessandthepeabody · 8/10 · 19 September 2006]

They just don't make them like this anymore. I really liked this old movie. A movie of love and loss and moving on. The setting is great a place in the mountains. Wonderful main characters and supporting characters that make up the quirky country folk. This movie tugs at your heart strings. Wonderful performances by Jeanette MacDonald, Percy Kilbride and Claude Jarman Jr, not to mention Lassie! I wish there were more wholesome films like this. These old movies stand on their own without digitalized effects and profanity so common to new Hollywood. Jeanette MacDonald had such a beautiful voice. Give me non-enhanced sentimental movies any day! Put on your pjs and grab the popcorn and Kleenex this is a great movie for a rainy day when you don't want over the top action.

Not Your Typical Lassie Movie

[Arnold-7 · 6/10 · 29 June 1999]

This is not the type of Lassie movie/TV show I enjoyed as a kid. Here "she" plays a supporting, but key role. Older kids may enjoy it, once they get past the classical singing. I especially enjoyed the scenes with the shopkeeper. I found the ending much too predictable.

Beaver's mom is in it too!

[collegeofuselessknowlege · 5/10 · 13 September 2009]

Except for the fact that I feel that MacDonald quit films because being paired with a dog was pretty much the last straw, I think that.so far, everything that's needed to be said has been said--although I'm sure that someone else will come up with something new observation.Viewers and fans always do with each viewing of the film. You get more and more perspectives as time goes by.

But for me, I couldn't help but notice two things that strangely make a future connection to a future TV show which would become as much as a legend as Lassie.

One is Barbara Billingsly (Beaver's mom) playing a nurse.

The other is a kid named Mickey McGuire (Didn't Mickey Rooney use that name for a while when he was acting in the silents? Got it after playing the lead character in a series of "Toonerville Trolley" films based on the Fontaine Fox comic strip). He plays a boy named Cleaver! Somewhat odd and prophetic that the name and the actress should be in the same movie, don't you think?

A good family movie.

[Frazier · 8/10 · 6 March 1999]

This is a movie that may be a bit corny by modern measure but a wonderful film to sit down with a young child and watch. Old time values--a slice of life with real problems---a happy ending.

Sickening

[tulm · 2/10 · 28 March 2006]

I am often fond of the Turner Classic Movies even when they contain out-dated mores and occasional slights to my feminist sensibilities. This is typically because the story lines, the character development, or the acting is strong enough to compensate for a bit of backward thinking here and there. But this film manages to smash its thick, worthless message at you, over and over in every line, scene, and plot point. "Women should be at home caring for a child or they have no meaning in this world, and while you're at it, be sure to be a good home-grown, rural, backward idiot." I couldn't be bothered to stay for the last 15 minutes of this entirely predictable - from minute one - loathsome, uninspired, piece of garbage from a hopefully dead value system.

Jeanette MacDonald in her last film appearance...

[Doylenf · 20 April 2001]

Nice, simple family film, a bit dated but still with enough charm and humor to make it agreeable--based on a novel by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of 'The Yearling'. Jeanette has her bitterness melted by Claude Jarman, Jr. and Lassie when she decides to retreat to the country to forget about the death of her son. An above-average Lassie film with a rather predictable ending after a tense fire sequence in which he rescues Claude Jarman, Jr. from a burning loft. A few nice songs by Jeanette, beautiful settings and some amusing performances by Percy Kilbride, Margaret Hamilton and others. Lloyd Nolan turns up for a cameo role. Pleasant entertainment. The blurb on the VHS copy I have cites a quote from the N.Y. Times which is so accurate: "Simple and sweet...Jeanette MacDonald has never looked lovelier."

Heart-warming story of love conquering loss

[bbmtwist · 8/10 · 13 July 2014]

Yes, I know.

I'd never seen it - it was MacDonald's last film - what better way for MGM to say you are a has- been than to make her a "mother" in a Lassie movie. Drek! I prepared to "endure it" for Jeannette's sake.

I was utterly captivated. What a lovely movie - classed up there with Friendly Persuasion in terms of truly loving, and truly honest human emotion. I keep trying to convince myself to pass this along, but I cry too much, it's too real, too human, too GOOD for that. For the lovers of what President Wilson tried to do for the US and what Obama in his footsteps is still unable to do for us, this is what the ideal of the US is as it lives on in ideals, honesty, and right thinking and feeling.

Jeannette has four classical aria/song moments - a French song, a repetition of Puccini's Un Bel Di (Broadway Serenade), Songs My Mother Taught Me, and Romance. Not much to go on, but it doesn't matter. She is fine dramatically, as a war widow , whose son dies and is left alone, but is brought to life by her encounter with an orphan {exceptional performance by young actor, Claude Jarman, Jr.] Her son exits at 10 minutes into the film, young Jarman arrives at 20 minutes.

Lewis Stone is seen briefly as an adviser. Percy Kilbridge is brilliant in a Charles Butterworth role as the local sage. Margaret Hamilton is unforgettable as a fashion-conscious spinster. Poor Lloyd Nolan doesn't arrive until an hour and 3 minutes in, but we know he will anchor the film, as he always did {most successfully in Peyton Place).

Oh, do see it - that dog will melt you as will the story and the deft acting, direction and over-all good intentions of it.

AN OK LASSIE MOVIE, JUST FAST FORWARD THE SINGING

[chrisandjoyce · 5/10 · 27 August 2021]

An okay story line, with a delightful Percy Kilbride, but oh, the singing, like nails on a chalk board -- and to think there was a time this singing was enjoyed. I would say almost ANYONE born after 1980 will HATE the singing. I would say, really, anyone born after 1960 will HATE the singing -- but I'm sure there's a small handful that might enjoy it (somehow). Thank goodness for fast forward. NIce bright colour.

Beautiful color process and shoot!

[aekeating-70183 · 8/10 · 9 July 2021]

A forgotten beauty of this period; simply told with honest performances and stirring music. A nice moment in a golden age of popular storytelling.

what a great movie

[braun-andrew · 10/10 · 8 May 2022]

What a great movie! I cried at the end of it. Great acting , good plot ,Lassie was terrific, the singing was superb, Jeanette MacDonald was so very good etc. Etc.

Claude Jarman, Jr. Was Great Child Actor

[martinrandall-36706 · 10/10 · 10 May 2022]

I stumbled upon this movie on TCM and saw one of the stars was Claude Jarman, Jr from The Yearling. I had seen that movie on TV when I was very young but I was deeply moved by Jaman's emotional and very natural performance. This film was also an adaptation of a Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings story and since it had the kid from The Yearling, I thought it must be worth watching.

There is an amazing cast from Jeanette McDonald to Percy Kilbride to Margaret Hamilton to Lassie! The only one I wanted to see however was Jarman, who played an emotionally wounded orphan boy named Jerry. About 20 minutes into the film, here comes Jarman, 3 years older than he was in The Yearling, all arms and legs and awkward as only a young teenage boy can be, both physically and emotionally. I was not disappointed by his performance which was every bit as natural as his role in The Yearling.

Jarman was not a stereotypical pretty boy, he had average looks and bordered on odd looking when he was older so I wondered what made him so popular as a child actor. After watching this film, I am convinced his appeal lay in his overwhelming believability. During both The Sun Comes Up and The Yearling, I had the sense I was watching a boy that could have lived next door, or down the street, or gone to school with, not a Hollywood actor.

Although the story here was sappy and predictable, Jarman handled it well. When he lied about having a mother, you could see the inner turmoil in his eyes, when he broke down and cried when he thought he had been abandoned by McDonald's character, you wanted to weep with him and in fact I did. I managed to find some clips of his later performances. He made 11 films in all and in every scene I saw, he brought with him an amazing emotional depth and genuineness which is extremely rare in young performers.

Here's to one of the great child actors who has sadly been almost forgotten today. When you have a chance to see one of his performances, please do so, and just enjoy Claude Jarman, Jr doing his thing, namely just being a boy.