Hills of Home 1948

Dr. William MacLure Edmund Gwenn is a compassionate Scottish doctor who takes in Lassie, a dog with an unusual fear of water. He treats her, hoping to cure the animal’s water-shyness, but Lassie remains hesitant around any body of water. In a tight-knit Glen, the doctor’s bond with Lassie becomes a quiet symbol of care and resolve.

When a local family faces a dire need, a young boy named Tammas Milton requires an operation. The doctor contemplates using chloroform, a technique that stirs resistance among the Glen’s wary inhabitants. To demonstrate its usefulness, he pushes the limits by putting Lassie to sleep for over twenty minutes, showing that the method can be safely controlled. This bold test helps earn cautious trust for a risky but potentially life-saving procedure.

Having proven the method’s value, the elderly physician performs the operation at his own house to save the young man’s life. In payment, the father—a friend who had once owned Lassie—promises to send Tammas Milton to Edinburgh for a four-year medical course so he can one day take over the Glen’s practice. The arrangement links the fates of the doctor, his canine companion, and the community in a delicate balance of duty and care.

After the ordeal, Tammas Milton recovers and is sent away to continue his studies, while MacLure keeps tending to his patients. The doctor’s health begins to worry the locals, who fear for his stamina as winter tightens its grip. On a snowy night, a call takes him far from town; while returning on his horse, he dozes and is knocked down by a tree branch, sinking into the cold, silent snow.

Lassie acts with remarkable determination: she darts across a damaged bridge over a flood-swollen river to fetch help. The bridge has already given way, leaving the doctor stranded. The dog plunges into the raging river and, after narrowly dodging a whirlpool twice, makes it to the far bank on her second attempt. Two men wade through the waist-deep water to bring MacLure home. He regains consciousness after days in bed, but the experience proves too much, and his condition fades despite the town’s care.

Following the funeral that gathers all in the Glen, a new doctor arrives—having passed his exams—and takes over the practice, ensuring the community continues to have medical care to lean on.