The Littlest Hobo
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Charles R. Rondeau
London, A Dog
Fleecie, A Lamb
Buddy Hart
Wendy Stuart
Carlyle Mitchell
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
A German shepherd dog named London accompanies a hobo to Los Angeles aboard a freight train. After getting a bath from the railcar washer, London helps clean up at a nearby hamburger stand, but decides to move on when the hobo takes a job there. Later, while strolling down Wilshire Blvd., London is drawn to a striking French poodle, but is distracted by a passing truck carrying a young boy, Tommy, weeping over a lamb. London follows the truck to a slaughterhouse, where, realizing the lamb's fate, the dog rescues him. Startled, the workers at the meat plant contact the police, who pursue the animals but lose them in a junkyard filled with abandoned streetcars. Coming upon an evangelist on the street preaching about "the lost lamb", the animals are given food and spend the night in the mission. The next day London and the lamb, Fleecie, continue on and find themselves near the mansion of Governor Malloy. The governor is consulting Dr. Hunt about his young daughter Molly, who is confined to a wheelchair. Dr. Hunt tells Malloy that Molly must regain the desire to walk again. London leads Fleecie near Molly and pretends to attack the lamb in order to provoke the child into walking. Frantic to save Fleecie, Molly stands up and takes several steps toward the animals before collapsing. Her cries draw her father, but frighten Fleecie, who runs away. The police soon recapture the lamb and return it to the slaughterhouse. Malloy, however, has put a search out for Fleecie to please Molly. The Malloys find Fleecie and save the lamb just in time. Meanwhile, London locates Tommy and guides him to the governor's mansion to show the little boy the happiness Fleecie has brought to someone else. Content that Fleecie is safe and cared for, Tommy departs, escorted by London, who remains with the boy a short while before again answering the call of the open road.
Director
Charles R. Rondeau
Cast
London, A Dog
Fleecie, A Lamb
Buddy Hart
Wendy Stuart
Carlyle Mitchell
Howard Hoffman
Robert Kline
Pat Bradley
Bill Coontz
Dorothy Johnson
William Marks
Pauline Moore
Larry Thor
Norman Bartold
Crew
Morey Bercov
Jack Boland
Einar Bourman
Reginald Brown
Jack Byron
Charles Clement
Buddy Defranco
Charles P. Eisenmann
Howard Epstein
Perry Fennerman
George Fields
Fred Fox
Ralph Hansell
Hugh M. Hooker
Jean Keeling
Herman Lewis
Abe Luboff
Karnig Mahakian
Shelly Manne
James Mcgee
Dorrell Mcgowan
Phil Mitchell
Arthur H. Nadel
Frank Parmenter
Richard Perissi
Lyle B. Reifsnider
Jimmie Rowles
Forrest L. Royse
Anita Speer
Ronald Stein
Ronald Stein
Walter Strenge
Warren Webb
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles for the film were Top Spot and Stop-Over. Although Hollywood Reporter production charts indicate a shoot of approximately three weeks, the Hollywood Reporter review stated that the film took over one year to complete due to the great care put into filming the animal sequences, which make up nearly two-thirds of the picture. The film was praised by both Hollywood Reporter and Variety, the former calling it "a little gem of entertainment and artistry on a low budget." Variety felt the human action weakened the film, but nevertheless described it as "suspiciously close to being an uncommonly good artistic feature."
In 1966, McGowan International filed a two million dollar lawsuit against Storer Broadcasting Co. alleging wrongful appropriation in The Littlest Hobo television series, which was a spin-off from the feature based on Dorrell McGowan's original story. The outcome of the suit has not been determined.
