The Littlest Hobo (DVD)

While beloved collie Lassie captivated TV viewers, this simple, sweet-natured film, shot all over 1950s Los Angeles, follows a clever German Shepherd who hops off a freight train and soon rescues a lamb bound for slaughter. Along the way, the canny canine outwits the cops, a dog catcher and some predatory bums, even arriving at a soup kitchen as the preacher welcomes his "lost sheep." He also helps a wheelchair-bound girl take her first steps and earns his woolly pal a gubernatorial pardon. Improbable? More like irresistible. So much so that The Littlest Hobo graduated to lasting fame in two popular Canadian TV series across two decades, first-time director Charles R. Rondeau became a prolific helmer of episodic TV, and young lead Buddy Hart would go on to play Chester Anderson on Leave It to Beaver. Buoyed by a breezy, jazz-inflected score by Ronald Stein and the lovely tune "Road Without End," sung by Randy Sparks, The Littlest Hobo, long out of circulation but happily back to win over a new generation, is the doggonedest charmer ever.

• drama
• family