It wasn't a plea

Somehow I got distracted yesterday and didn't post this. Jeopardy! clue, category Movie Titles: Plea to Lassie in 1943

The answer, of course, was "come home".

Except that Lassie Come-Home (as the book is punctuated; the movie is Lassie Come Home) is not a plea, nor even an order. It's a description.

A "come-home dog" was (maybe still is, for all I know) a dog trained to run away after you'd sold it, so you could sell it again. "Lassie Come-Home" was the insult thrown at her owner after the dog kept running home, even though he honorably returned her to the buyer.

Now you know ... the rest of the story.