Do you like to watch men riding horses? If so, this Mascot serial has a lot of it, but not much else. Mostly filmed outdoors, it is a Western 'mystery man' serial in which the hero, Alan Scott (George Brent) is among those trying to discover the identity of 'The Wolfman,' who is leading a band of Indians attempting to drive all the settlers out of a mining town. The 'mystery man' theme was used countless times in serials from the twenties to the late thirties, and was often found in occasional B westerns, such as the wonderful Ken Maynard's 'Tombstone Canyon' (1932).
The high points include: seeing George Brent as a young, thin, virile Western hero. He should have done more Westerns instead of being packaged and sold the way he was throughout the rest of his career. You can see him in '42nd Street' (1933) and as the Professor in 'The Spiral Staircase' (1945); Lafe McKee, veteran character actor in over 400 films, has what must have been his biggest role ever, since he's in all 12 chapters; Georgia Hale, as 'The Girl,' feisty against the villains when she appears, was Chaplin's dance hall love in 'The Gold Rush' (1925) and had the lead in the silent 'The Great Gatsby' (1926). Since she was deemed 'unsuitable for talkies,' this was her last movie.
More high points: Theodore Lorch, as Pierre LaFarge, best remembered as the High Priest in 'Flash Gordon' (1936), appears in almost all the chapters; Frankie Darro as Jimmy shows off his great teenage physical versatility and fine acting ability, though he isn't featured nearly enough. Frankie is at his best after the great 'The Phantom Empire' (1935) in the many 'buddy' flicks he made with Mantan Moreland, see, for example, 'Up In The Air' (1940). Then there's Rin-Tin-Tin the putative star of the serial who shows a broader acting range than in his previous Mascot serial 'The Lone Defender' (1930), though here much of the stunt work must be his double. He died the next year.
Over all, it's a much better serial than 'The Lone Defender' because of so many outdoor action sequences. There's a fine cliffhanger with Frankie and 'Rinty' hanging from a bucket suspended over a canyon. There are also lots of good shots from inside the Bronson Caves. We get the sure hand of Wyndham Gittens as the supervising editor and one of the writers. He was responsible for many of the better 1930s serials including 'Tim Tyler's Luck' (1937) and 'Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars' (1938) as well as the dozen or so he did for Mascot. He gives us lots of red herrings regarding the identity of the 'mystery man' finally revealed with all details explained, in the final chapter, which includes the not surprising revelation that the warpath Indians were really white men, a cliché since 'The Iron Horse' (1925) and hey! ever since the Boston Tea Party!
Unfortunately, there's so much chasing around on horse back to fill in the chapters, that not much really happens. Better would be to have condensed it into an exciting feature the way that Gitten's 'The Lost Jungle' (1934) was converted into a feature that was better, and amazingly, more interesting, than the serial it came from!
Note: The 'Mill Creek Entertainment' DVD is awful -- booming hissing sounds and blurred visuals. Much better quality are its 'The Law of the Wild' (1934), and 'The Adventures of Rex and Rinty' (1935) both with Rin-Tin-Tin Jr., and Rex 'The Wonder Horse.'
Of the four Rin-Tin-Tin sound serials, the others being 'The Lone Defender' (1930), 'The Law of the Wild' (1934), and 'The Adventures of Rex and Rinty' (1935), this is the best one. It has the most interesting group of characters, a 'mystery man' guessing game story and the best cliff hangers. Still, there's too much riding around, so I'll only give it a four and half.
The high points include: seeing George Brent as a young, thin, virile Western hero. He should have done more Westerns instead of being packaged and sold the way he was throughout the rest of his career. You can see him in '42nd Street' (1933) and as the Professor in 'The Spiral Staircase' (1945); Lafe McKee, veteran character actor in over 400 films, has what must have been his biggest role ever, since he's in all 12 chapters; Georgia Hale, as 'The Girl,' feisty against the villains when she appears, was Chaplin's dance hall love in 'The Gold Rush' (1925) and had the lead in the silent 'The Great Gatsby' (1926). Since she was deemed 'unsuitable for talkies,' this was her last movie.
More high points: Theodore Lorch, as Pierre LaFarge, best remembered as the High Priest in 'Flash Gordon' (1936), appears in almost all the chapters; Frankie Darro as Jimmy shows off his great teenage physical versatility and fine acting ability, though he isn't featured nearly enough. Frankie is at his best after the great 'The Phantom Empire' (1935) in the many 'buddy' flicks he made with Mantan Moreland, see, for example, 'Up In The Air' (1940). Then there's Rin-Tin-Tin the putative star of the serial who shows a broader acting range than in his previous Mascot serial 'The Lone Defender' (1930), though here much of the stunt work must be his double. He died the next year.
Over all, it's a much better serial than 'The Lone Defender' because of so many outdoor action sequences. There's a fine cliffhanger with Frankie and 'Rinty' hanging from a bucket suspended over a canyon. There are also lots of good shots from inside the Bronson Caves. We get the sure hand of Wyndham Gittens as the supervising editor and one of the writers. He was responsible for many of the better 1930s serials including 'Tim Tyler's Luck' (1937) and 'Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars' (1938) as well as the dozen or so he did for Mascot. He gives us lots of red herrings regarding the identity of the 'mystery man' finally revealed with all details explained, in the final chapter, which includes the not surprising revelation that the warpath Indians were really white men, a cliché since 'The Iron Horse' (1925) and hey! ever since the Boston Tea Party!
Unfortunately, there's so much chasing around on horse back to fill in the chapters, that not much really happens. Better would be to have condensed it into an exciting feature the way that Gitten's 'The Lost Jungle' (1934) was converted into a feature that was better, and amazingly, more interesting, than the serial it came from!
Note: The 'Mill Creek Entertainment' DVD is awful -- booming hissing sounds and blurred visuals. Much better quality are its 'The Law of the Wild' (1934), and 'The Adventures of Rex and Rinty' (1935) both with Rin-Tin-Tin Jr., and Rex 'The Wonder Horse.'
Of the four Rin-Tin-Tin sound serials, the others being 'The Lone Defender' (1930), 'The Law of the Wild' (1934), and 'The Adventures of Rex and Rinty' (1935), this is the best one. It has the most interesting group of characters, a 'mystery man' guessing game story and the best cliff hangers. Still, there's too much riding around, so I'll only give it a four and half.