Not copyright 1935 by Reliable Pictures Corp. U.S. release through Reliable: 17 December 1935. 58 minutes. (An Alpha DVD).
VIEWER'S GUIDE: Most strictly adults only. Although far from the original writers' intentions, a current audience would undoubtedly interpret from both dialogue and reactions that an incestuous relationship exists between the hero and his sister.
COMMENT: By the undernourished standards of the usual Rinty Jr entry, Skull and Crown surprisingly emerges as quite a palatable dish. The Curwood story not only packs in an enormous amount of action - some of it quite vigorously staged by normally dull-as-ditchwater director Clifton - but several most unusual twists and knock-out surprizes.
Rinty himself is commendably adept at both stunting - love the bit where he crashes through the window and then savages Tom London (you're a far braver man than I am, Tom) - and "acting", but the honors of the movie are all with the villains led by forceful Jack Mower, turncoat Robert Walker, seedy escapee James Murray (the famous star of The Crowd), wonderfully menacing George Chesebro and the aforesaid London.
Despite recourse to obvious camera speeding, the action spots are sufficiently edge-of-the-seat to keep all audiences solidly entertained once the picture - after a slow and none-too-promising beginning - really starts. Whilst the plot device of going undercover is a conventional one, this obvious gimmick is more than offset by several most ingenious twists, a couple of them cleverly utilizing the dog so that he doesn't become merely an adjunct to the plot but actually helps to pace it along. And that pace in fact is so fast and exciting that the absence of background music is not at all noticeable.
VIEWER'S GUIDE: Most strictly adults only. Although far from the original writers' intentions, a current audience would undoubtedly interpret from both dialogue and reactions that an incestuous relationship exists between the hero and his sister.
COMMENT: By the undernourished standards of the usual Rinty Jr entry, Skull and Crown surprisingly emerges as quite a palatable dish. The Curwood story not only packs in an enormous amount of action - some of it quite vigorously staged by normally dull-as-ditchwater director Clifton - but several most unusual twists and knock-out surprizes.
Rinty himself is commendably adept at both stunting - love the bit where he crashes through the window and then savages Tom London (you're a far braver man than I am, Tom) - and "acting", but the honors of the movie are all with the villains led by forceful Jack Mower, turncoat Robert Walker, seedy escapee James Murray (the famous star of The Crowd), wonderfully menacing George Chesebro and the aforesaid London.
Despite recourse to obvious camera speeding, the action spots are sufficiently edge-of-the-seat to keep all audiences solidly entertained once the picture - after a slow and none-too-promising beginning - really starts. Whilst the plot device of going undercover is a conventional one, this obvious gimmick is more than offset by several most ingenious twists, a couple of them cleverly utilizing the dog so that he doesn't become merely an adjunct to the plot but actually helps to pace it along. And that pace in fact is so fast and exciting that the absence of background music is not at all noticeable.