Law of the Wild (1934) User Reviews

It's fortunate that Lucille Browne is in this movie. Lafe McKee is also on hand!

[JohnHowardReid · 5/10 · 16 November 2017]

Ben Turpin (Henry, the hired hand), Bob Custer (John Sheldon), Lucille Browne (Alice Ingram), Lafe McKee (Ingram), Richard Cramer (Nolan), Ernie Adams (Raymond), Edmund Cobb (Luker), Charles "Slim" Whitaker (Mack), Jack Rockwell (Sheriff), Dick Alexander (Salters), George Chesebro (ranch hand), Silver Tip Baker, Hank Bell, Dick Botiller, Charles Brinley, Ralph Bucko, Roy Bucko, Yakima Canutt, Horace B. Carpenter, Art Dillard, Augie Gomez, Herman Hack, Bud McClure, Merrill McCormick, Art Mix, Buck Morgan, George Morrell, Bud Pope, Glenn Strange, Jack Tomek, Lloyd Whitlock (townsmen), Charles King, Al Taylor, Tracy Layne (henchmen), Wally Wales (Deputy Tom), Bob Reeves (car passenger), Edward Peil, senior (man who gives directions), Bud Osborne (man who lends the horse), Jack Kirk (first deputy), J. Frank Glendon (Bronson), Edward Hearn (spectator), Jack Evans (rancher), Curley Dresden (Bram), Edmund Breese (Doctor Price), Chuck Baldra (cowhand), and "Rex" (a wild stallion), "Rin Tin Tin, junior" (Rinty).

Directors: ARMAND SCHAEFER, BREEZY EASON. Screenplay: Breezy Eason, Sherman L. Lowe. Story: Ford Beebe, Al Martin, John Rathmell. Supervising film editor: Wyndham Gittens. Film editor: Earl Turner. Photography: William Nobles, Ernest Miller. Stunts: Yakima Canutt. Dog trainer: Lee Duncan. Music: Lee Zahler, David Broekman. Assistant directors: George Webster, Louis Germonprez, William Witney. Sound recording: Terry Kellum. Producer: Nat Levine.

Copyright 1 September 1934 by Mascot Pictures Corp. Chapter titles: 1. The Man Killer! 2. The Battle of the Strong. 3. The Cross-Eyed Goony. 4. Avenging Fangs. 5. A Dead Man's Hand. 6. Horse-Thief Justice. 7. The Death Stampede. 8. The Canyon of Calamity. 9. Robbers' Roost. 10. King of the Range. 11. Winner Take All! 12. The Grand Sweepstakes. Each chapter is two reels in length, except the first chapter which has three. Total running time: 225 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: A dog-loving cowboy befriends a wild stallion who happens to be rather fast on his hooves. The stallion is stolen by a ranch- hand who enters him in a race. The stallion wins. The ranch-hand is murdered, and our canine fancier of a hero is implicated in the murder by a couple of gamblers who claim to have a legitimate bill of sale for the prizewinning stallion.

COMMENT: A serial that headlines a horse, a dog and Ben Turpin does not augur too happily in the entertainment stakes. True, the fact that it's a Mascot effort and directed by those action specialists, Armand Schaefer and Breezy Eason, rekindles a bit of confidence. The support cast, led by evilly smiling Richard Cramer and willing man- of-all-dirty-work Edmund Cobb, lends a bit of interest too.

However, the story itself is slight. There's no masked mystery man running around, so we don't have to guess his identity and many of the cliffhanger highlights are rather tame (though we must admit that episode seven in which the villain's accomplice, little Ernie Adams, pluckily rescues the heroine is a turn-up for the books).

What's worse, after a slow and uncertain start, Ben Turpin gradually takes over what's left of the horse's and dog's share of the action. Other than a somewhat gruesome ability to cross his eyes, Mr. Turpin displays no comic or personality talents whatever.

Fortunately the villains do come to the serial's rescue from time to time. The best chapters are the first (it has a daring hanger in which our Rex attempts to outrun a speeding express train on a trestle bridge) and the last two which tie the generally lackluster story up on a more interesting plane.

Otherwise, the screenplay tends to be juvenilely repetitive. Still, Mr. Custer makes a fair job of the hero, and Miss Browne (who always knows her lines and can rattle them off at speed) is pretty enough as the girl of his dreams.

Back and Forth With Rex and Rinty

[Chance2000esl · 3/10 · 6 September 2008]

This Mascot serial is in better condition DVD-wise than the two previous Rin-Tin-Tin serials 'The Lone Defender' (1930), and 'The Lightning Warrior' (1931). Unfortunately, this doesn't one star Rin-Tin-Tin, but his 'son' Rin-Tin-Tin Jr., who like so many children cast in the shadow of a mega-star parent, just doesn't have it as an actor. He mostly displays a menacing bark, is seen biting villains on the wrist, and in only a couple of chapters rescues the hero, 'John Sheldon' (played by Bob Custer) or Rex, the Wonder Horse. Junior only made 13 films.

The serial tells the story of rancher Sheldon, who is falsely accused of killing Lou Salter, his evil ranch hand. Salter, played with magnificent evil by Richard Alexander, steals Sheldon's super-fast wild stallion Rex, and turns him into a race horse, winning in the fastest time ever at Ardmore race track. Sheldon spends the rest of the twelve chapters trying to prove his innocence and ownership of Rex, who under a fake bill of sale is now owned by Frank Nolan (played by Richard Cramer), as he also tries to prove the guilt of the man who really stabbed Salter. That's about it for a story, so most of what we see is the heroes and villains riding back and forth to Sheldon's ranch to steal, free or recapture Rex.

At first you think it's too bad Alexander gets killed in Chapter One because he's so good as a villain, but the real villain, Cramer, is ugly and evil looking and wonderfully nasty for the rest of the serial. If his voice sounds familiar that's because he is immortalized as Nick Grainger the evil convict in Laurel and Hardy's great 'Saps at Sea' (1940), even though he appeared in 238 films, mostly as a bartender, detective, sheriff, etc. We also get Edmund Cobb, who had over 633 movie and TV credits, play Luger the key henchman for the entire serial.

Alexander gets to play a bad, bad villain, El Lobo, in Republic's 'Zorro Rides Again' (1937) and as the half naked strong man thug in the Ralph Byrd / Bela Lugosi serial 'S.O.S. Coast Guard' (1937) which is made much weaker by the fact that he plays a mute. His fine, deep voice is well displayed in his best role in 'All Quiet on the Western Front' (1930), as well as, of course, in his endearing presence as Prince Barin in 'Flash Gordon' (1936) and 'Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars' (1938).

The serial is capably directed by 'Breezy' Eason, director of so many serials including 'The Phantom Empire' (1935), 'Darkest Africa' (1936), 'Undersea Kingdom' (1936), 'The Phantom' (1943), as well the next Rex and Rinty serial 'The Adventures of Rex and Rinty' (1935), and 'The Last of the Mohicans' (1932), which also featured this serial's heroine, Lucile Brown as 'Alice Munro.' 'Breezy' was famous for his 'cavalier' treatment of animals, so much so that he was the cause of the American Humane Society's practice of visiting sets to monitor and protect animals and their safety. He was the second unit director of the infamous chariot horse pile-up in the first 'Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ' (1925).

Meanwhile, the big surprise of the serial is silent film star Ben Turpin, not only for having a prominent role in the serial, but also for being given third billing after Rex and Rinty and before the fourth billed hero, Bob Custer. Custer was an ex rodeo performer, so he's probably doing his own running horse mounts. Though he made 55 westerns, his billing here after Ben Turpin must be his main claim to fame. Our slap stick cross eyed Ben plays it mostly straight here, using his patented head turns, stares and physical falls for comic effect occasionally. He made over 230 movies, but not that many during the sound era; he doesn't have that good a voice for sound films, unfortunately. We can catch him in W. C. Field's 'Million Dollar Legs' (1932), and as the preacher in Laurel and Hardy's 'Our Wife' (1930) and as a plumber in 'Saps at Sea' (1940).

Finally, what about the first billed star, Rex The Wonder Horse? This is not his best of his handful of movies. He's a little better in 'The Adventures of Rex and Rinty' (1935), but he does his best work in 'Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island' (1936) playing off the well matched horse like actor Ray Mala.

So despite the novelty presence of Ben Turpin, the back and forth tedium of watching Rex and Rinty doesn't give this one more than a three and half.

Excruciating Lengths

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 12 March 2011]

The Law Of The Wild is nothing more than a question of who has proper title to Rex the Wonder Horse. What might have made for a decent enough story for a B western feature is stretched out to almost excruciating lengths in this serial.

Former silent screen cowboy Bob Custer owns the wild stallion Rex whom he is trying to break. But Richard Alexander who works for Custer tries to kill him and Alexander thinks he's succeeded. Alexander steals Rex and sells him to Richard Cramer. Custer pursues Alexander and catches up with him, but then Cramer kills Alexander and frames Custer. So for most of the 12 chapters Custer is on the run from the law and from Cramer and henchmen.

Custer also has the aid of both Rin Tin Tin and Ben Turpin. Do I need tell you who is more help? Please note that the former Mack Sennett regular is billed right underneath the two animal stars of the serial and above Custer, heroine Lucille Browne and the rest of the human cast. He had a bigger name than the rest.

I'm not sure fans of those old serials and I am definitely not one could even bear up under the repetitious perils and rescues of The Law Of The Wild.