Rin-Tin-Tin: Law of the Wild
by Breezy Eason Armand Schaefer
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Rex: King of the Wild Horses Rin-Tin-TinDirector: Breezy Eason Armand Schaefer
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-11-21
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Alpha Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Rin-Tin-Tin: Law of the Wild
Movie Review: Ben Turpin to the Rescue!
Summary: 3 Stars
"The Law of the Wild" is a 1934 Mascot serial directed by Armand Schaefer and B. Reeves Eason, starring Rex, King of Wild Horses, Rin-Tin-Tin Junior and some humans. It could use more plot, but the same can be said of many Western serials, some with much higher budget.
John Sheldon (Bob Custer) is ambushed and left for dead by his ranch hand Lou Salters (Richard Alexander) who steals Rex, planning to make a lot of money racing him. But racetrack sharks Nolan and Raymond (Richard Cramer and Ernie Adams) have been watching the secret tryouts, and scheme to obtain Rex from Salters by legal or other means. Salters gets a telegram that Sheldon is alive and on his trail, so he sends his partner Luger (Edmund Cobb) to deal with the problem. Sheldon's horse is shot out from under him, but he is rescued by Alice Ingram (Lucile Browne), the daughter of a rancher (Lafe McKee), and eventually gets to the racetrack where Rex wins the race, at odds of 100 to one. Both sets of crooks do well on the betting but Luger argues with Salters, and when Sheldon finds Rex, he also finds Salters, dead with a knife in his back. Nolan and Raymond, with their new associate Luger and a fake bill of sale for Rex, convince the sheriff (Jack Rockwell) that Sheldon killed Salters, and the chase begins, with Alice, her hired hand Henry (Ben Turpin), Rex and Rinty helping Sheldon find the real murderer and disprove Nolan's claim that he owns Rex.
It cannot be said that originality is a strong point of the plot. It uses many elements from the B Westerns of the time, and probably some stock footage, including a "stallion fight" (seen twice) that later might have aroused the ire of the ASPCA. The plot is thin for twelve chapters, lacking in mystery and the situations are redundant -- how many times can Rinty get clubbed or shot or trampled or crushed by an overturned automobile and survive? -- and there are a couple continuity bloopers, so it helps a lot to watch it one chapter at a time, with at least a day between them. This is not a serial for those who want "the whole story" in a single sitting. While for that purpose chapters three through ten could be bypassed without a lot of harm, much of the main redeeming element would then be missing: Ben Turpin, the top-billed human. While there is some excess of his cross-eyed routine, and in the first chapter he looks like the dreaded "comic relief" character, he is later shown to be intelligent, and provides the hero with considerable help. This is doubtless his longest role in sound films, and he does talk. The others handle their parts capably, and if Rin-Tin-Tin Junior isn't up to his father's abilities, he knows the basics: how to play dead and lame, chase automobiles, attack Edmund Cobb and growl. Richard Cramer is splendidly nasty as the chief bad guy Nolan, and his nervous assistant Ernie Adams provides some welcome low-key humor. As with other Mascot serials from 1934, background music is only occasionally used, and not too effectively. Bob Custer makes a convincing hero, getting some of the action footage, though he should have had a greater variety of complications to overcome. The outdoor photography helps give the serial a better-finished look than many from Mascot, and some good stunt work by Yakima Canutt partially makes up for the woeful studio perils by rear projection screen.
Alpha's DVD, ALP 5201D, looks like a copy of a videotape, though a decent transfer. In a couple places, including the opening of Chapter Seven some "flagging" can be seen at the very top of screen, where the error exceeded the limits of the time-base stabilizer, but this is a barely-noticable defect. Alpha doesn't show a copyright, instead putting their logo in the upper-left corner of the screen during the opening and "next week" titles. They keep it turned off most of the time but it is still a little annoying in the last few seconds of many of the cliffhangers. The print used for the first chapter was good, and most of the others aren't bad but the contrast is a little high, sometimes requiring adjustment to read the plot summaries. There are some minor defects in the film print in the last few chapters, but otherwise the image is reasonably sharp and clear and the sound is fairly good for one of these old Mascot serials.
A well-crafted serial, if far from Mascot's best, with a surprising role for Ben Turpin, in a fairly clean transfer. It's good to see it on DVD, fine for the price and while more than a little dull, a reasonable alternative to a repeat viewing of some better-known Western serials.
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