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.

I don't want to refer to dog owners as masters, or even those responsible for them in a working situation. Often, dogs are the key to keeping a human sane or seeing things as they really are or from a different perspective. In the case of the loyal Rinty (Rin Tim Tin Jr.), he's the key to helping retired Mountie Regis Toomey find the killer of his visiting sister, murdered by a criminal named Zorro (no relation to the Mexican hero; the Canadian Zorro is all bad), even though Toomey rejects him while dealing with his grief. Toomey has resigned from the Mounties to have his own investigation, and this leads him to the home of heroine Molly O'Day whose father might be aware of who/where Zorro is. But a good Mountie is nothing without his best friend, and once he realizes how much he needs Rinty, it's only a matter of time before the villain gets their come- uppance. The legend of the original Rin Tin Tin has survived the years as his ancestors now help ailing children get well. The offspring of the silent movie era Rin Tin Tin is as heroically lovable, even if the movies are cheaply made and predictable formula. Both dogs were often better actors than the human ones, and here, it's no challenge with Regis Toomey as leading man. Absolutely wooden and seemingly not the stuff romantic dreams are made of, Toomey none the less was made a romantic lead in a few films, most unlikely opposite Barbara Stanwyck in "Shopworn". Toomey would feature better in supporting parts, ironically quite memorable supporting Stanwyck and Gary Cooper in a minor but important role in "Meet John Doe". He's barely acceptable here, but as W.C. Fields said, "You can't score when you play opposite a baby or a dog."

Border Patrolman Bob Franklin's sister has graduated from Miss Agatha Smythington's School for Girls and is coming out to visit him. There is a sweet scene of Rinty out in a field picking up then casting aside flowers. He finally finds a bunch he likes and takes them to Bob to give to his sister Barbara. After Bob puts them in a vase, Rinty gets a bucket of water. As Bob and Rinty are heading for the station to pick his sister up, he is notified that he is needed immediately to help with tracking the notorious smuggler El Zorro and his mob that have just been spotted in the area. He leaves Rinty at the station with a note for his sister saying that he will be back soon and that Rinty will take care of her. She returns to her brother's cabin and sure enough El Zorro soon shows up. It ends up by his knocking Rinty unconscious and – much to my surprise – shooting and killing Barbara. Rinty awakes and although hurt and limping goes after the culprit. The stationmaster finds Barbara and soon after Bob arrives. He doesn't seem visibly upset about his sister's death, but upon Rinty's return lashes out at the dog, blaming him for not saving Barbara. Bent on revenge, Bob resigns from the Border Patrol and goes after El Zorro. He tracks him and his mob to their hideout and overhears one of the gang using the password "skull and crown." Bob himself soon gains entry using this password but is never really trusted by the on site gang leader, King. The hideout is actually owned by Ann Norton and her father. After a couple of close calls, the bad guys capture Rinty and threatening to kill him, so in order to save Rin Tin Tin, Bob steps forward and confesses to having infiltrated the gang in hopes of capturing El Zorro. Rinty is dragged away to be locked up in a shed. He soon frees himself, then frees Bob. Together they capture El Zorro (who is actually King in disguise). Bob and Ann soon marry and all ends well.I don't care how simple and improbable they are – I love Rin Tin Tin movies. As to be expected, there is some good stunt work in the movie – although stunts we've all seen many times (jumping onto a moving truck, jumping off a horse to stop a crook, excellent horsemanship) – it still impresses. The scenes where Rinty was tied and threatened with death were quite frightening or at least I imagine they certainly would have been to children. This movie is more entertaining than most of the drivel shown on TV today.