I recently re-visited the 12-chapter serial The Adventures of Rex and Rinty (1935). It’s corking good stuff! The last couple of Mascots I saw way-back-when were of the ’31 and ’32 period and it was surprising to note how “polished” this next-to-last Nat Levine effort was by comparison; a little more care in the camera set-ups and editing, thanks possibly to the “supervising editor” Joseph H. Lewis (Gun Crazy, etc.).
It features a refreshingly naturalistic plot– no super-heroes, no fanatical scientist bent on world domination, no space ships or ray guns or Nazi spies– just horse, horse, who’s got the horse! I really liked the human interest by-play between Rex and Rinty and, of course, Kane Richmond made his presence felt as the stalwart hero.
And then there’s the unbeatable villainy of Harry Woods. That guy was so instinctively nasty and black-hearted, you have to wonder what the real guy was like as your next door neighbor! Roy Barcroft once mentioned that he, Roy, based his entire “bad guy” persona on his pal, Harry, and even though Roy enjoyed a steady, fairly lucrative income thanks to that lengthy, “exclusive” contract with Republic, ol’ “Bear-Claw”– as his friends called him– was somewhat envious of Woods’ free-lancing which resulted in many trips abroad, courtesy of British production companies. Glenn Strange, one of the nicest guys ever, was a pretty good “elbow-bender” in the old days and said Woods was one of the few guys in Hollywood he’d hate to get into a brawl with. Off-screen, Harry was every bit as rugged as he looked and big-mouths were always challenging him to a slug-fest!
Serial fans will also recognize Ralph Byrd (Dick Tracy) in a small role as the forest ranger. Even Smiley Burnette was less annoying than usual. And I loved that bit in Chapter 12 when Rinty nudges Harry and his henchman over the cliff to their doom. Very satisfying!
~MCH
