THE ADVENTURES OF REX AND RINTY (1935)
(Serial)
Article #906 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-7-2003
Posting Date: 2-4-2004
Directed by Forde Beebe and B. Reaves Eason
Featuring Rex, Rin Tin Tin Jr, Kane Richmond

The God-Horse of Sujan is kidnapped and brought to America. It escapes, befriends a dog named Rinty, and is rescued by a polo player intent on returning the Horse to its original owner.

How about that? It’s a serial where I can tell the heroes apart. Granted, it helps that one of them is equine, another is canine, and only one of them is human, but I’m not complaining. In fact, having animals take center stage here has an even greater novelty value than making the Dead End Kids the focus of a serial (a la SEA RAIDERS), and the serial is quite entertaining as long as the focus remains on the animals. Unfortunately, the story gets repetitive after the first three episodes, and the focus shifts more and more to the human heroes and villains from that point onwards. Things do pick up again when the action shifts back to Sujan, but that’s not until late in the action. The fantastic elements are incidental, but they are there; firstly, the mythical island of Sujan itself, and secondly, there appears to be something of a psychic link between the high priest of Sujan and his agent in America, which is the most striking fantastic aspect here, even if it isn’t really used all that effectively.