

221 minutes of Mounties vs. outlaws with the guy from King Kong wasted in a corner.
In time-honored fashion, a couple of supporting players -- George Dolenz and Bill Kennedy -- found themselves elevated to starring roles in this minor Universal serial. They played Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers investigating the murder of a miner. The story, of course, was less important than speed and action, which directors Ray Taylor and Lewis D. Collins delivered in typical slap-dash Universal style. Starlet Daun Kennedy did not make much of an impression as the imperiled leading lady, and former star Robert Armstrong (of King Kong fame) was wasted in a subordinate role. Rondo Hatton, a non-actor whose grotesque appearance (caused by acromegaly, the so-called "Elephant Man" disease) was tastelessly exploited by Universal in the '40s, appeared as one of the outlaws.
Practical Effects
Rondo Hatton's genuinely unsettling presence before Hollywood ruined him.
Production
Slap-dash Universal efficiency: twelve chapters, zero budget, somehow finished.

Director
Ray Taylor
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Rondo Hatton's acromegaly was so advanced that makeup artists barely needed to touch him; Universal later typecast him as the 'Creeper' in Sherlock Holmes films until his death in 1946.
This serial exists because Republic Pictures was crushing Universal in the serial market, so they threw contract players at 12-chapter stories like spaghetti at a wall. Most of it stuck just enough.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters