As serials go, this is pretty typical of what you would see in theaters back in the 1930's - a story presented as weekly serials roughly 15 minutes in length. The action all revolves around a mysterious cloaked figure that has convinced the Indians to attack the settlers in the valley if they don't vacate their settlement by the new moon. At stake are a number of rich mines that the settlers have been working. The brother of a murdered federal agent, a local orphaned boy, and Rinty are working together to discover the identity of the cloaked figure before the Indians attack. The only big name in this film besides Rin Tin Tin himself is George Brent as the brother of the murdered federal agent, giving a somewhat wooden performance compared to his later work for Warner Brothers.
The story is fairly pedestrian, but if you love watching the original Rin Tin Tin in action, this is only one of a few films I know of on DVD where you can still see the great German Shepherd star. Another is the 1925 silent film "Clash of the Wolves" that is on the DVD set "More Treasures from the American Film Archives". Grapevine Video has "Where the North Begins" (1923), "The Night Cry" (1926), "Tracked by the Police" (1927), and "The Lone Defender" (1930) all available on DVD-R. Unfortunately, the Mill Creek edition of this 1931 film has not been restored at all. The video is in bad shape in spots, and there is considerable hissing in the audio. However, I would say it is nothing worse than what you see on those public domain 50 Movie Packs.
Even as a teenager Rinty still had it. The dog actually did seem to "get" the concept of acting. In a couple of scenes I really thought I saw him do a double-take! Plus there are quite a few good action scenes involving Rinty. If you are a Rin Tin Tin fan I recommend this DVD in spite of its technical flaws due to the film's age and neglect.
