Fangs of Destiny (Silent)

When greedy poachers set their sights on a Western ranch, a cowboy and his courageous canine companion uncover the plot and ride to the rescue.

Jerry Matthews, a new employee at the Shelby Ranch, is on the trail of the rustlers who have brought the enterprise to the verge of ruin. The culprit is a neighbor who holds the mortgage on the Shelby spread. He has learned that there's oil on the property, and he will soon be in a position to foreclose and reap the rich rewards. When Matthews is kidnapped by thugs, it's up to his German Shepherd "Dynamite" to save the day.

In the tradition of the silent era's Rin Tin Tin, "Dynamite" is an amazing acrobatic canine: jumping onto the back of a horse, climbing a tree, knocking a rider from his saddle, executing a series of flying tackles and even "talking" (his barking is translated as written superimpositions). Firmly on the side of law and order and full of fight, he's the whole show in this entertaining entry from the "man and his dog" school of Saturday matinee action-adventure.

Dynamite -- Universal's answer to Warner Bros.' canine star Rin Tin Tin -- and his owner Jerry Matthews (Edmund Cobb) come to the aid of a beleaguered rancher in this typical low-budget "doggie melodrama" set in the West. They are hired by Colonel Shelby (George Periolat) to replace Hank Mitchell (Carl Sepulveda), a ranch hand suspected of being in the employ of greedy neighbor Thomas Shields (Al Ferguson). The latter is plotting with a gang of rustlers to drive the colonel and his daughter Rose (Betty Caldwell) off their property, which, as Dynamite accidentally discovers, contains oil. When Jerry is caught by Shields and his henchmen, Dynamite goes into action, saving not only his master but the entire Shelby ranch. Leading man Edmund Cobb, whose amazing Western career would span six decades, later played innumerable villains, townsmen, and even sidekicks, almost always with the same tightlipped, unruffled mien. Dynamite, in contrast, retired still relatively young in 1928.