The Sign of the Wolf (1931) User Reviews

Early Sound Serial

[todd-697 · 3/10 · 17 June 2008]

Sign of the Wolf is not the best of the independently produced serials in the early days of sound, but it is a fast paced adventure with a few tinges of intrigue to keeps things from becoming too monotonous. The plot concerns a rancher named John Farnum (Harry Todd), who while in India buys a small puppy that carries the Sign of the Wolf, which enables him to tell good people from evil ones. He also buys two chains from an unscrupulous killer that are made from a rare radioactive material, when put into a container with heated sand, the sand is transformed into priceless jewels. The chains were stolen from a sacred temple and the guardian of the chains,Prince Kuva (Edmond Cobb) is dispatched to retrieve them. Years pass and Farnum, who has been receiving menacing notes from Kuva by way of blow gun darts, has decided to sell the chains to multi-millionaire Clyde Winslow (Al Ferguson). But Winslow would prefer to steal the chains instead of the simple and more cost effective method of just purchasing them outright and hires local outlaw Butch (Jack Mower) and his gang to do the dirty work. Preventing this is Farnum's daughter Ruth (Virginia Brown Faire), her sweetheart, local rancher Tom (Rex Lease), his ranch foreman Bud (Joe Bonomo), and the now grown up wolf dog Muro (King). The serial has a lot of good western action in it with chases on horse back, shootouts, and fist fights that allow Bonomo to frequently demonstrate his fame as the Strong Man of Film by lifting full grown men over his head and tossing them around like they weighed nothing. But the plot is extremely repetitive with first one group getting the chains, the good guys retrieving them and so on and so on, intermixed with scenes of Cobb popping up every now and then to send another note. As for the dog's supernatural ability to tell friend from foe, it isn't used at all, except to explain at the end of the serial why Cobb can keep hanging around the Farnum ranch and not get mauled unlike the outlaws who can't take two steps across the property line without getting kneecapped by King.