Disturbing yet enthralling

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Francis McDonald (Pierre), Heinie Conklin (Windy), Jose de la Cruz (Pedro), Peter Rigas (Manuel), "Caesar", the wonder dog ("Lobo"), Tom London (sheriff). Director: HERMAN C. RAYMAKER. Story: Jackson Richards. Photography: Pliny Goodfriend. Music: Oscar Potoker. Music supervised by Abe Meyer, directed by Sam Wineland. Production manager: Louis Rantz. Sound recording: W.C. Smith. Associate producer: Charles Hunt. Producer: Bennie F. Zeidman. Copyright 27 November 1932 by Bennie F. Zeidman Productions, Ltd. New York opening at the Gaiety: 1 December 1932. U.S. release through World Wide Pictures. 7 reels. 64 minutes.TV title: CALL OF THE WILDERNESS.COMMENT: Despite his prominence in the credits, Conklin's part in the print under review has been reduced to a ten-second appearance in the film's very last shot! Still, to judge from Mordaunt Hall's notice in The New York Times, the human actors always did take a very back seat to the animals. Fortunately, these scenes are quite well photographed, briskly directed, and scored with music of a quaint, primitive appeal. And the dog is by far the best I've seen! However, there's not much left of Jackson Richard's original story.Mr Raymaker made a career out of directing "Rin-Tin-Tin" (see The Night Cry with Heinie Conklin cast again in a small part). The only other sound film I have for Raymaker is Adventure Girl (1934). Previous to this movie, he directed a silent version of Zane Grey's Under the Tonto Rim for Paramount, released early in 1928.

Very horrible movie. Lots of propaganda.It's essentially a silent movie over dubbed with sound effects and music. Really boring.While the original title, "Trailing the Killer" isn't a misnomer, it was a bit misleading since the "trailer" is a dog named Caesar Caesar the Dog) and the killer is a mountain lion, aka as a cougar or puma the narrator was quick to point out. But the makers also pointed out that Caesar "is the most intelligent dog actor since Rin-Tin-Tin" which probably lured a few Rin-Tin-Tin fans with a show-me attitude. Caesar prowls around the woods of the Northwest, dispatches a rattlesnake, visits his she-wolf mate and their pups, pauses to watch the dainty habits of a raccoon personally washing every morsel of food before eating it---and that raccoon had enough food to use up several minutes of running time---and then saves sheepherder Pierre (Francis McDonald)) from getting et up by one mean mountain lion. Rin-Tin-Tin he ain't, but then who was? Commonwealth changed the title to "Call of the Wilderness" when they acquired it for 16mm rental to the school market.