Rin Tin Tin or Rin-Tin-Tin was a male German Shepherd born in Flirey, France, who became an international star in motion pictures. He was rescued from a World War I battlefield by an American soldier, Lee Duncan, who nicknamed him "Rinty". Duncan trained Rin Tin Tin and obtained silent film work for the dog. Rin Tin Tin was an immediate box-office success and went on to appear in 27 Hollywood films, gaining worldwide fame. Along with the earlier canine film star Strongheart, Rin Tin Tin was responsible for greatly increasing the popularity of German Shepherd dogs as family pets. The immense profitability of his films contributed to the success of Warner Bros. studios and helped advance the career of Darryl F. Zanuck from screenwriter to producer and studio executive.
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin is an American children's Western television series that aired 164 episodes from October 1954 to May 1959 on the ABC television network.
James Oliver Curwood was an American action-adventure writer and conservationist. His books were often based on adventures set in the Hudson Bay area, the Yukon or Alaska and ranked among the top-ten best sellers in the United States in the early and mid 1920s, according to Publishers Weekly. At least one hundred and eighty motion pictures have been based on or directly inspired by his novels and short stories; one was produced in three versions from 1919 to 1953. At the time of his death, Curwood was the highest paid author in the world.
Noah Lindsey Beery was an American actor often specializing in warm, friendly character roles similar to many portrayed by his Oscar-winning uncle, Wallace Beery. Unlike his more famous uncle, however, Beery Jr. seldom broke away from playing supporting roles. Active as an actor in films or television for well over half a century, he was best known for playing James Garner's character's father, Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, in the NBC television series The Rockford Files (1974–1980). His father, Noah Nicholas Beery enjoyed a similarly lengthy film career as an extremely prominent supporting actor in major films, although the elder Beery was also frequently a leading man during the silent film era.
The Adventures of Rex and Rinty (1935) is a Mascot film serial directed by Ford Beebe and B. Reeves Eason and starring the equine actor Rex and canine actor Rin Tin Tin, Jr.
Frankie Darro was an American actor and later in his career a stuntman. He began his career as a child actor in silent films, progressed to lead roles and co-starring roles in adventure, western, dramatic, and comedy films, and later became a character actor and voice-over artist. He is perhaps best known for his role as Lampwick, the unlucky boy who turns into a donkey in Walt Disney's second animated feature, Pinocchio (1940). In early credits, his last name was spelled Darrow.
The Phantom Empire is a 1935 American Western serial film directed by Otto Brower and B. Reeves Eason and starring Gene Autry, Frankie Darro, and Betsy King Ross. This 12-chapter Mascot Pictures serial combined the Western, musical and science-fiction genres. The first episode is 30 minutes, the rest about 20 minutes. The serial film is about a singing cowboy who stumbles upon an ancient subterranean civilization living beneath his own ranch that becomes corrupted by unscrupulous greedy speculators from the surface. In 1940, a 70-minute feature film edited from the serial was released under the titles Radio Ranch or Men with Steel Faces. This was Gene Autry's first starring role, playing himself as a singing cowboy. It is considered to be the first science-fiction Western.
The Lone Defender is a 1930 American Pre-Code Mascot serial film starring Rin Tin Tin. It was Mascot's first all-sound serial. It was Rin Tin Tin's first serial at Mascot, after being dropped by Warner Bros. when they decided animal pictures would not work with "Talkies". He also starred in the later serial The Lightning Warrior, which was his last appearance.
The Vanishing Legion is a 1931 American pre-Code Western film serial from Mascot, directed by Ford Beebe and B. Reeves Eason.
The Lightning Warrior is a 1931 American Pre-Code Mascot movie serial starring Rin Tin Tin in his last role. It is regarded as one of the better Mascot serials. A number of the production's outdoor action sequences were filmed on the rocky Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, known for its huge sandstone boulders and widely recognized as the most heavily filmed outdoor shooting location in the history of the movies. This was the original Rin Tin Tin's last movie, as he died in 1932, being replaced that same year by Rin Tin Tin Jr.
The Devil Horse is a 1932 American Pre-Code movie serial starring Harry Carey, Frankie Darro and Noah Beery, Sr. that was distributed by Mascot Pictures. This is regarded as the best of the three serials Harry Carey made in the early 1930s, the other two being Last of the Mohicans and The Vanishing Legion. Frankie Darro had co-starred with Carey previously in The Vanishing Legion. Lane Chandler played the murdered ranger Elliott Norton, uncredited.
The Law of the Wild is a 1934 American western serial film produced by Nat Levine, directed by B. Reeves Eason and Armand Schaefer, distributed by Mascot Pictures, and starring two famous animal stars, Rex the Wonder Horse and Rin Tin Tin Jr. as the serial's two leads. Bob Custer played hero John Sheldon, Richard Cramer played villain Frank Nolan, and famed comedian Ben Turpin co-starred as the comic relief sidekick Henry.
Ace the Wonder Dog was a German Shepherd dog actor in several films and film serials from 1938 to 1946. His first appearance was in the 1938 Lew Landers film Blind Alibi. He is considered by many critics an attempt by RKO Pictures to cash in on the success of Warner Bros.' canine sensation, Rin Tin Tin.
Nat Levine, was an American film producer. He produced 105 films between 1921 and 1946. Born in New York City, he entered the film industry as an accountant for Metro Pictures and became personal secretary to Metro head Marcus Loew.
Finding Rin Tin Tin is a 2007 Bulgarian–American family comedy film directed by Israeli filmmaker Danny Lerner. Based loosely on historical events, the film is the most recent in a long line that includes the character Rin Tin Tin.
Law of the Wolf is a 1939 American Western film directed by Raymond K. Johnson and featuring Rin Tin Tin III, Dennis Moore and Luana Walters. The film was reissued in 1941 with the alternative title Law of the Wild.
The Test is a 1935 American western adventure film directed by Bernard B. Ray and produced by Ray and Harry S. Webb for Reliable Pictures. It features as its hero the dog Rin Tin Tin, Jr.
Where the North Begins is a 1923 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. This was the third film for up-and-coming canine actor Rin Tin Tin. The film survives today and lapsed into the public domain on January 1, 2019, along with all remaining American works from 1923 that had not yet lapsed.
Cyclone of the Range is a 1927 American silent Western film directed by Robert De Lacey and starring Tom Tyler, Elsie Tarron, and Frankie Darro.
Thunder the Dog was a male German Shepherd that performed in American silent films from 1923 through 1927. Although Thunder's filmography is rather brief, his six- and seven-reel features were much longer and more elaborate than the films in which many of his fellow canine actors appeared during the silent era. His releases did, though, have to compete in the 1920s with other feature films starring rival German Shepherds such as Peter the Great, Napoleon, Rex, and, most notably, Strongheart and Rin Tin Tin. During his career, Thunder worked for Paramount, Gotham Pictures, and Fox Film Corporation; and he shared screen time with Clara Bow, Dorothy Dalton, William Russell, Caryl Lincoln, and other prominent actors of the period.
