User Reviews

Sally Blane is taken as a hostage when robbers steal a lot of money from a bank. They disappear across the Canadian border, but Renfrew of The Royal Mounted and Constable Kelly (in the persons of James Newell and Dave O'Brien) are there to stop all dastardly deeds. If only comic relief Benny Rubin weren't try to help them, they might have gotten it done much sooner.

Sam Newfield directs this as a singing northwestern, with Newell singing three songs. Production values are dire, but cameraman Jack Greenhalgh does what he can with the exteriors, and the Indians who show up at Rubin's trading post are mostly of the "Ugh! Me no speakum" variety when they are not hoodwinking Rubin.

I've heard of Renfrew before, but this is my first encounter with him. He was created by Laurie York Erskine in 1921. He appeared in hundreds of short stories, ten books, and at least three radio series. I would imagine this is not a prime representation of the series.

This movie's title isn't totally uninformative. For instance, please consider its second letter "g": had its action been located in the Old West, the title might instead have been Fightin' Mad. Had its last three letters been capitalized, it might instead have concerned Good Folks struggling to overcome Mothers Against … well, something beginning with D. Delirium? Documentaries? Doofishness? I mention this mainly because no one except the bad guys get mad, and their fighting is more obligatory than because they're angry. Anyway, we shall now change from reviewing previously un-reviewed Westerns to reviewing a previously un- reviewed Canayjun (to pronounce the word properly). "And how is it, Marplot, that you know the correct pronunciation?" Because I spent eight happy years living in Canada, four of them in Real Canada, well to the north of the U.S. border.

Positives: The movie's sound quality is excellent, as is its Black and White screen resolution. The choreography of the fist fights is good. Of course, just as in Westerns' innumerable bullets being fired without hitting anything, here innumerable punches do little harm. The musical background is acceptable and not too obtrusive. The plot holds together and is somewhat interesting. The Awful Danger to which the heroine is exposed as the trailer rolls … quickly checks … no, this is not a Plot Spoiler: IMDb has already disclosed it … down the hill into the lake is quite well done, though one wonders how it managed to remain on that somewhat curvy dirt road all the way down. The destruction of an automobile is well rendered. The heroine is a convincing liar.

Negatives: The plot is incessantly interrupted by the Obligatory Comedy Relief, in this case Benny Rubin, Master of Many Dialects. In this case his dialect is a puzzling mixture of Swedish, Quebecois, and Bronx. He's by far the best actor in the movie, with the horse whom he gradually learns to ride coming in second. However, Benny does get in the way. IMDb labels this movie Action; a more appropriate label would be Spasmodic Comedy.

The film begins with Renfrew leading a substantial troop of Mounties as they ride slowly through the conifers and the movie's titles. Renfrew is singing. His tenor voice is pleasant. However, his songs are standard Roy Rogers / Gene Autry dreck. He sings three or four of these, repeating one at the end as the heroine gazes at him adoringly.

Regarding conifers: I'd hoped that this would an Artic Mounties movie, and that Renfrew would have a loyal sled dog named Werfner who would, of course, go Werf, Werf! Instead, though, he has a loyal sidekick who resembles him sufficiently that once in a while I got the two confused. Both are handsome and boring.

Overall: This film was produced by Criterion Pictures Corp.. A criterion is a standard by which to judge something. Here, my criterion is, Would It Have Been Possible To Watch All 54 Minutes Of This If I Hadn't Been Taking Notes? On that I give it a 5. Final irrelevant observation: the title couldn't have been Fighting Mothers Against Dyslexia, because they abbreviate their name as DAM.

"Fighting Mad" is one of eight Renfrew of the Mounties films. They were B-movies made around the late 1930s and where a bit like westerns set in modern times and are the adventures of a handsome Northwest Mounted policeman and were distributed by Monogram Pictures. I've only seen a few and wasn't particularly impressed. But I wanted to see this one because of its odd casting of the Jewish comic Benny Rubin and Ole Olson (of Olson & Johnson comedy fame)...as I simply couldn't imagine either of these guys in the Canadian wilderness!

Early in the story, a woman just happens to be there during a holdup and the crooks kidnap her. Renfrew and his partner come to her aid when the trailer she's in detaches and careens down the road. Now here's the nutty part....she never tells them she's been kidnapped nor that the men in the car are dangerous wanted criminals. In this sense, the writing is REALLY bad....and just doesn't make any sense. Does it get any better and does it start to make sense? Watch it and see.

As for Rubin, he's enjoyable in the film...but talk about a fish out of water!! Seeing his extremely stereotypical Jewish Borscht Belt shtick in the film is just strange...very strange! Olson, on the other hand, is barely in the movie...and you wonder why he made this cameo without his longtime partner, Chic Johnson.

So is this film any good? It's fair to middling....not great but pleasant if you just want a simple time-passer. So, if you are a fan of B westerns (such as Gene Autry or Roy Rogers flicks), for example, you probably will enjoy this. Just don't expect it to be great art or especially well made.

By the way, the actors Chief Thundercloud, J. W. Cody and Iron Eyes Cody all played natives in the film but were NOT Indians at all. I can't say where 'Chief Thundercloud' was from but he was not a chief. And, the Cody brothers pretended for decades to be Native Americans....but were Italians! The only actor who played a native in this one who WAS appears to be Chris Willow Bird...but considering the others, perhaps he wasn't an Indian either!