Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Fighting Mad (1939)


Constable Kelly: I'm thinking of asking for a transfer.
Renfrew:Why?
Constable Kelly:Because nothing ever exciting happens any more.


Third film in our Renfrew series begins with two bad guys and a woman they have kidnapped wandering across the border from the US into Canada. They have a stolen 100 grand in a suitcase. They steal the car and house trailer of Benny, a man they meet on the road and drive off. It's at this point the opening exchange occurs moments before Kelly and Renfrew have to chase down the run away trailer with our heroine inside. From there it's typical Renfrew adventures as Renfrew and Kelly have to untangle the mess of stolen cars and stolen money.

This was the toughest of all the Renfrew films to track down. Until Amazon's streaming video I'd only seen it available from a collector on Ebay who was selling it on a DVD with two other Renfrew films. Why it was so difficult to find has eluded me since all of the other films are readily available from places like Sinister or Oldies.

This is one of the best Renfrew films. It's got a great characters, a great sense of place and some thrills that would have made this a great serial had the series gone that way. The songs aren't all that intrusive, and there isn't an over abundance of bad humor. Sure, Benny gets a bit bothersome, but for the most part it all works.

I really like this film. It's got all of the best things you want in a film like this, mainly a high level of action and adventure mixed with a healthy dose of suspense. It's the sort of film that would have had it been the first in the series I had seen, I would have been hooked.

This is a great little film.

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