Border Patrolman Bob Franklin's sister has graduated from Miss Agatha Smythington's School for Girls and is coming out to visit him. There is a sweet scene of Rinty out in a field picking up then casting aside flowers. He finally finds a bunch he likes and takes them to Bob to give to his sister Barbara. After Bob puts them in a vase, Rinty gets a bucket of water. As Bob and Rinty are heading for the station to pick his sister up, he is notified that he is needed immediately to help with tracking the notorious smuggler El Zorro and his mob that have just been spotted in the area. He leaves Rinty at the station with a note for his sister saying that he will be back soon and that Rinty will take care of her. She returns to her brother's cabin and sure enough El Zorro soon shows up. It ends up by his knocking Rinty unconscious and – much to my surprise – shooting and killing Barbara. Rinty awakes and although hurt and limping goes after the culprit. The stationmaster finds Barbara and soon after Bob arrives. He doesn't seem visibly upset about his sister's death, but upon Rinty's return lashes out at the dog, blaming him for not saving Barbara. Bent on revenge, Bob resigns from the Border Patrol and goes after El Zorro. He tracks him and his mob to their hideout and overhears one of the gang using the password "skull and crown." Bob himself soon gains entry using this password but is never really trusted by the on site gang leader, King. The hideout is actually owned by Ann Norton and her father. After a couple of close calls, the bad guys capture Rinty and threatening to kill him, so in order to save Rin Tin Tin, Bob steps forward and confesses to having infiltrated the gang in hopes of capturing El Zorro. Rinty is dragged away to be locked up in a shed. He soon frees himself, then frees Bob. Together they capture El Zorro (who is actually King in disguise). Bob and Ann soon marry and all ends well.
I don't care how simple and improbable they are – I love Rin Tin Tin movies. As to be expected, there is some good stunt work in the movie – although stunts we've all seen many times (jumping onto a moving truck, jumping off a horse to stop a crook, excellent horsemanship) – it still impresses. The scenes where Rinty was tied and threatened with death were quite frightening or at least I imagine they certainly would have been to children. This movie is more entertaining than most of the drivel shown on TV today.
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