Fangs of Destiny

Dynamite -- Universal's answer to Warner Bros.' canine star Rin Tin Tin -- and his owner Jerry Matthews (Edmund Cobb) come to the aid of a beleaguered rancher in this typical low-budget "doggie melodrama" set in the West. They are hired by Colonel Shelby (George Periolat) to replace Hank Mitchell (Carl Sepulveda), a ranch hand suspected of being in the employ of greedy neighbor Thomas Shields (Al Ferguson). The latter is plotting with a gang of rustlers to drive the colonel and his daughter Rose (Betty Caldwell) off their property, which, as Dynamite accidentally discovers, contains oil. When Jerry is caught by Shields and his henchmen, Dynamite goes into action, saving not only his master but the entire Shelby ranch. Leading man Edmund Cobb, whose amazing Western career would span six decades, later played innumerable villains, townsmen, and even sidekicks, almost always with the same tightlipped, unruffled mien. Dynamite, in contrast, retired still relatively young in 1928.