While the “Lobo” in Clash of the Wolves is not the same one as in Seton’s Currumpaw story,
it cannot be ruled out that whatever studio released this picture called its
lead character Lobo to take advantage of the name recognition from Seton’s
earlier story. (Rin Tin Tin also
portrayed a character named Lobo in a 1929 movie, but I have not seen that
one.) The title cards in this silent film give information reminiscent of
Seton’s Lobo: “I know that wolf. That’s the famous Lobo.” And: “I’ll give $100
for his hide.” But instead of hunting the wolf, the human protagonist in this
one befriends the wounded animal.
This Lobo leads a band of outlaw wolves until he is
injured when his foot is pierced by a cactus thorn. (The movie appears to have
been shot in a California desert location.) Unable to extract the thorn, Lobo
seeks the help of his mate (played by another dog, credited as Nanette in the
IMDb notes on the films) in extracting the life-threatening sticker, but no
luck there. Knowing that showing signs of weakness leads to death in the wolf
world, Lobo attempts to hide his wound, but when it grows worse his fellow
wolves drive him out of the pack to die alone. Meanwhile, his mate waits in
vain with her puppies for his return.
To Lobo, man is his greatest enemy, from whom he can
expect no succor. Against all probability, the wolf is found and brought back
to health by a kindly miner who faces problems of his own. Dave Weston (played
by Charles Farrell who went on to a role as a minor television actor in the
1950s) is shot by a claim jumper, Borax Horton, who leaves him for dead. Lobo
attempts to get help from Dave’s girlfriend May, but both May and Lobo are also
threatened by the villainous Horton. Somehow, Lobo manages to get word to his
wolf pack which joins him in giving the unfortunate Horton his comeuppance.
Dave and May, and Lobo and his mate (Nanette), live happily ever after.
The plot was improbable, but Rin Tin Tin took his role
seriously and brought to it the gravitas his audience had come to expect. Or so
I assume; I have not found any contemporary reviews by film critics of his
time.
According to
the IMDb site, at the peak of Rin Tin Tin’s
popularity, “Warners maintained 18 trained stand-ins to reduce any stress on
their dog star, while providing him (“Rinty”) with a private chef who prepared
daily lunches of tenderloin steak (consumed as live classical music was played
to help ease the dog's digestion.)” And: “Trainer Lee Duncan, on the first film
he made of the dog: ‘At first the dog did not know he was watching pictures of
himself, but when it dawned on him his tail wagged ferociously.’" One can only
imagine how proud Rinty must have felt when he learned that Clash of the Wolves had been inspired,
at least in some degree, by the popularity of Seton’s story!
In The Legend of
Lobo, the unnamed wolf actors (played by actual wolves or wolf-dogs of
various ages) go through their Disney paces with faux natural history, lots of
cute scenes, some tearful scenes, and even less plot than Clash of the Wolves. At least it featured wolves rather than dogs,
but without a compelling actor like Rin Tin Tin, it is mostly a bunch of wolves
running around doing wolf things with a voice-over narrator trying to impose
some kind of order on pieced together documentary nature footage. The narration
is overrun from time to time by the annoying accompaniment of singing cowboys.
Since there is no dialog in this film, we are helped
by the wanted posters for Lobo with the price on his head increasing from $100
to $1000. The tale of “The bravest wolf of all” spends half or more of its time
on the back story of Lobo’s parents, “El Feroz” the dad and an unnamed mother.
Amid several scenes of cute wolf puppies at the den, the narrator interjects
the occasional Setonism such as: “All of his life, he (Lobo) would be one to
learn from experience, store it up, and remember it.” And: “When the buffalo
were wiped out it left cattle as the wolves’ only hope for survival. So El
Feroz took what seemed his rightful share.”
As in the original story, the plight of the cattlemen
having their livestock destroyed is shown as an important problem while at the
same time “a kind of nobelness (sic) in the wolf” is also acknowledged.
The young Lobo goes through various traumas, including
getting lost from his parents, surviving a threatening encounter with a
mountain lion, trying to support his doomed father caught in a leg trap, and
witnessing cowboys shooting his mother after she is caught killing a cow. Seton
did not spare his young readers from the experience of tragedy and neither do
the film makers.
Contrived scenes of puppy Lobo romping with a baby
antelope and the two of them joining a swimming party of baby raccoons probably
had limited credibility in 1962 and certainly has none now. The only realistic
part came when the young wolf attacks one of the raccoons (ending the scene!).
Of greater concern, the director set up actual animal fights, wolf vs. badger,
wolf vs. wolf, and showed wolves snared in leg traps. In other places, uncontrived
documentary scenes of wolf life were rather interesting.
At the end of the movie, following the random scenes
of real or imagined wolf behavior, the producers introduce a story plot: a
trapper is brought in to rid the world of Lobo once and for all. He traps
Lobo’s mate (in this case a black wolf since presumably a white one was not
available) and holds her prisoner in a building at the ranch. Lobo rallies his
pack to attack the ranch! They stampede a herd of longhorns who knock over the
building thus freeing the female from her entrapment. The wolves happily run off
and head out for a new promised land free of humans. The narrator calls it
quits at this point. Sadly for the wolves no such paradise exists.
But I would like to give the wolves another chance. I
hereby announce that for the next film incarnation of “The King of Currumpaw” I
am available to write the screenplay.
I look forward to your King Lobo screenplay David!
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