"Inside Information" is a low budget short B-movie from Consolidated Pictures, one of many so-called 'Poverty Row' production companies. Some film companies were dubbed 'Poverty Row' because of their terribly small budgets and lack of studio space...which they had to rent from larger studios and often were able to do this only at night! And, in the case of this film, it's obvious Consolidated was one of the poorest of these studios. This is because the best actor in the movie, by far, is Tarzan the Police Dog and none of the human actors!
When the story begins, you see that Tarzan has won some sort of public service award and what follows is a 45 minute flashback to see how he earned this. The film then shows the dog's owner, some time earlier, picking up $200,000 in bonds from the bank. On the way out, the man's girlfriend introduces him to Mr. Durand...a man that Tarzan immediately hates because he seems to have doggy ESP! Not surprisingly, Durand is a crook and soon arranges for some of his goons to beat up the guy and steal the bonds. Tarzan tries to help but a dopey policeman foils him in catching the criminals. After the incident, the dog's owner is assumed by many to be responsible for the theft...a sort of inside job. But he's determined to find the crooks and, naturally, Tarzan ends up being the hero. Getting in his way are a couple really dim-witted detectives who are following him everywhere.
Tarzan is only a moderately intelligent and trained German Shepherd...which still makes him more talented than the actors in the film. Some of his trick seemed as if they were faked but he did do a few really nice stunts a well..such as climbing a fire escape, rescuing a really stupid suicidal toddler as well as biting folks in a convincing looking way. But he was no Rin-Tin-Tin (the very famous German Shepherd who made a ton of blockbuster films in the silent and very early sound era). In fact, Tarzan only ended up making three films...possibly because the public had their fill of these sorts of doggy pictures...or at least bad ones.
So is it worth seeing? Well, if you have low standards like me, yes. But the acting is very wooden and the action less than thrilling. But I give it a point for the cute doggy...a plus for any film.
When the story begins, you see that Tarzan has won some sort of public service award and what follows is a 45 minute flashback to see how he earned this. The film then shows the dog's owner, some time earlier, picking up $200,000 in bonds from the bank. On the way out, the man's girlfriend introduces him to Mr. Durand...a man that Tarzan immediately hates because he seems to have doggy ESP! Not surprisingly, Durand is a crook and soon arranges for some of his goons to beat up the guy and steal the bonds. Tarzan tries to help but a dopey policeman foils him in catching the criminals. After the incident, the dog's owner is assumed by many to be responsible for the theft...a sort of inside job. But he's determined to find the crooks and, naturally, Tarzan ends up being the hero. Getting in his way are a couple really dim-witted detectives who are following him everywhere.
Tarzan is only a moderately intelligent and trained German Shepherd...which still makes him more talented than the actors in the film. Some of his trick seemed as if they were faked but he did do a few really nice stunts a well..such as climbing a fire escape, rescuing a really stupid suicidal toddler as well as biting folks in a convincing looking way. But he was no Rin-Tin-Tin (the very famous German Shepherd who made a ton of blockbuster films in the silent and very early sound era). In fact, Tarzan only ended up making three films...possibly because the public had their fill of these sorts of doggy pictures...or at least bad ones.
So is it worth seeing? Well, if you have low standards like me, yes. But the acting is very wooden and the action less than thrilling. But I give it a point for the cute doggy...a plus for any film.