The Silent Code

Writer George Morgan has a "Original Story and Screenplay" credit---written just like that---and while there is no doubt he did write the screenplay for "The Silent Code," he may have been fibbing a bit when it came to the Original Story credit.

Back in April of 1935, Columbia Pictures Corporation released a film with Tim McCoy,as a Canadian Mountie, called "Fighting Shadows." And, in September, Louis Weiss's International Pictures Inc. production company, (which is not the same company as the International Pictures Inc. company of the mid-1940's that later merged with Universal Pictures Corporation to form the Universal-International production company )produced and distributed, via the Weiss-owned "Stage and Screen Productions Inc. distribution company, "The Silent Code." Of course, there were a lot of USA-produced films featuring the Royal Canadian Mounted Police made in the 1930's---only a few of which were actually filmed in Canada and only then to comply with the British Import Law---so it is no coincidence that the 1935 version of International Pictures Inc. would make a Canadian Mounted film within a few short months of one made and distributed by Columbia Pictures Corporation. But...it do strain credibility a bit when both films have exactly the same plot, beginning with a Mountie being reassigned to a district he had been run out of earlier and not missing a beat from there. The only difference is in the cast/crew credits, plus Morgan gave this film's hero a dog named Rex (played by a dog named Wolfang)and Tim McCoy only had a horse to talk to in the Columbia film.

Of course it doesn't matter...but since both films are readily available for viewing, those who collect films of this era might enjoy watching these two back-to-back just to see how a real Poverty-Row company fared when they did an unauthorized/uncredited remake of a borderline Poverty Row company film...on about one-third less budget.