Mason of the Mounted

It has a reasonably good story, but "Mason of the Mounted" moves very slowly, at times excruciatingly so. The setting is interesting enough, but the characters at times take forever to say their lines, and there are some long takes without much to look at. That sometimes happens with films in the early sound era, and in this case there is not a lot else in the movie to make up for the slow pace.

It starts off fairly well - the murdered body of a trapper is lying in the snow along the US/Canada border, and then a heavily coated figure takes a rifle shot at a Canadian Mountie. But then very little happens for at least 20 minutes or so. Eventually it becomes clear that there is a gang of horse thieves operating near the border, and the Mountie, Mason, is sent to the US side to investigate, with the help of a friendly family. The story is alright, though routine, but the pace never really picks up. Even at the climax, a little excitement is mixed in with some slow, talky portions.

The crawling pace keeps this from being really worthwhile, although the rather different setting might make it of some interest to fans of old Westerns.