Code of the Mounted: Mounties, Mud, and Mayhem

Is it worth your time?

If you like your movies black and white, short, and featuring guys in hats riding horses through the woods, you’ll probably have a decent afternoon with Code of the Mounted. If you need tight pacing or acting that doesn't feel like it was rehearsed five minutes before the cameras rolled, stay away. This is pure Saturday matinee filler, and honestly, that’s fine by me.

The plot is about as complex as a ham sandwich. Some guy kills a trapper, gets locked up, and immediately breaks out because, well, the security in these movies is usually a joke. The real hook is that there’s a crime ring running things behind the scenes. It’s a bit like watching Torchy in High but with more snow and fewer typewriters.

The Good, The Bad, and The Rocky

Let’s be real: Kermit Maynard is doing the heavy lifting here. He’s got that classic square-jawed look that tells you he’s going to punch someone in the face before the credits roll. Then there's Rocky the Horse. Honestly, the horse might have had the most natural screen presence in the whole production. 🐎

There is this one scene where a character gets broken out of jail, and the whole sequence is so rushed it feels like they were trying to beat a parking meter. It’s clunky, it’s loud, and it’s completely unnecessary. You can almost feel the director checking his watch.

Oddly Specific Notes

• The villains look like they’ve never been outside in their lives, despite supposedly hiding in the wilderness.
• The dialogue is so stiff you could use it as a fence post.
• I’m pretty sure one of the extras in the background was just trying to remember where he parked his wagon.

Comparing this to something like Stella Dallas would be a total waste of time, but it’s not trying to be that. It’s just trying to fill an hour of time between newsreels and cartoons. Sometimes, a movie is just a movie. It doesn't need to change your life or win an award to be watchable.

At the end of the day, it's just a fun, dusty mess. It’s not great, but it’s not boring either. If you have nothing else to do and a craving for some old-fashioned frontier justice, you could do worse. 🏔️