Fangs of the Wild (1954) Poster

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6/10
A Habit Of Exaggeration
bkoganbing28 May 2011
Although Charles Chaplin, Jr. had appeared in his father's production of Limelight, this Lippert production has him billed as being 'introduced'. At this time his father was in self imposed exile over in Switzerland and I doubt a major studio would have introduced young Mr. Chaplin in those days of the blacklist.

Young Charles is the villain here and Freddy Ridgeway and his dog sees him commit a cold blooded murder on his best friend and later pass it off as a hunting accident. The problem is that Freddy's a lonely kid living with his widowed dad Onslow Stevens and he has a habit of exaggeration, learned from handyman Phil Tead.

When he tells his tale, Stevens won't believe him. But the wife of Chaplin, Margia Dean believes him because she knows why he would do such a thing. Therein lies the film.

Fangs Of The Wild was plainly shot on a shoestring, but the story is interesting one and the cast gives sincere performances. Young Ridgeway is especially good, coming off like a real kid who becomes a terrified victim of stalking in the climax. Not a bad one from Lippert.
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Not a western. Rather an adventure thriller.
searchanddestroy-129 March 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I first thought it was a sort of oater, family western, shot in a superb setting, the Rocky Mountains. A little boy lives here with his father. A little boy who is witness of a murder committed by a man - Chaplin Jr. It takes place in modern times, the 50's, with cars and accuracy rifles...Not a western. And the topic has nothing to do with beasts. No bears, pumas or cougars in this feature.

Just a little movie very pleasant to watch. Very linear. The story is a sort of Carbon copy of Ted Tetzlaff's THE WINDOW where, here again, a little boy is witness of a murder. And where no one believes him. Of course.

Just try it on the new disc set available since a short while: DARN GOOD WESTERNS.

It could have been a Edward L Cahn movie. It's just his style. And the screen writer, Orville Hampton, is the usual Eddie Chan's one. But the director is William Claxton. Not a bad one. A pretty good worker, with no soul, who worked for TV in his late years, after many westerns. B westerns.
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