My Pal, the King

Recognize sets from Frankenstein films and Hunchback

"My Pal, the King" is one of only 9 films the huge silent film star Tom Mix made...out of his 291 movies. But even in the sound era, Mix was a bankable star and the film did extremely well at the box office for Universal Studios. However, he didn't like making films and decided to devote himself to a new passion...performing in and eventually owning his own circus. It's a shame, as it's a pretty decent film and his foray into circuses was, sadly, a big financial blunder.

In the film, Mix essentially plays himself. He's touring Europe when a young king (Mickey Rooney) disappears from the palace. After all, the kid wants to have fun and being a king isn't all that fun. Soon he and Mix develop quite the friendship and spend time together. However, as they talked, the king says he wants his country run differently...more like a republic and for the good of the people. Tom tells the boy he CAN do this if he wants and he doesn't have to listen to his advisors. So, the boy tells his advisors of his plans...and soon finds himself spirited away to a secret prison! Obviously, the boy isn't the real power in the country and the coup plans on placing his evil mother on the throne. Can Tom discover this plot and restore the king to his rightful position?

The plot is quite a bit like "The Prisoner of Zenda"...with cowboys. This is a strange mix, but it somehow works. The film is well made and enjoyable and its only deficit is Mix's acting. He's good in the action sequences but is amazingly soft-spoken and says little during the movie. He wasn't bad as much as he was a bit disappointing. But his stuntwork (which he claimed to do himself) was terrific and the film well worth seeing...especially in the final minutes of the story.

By the way, IMDB says the film is 73 minutes long, but the copy I found on YouTube is only 61. IMDB's runtimes are occasionally wrong, but it's also possible the copy I saw was trimmed by someone.

Hello Mickey Rooney fans! If you love Mickey Rooney and have not seen this film, I highly recommend it. Mickey Rooney was only 12 years old in the movie and given second billing. Mickey Rooney is King Charles and his pal is Tom Mix (The cowboy star) Mickey has a big role in this film and is so adorable. Anyone could tell the Mickey Rooney was destined for stardom. Not only just for stardom but to be the BIGGEST star of the world for 3 years in a row. In my opinion Mickey Rooney perhaps is the most talented star of Hollywood's Golden Years and he's still working! GO MICKEY! If you love westerns and Mickey Rooney please buy this film. You can find it on ebay quite a bit! Get a copy, you will love little Mickey!

Was there ever anyone more talented than Mickey Rooney? Not a matinée idol but a performer from head to toe. In "My Pal The King" he carries the acting load and puts over a very flimsily-plotted picture almost singlehandedly. He gets very little help from Tom Mix, a cowboy who evidently was not an actor but a personality.

Touring with his Wild West show, Mix shows up in Abalonia, a tiny kingdom ruled by a child king (guess who). It is part western and part comedy and is not really worth the rating of 6 that I give it, but it is a rare opportunity to see and hear Tom Mix, and to witness the splendid star quality that Mickey Rooney had, even at the age of 12.

My copy of this film was 62 minutes, not the 74 as advertised in the IMDb synopsis, which was probably all to the good.

It's no fun for Mickey Rooney, being King of Alvonia. When Tom Mix and his Wild West show comes through, he plays hooky from a council meeting to greet the great man. He attends a special show along with his kindly tutor, Wallis Clark, and then chats with Tom in his throne room. Tom urges him in the American creed of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and the youngster is sold. However, evil prime minister James Kirkwood sticks Mickey and Clark in a dungeon and proceeds to open the floodgates to drown them. However, Princess Noel Francis tells Tom, so he sets out to rescue his pal. Can the forces of Evil stand up against Tom, Tony the Horse, and a cohort of western performers that includes Paul Hurst and Jim Thorpe?

It is to laugh. We get to see Tom Mix's Wild West show in performance, including a lot of lariat artists and an Indian attack on the Overland Stage. It's great stuff, even if the attack on the Palace -- the exteriors are clearly the sets from THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME -- is clunkily cut together. Tom is beginning to look a bit chunky, but he rides like the great Western star he is, and sounds good too; the story gong around was that he didn't have a good voice. That's clearly nonsense. He liked running his Wild West Show, even though he didn't really make much money at it; he didn't do radio, because radio didn't-at enough to support his extravagant lifestyle.

This was supposed to have been a big money maker for Universal, and it's easy to see why. It's not a great movie, but there are enough great bits to be entertaining throughout.