AllMovie

Filmed on a budget of $77,000, Rookie Cop was another attempt by RKO Radio to transform canine star Ace the Wonder Dog into the new Rin-Tin-Tin. The title character is young Clem (Tim Holt), who tries to convince his superiors to utilize police dogs as a crime-solving device. Thrown off the force because of dereliction of duty (he had a good reason, of course) Clem redeems himself by rounding up a gang of hijackers-with the help of wonder dog Ace, of course. In the microscopic role of the police chief's daughter, Janet Shaw has practically nothing to do but get kidnapped in the last reel-in fact, she has less screen time than juvenile actress Virginia Weidler, who steals the film as Clem's precocious kid sister. In one of the film's more amusing moments, a fistfight takes place outside a movie theater decorated with a poster for Pacific Liner (1938)-likewise an RKO film.