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Opening like a page out of William Wellman's 1933 Depression drama Wild Boys of the Road -- including having heroine Ruth Sullivan mistaken for a boy very much a la Dorothy Coonan in that classic film -- The Ferocious Pal quickly settles down to business as usual. Although his thespian qualities go mainly untested, Kazan does a fair imitation of the legendary Rin Tin Rin and is visible even in the scuffles with villainous Champo by his unexplained lack of a tail. The pooch, however, is sorely let down by his human co-stars, most of whom are barely above rank amateurs. Both Ruth Sullivan and Gene Toler had earlier appeared opposite Kazan in Sol Lesser's equally cheap Jaws of Justice (1933), but their careers went nowhere quickly. Old pros such as Tom London, Henry Rocquemore, Nelson McDowell and Eva McKenzie attempt to keep things moving but neither they nor director Spencer G. Bennet can do much against Joe Roach's pedestrian screenplay, Edward Kull's murky photography and Buddy Meyer's atrocious sound recording.