Dzhentelmen i Petukh: A movie about a rooster that is better than you

Look, if you hate silent movies, you are going to hate this. Just walk away now. 🐔

But if you like weird old stuff that feels like it was filmed in a backyard with a very angry bird, then Dzhentelmen i Petukh is actually a good time.

I watched this on a rainy Tuesday. It’s from 1928, so the film quality is... well, it looks like it was buried in a sandbox for fifty years.

It’s a Soviet comedy. Most people think Soviet movies are all about steel factories and sad tractors, but this is just a guy being annoyed by a rooster.

Kirill Gun plays the 'gentleman.' He has this mustache that looks like it’s trying to escape his face. He’s very stiff and proper, which makes it even funnier when things go wrong.

The rooster is the real star here. I’m not even kidding. 🐓

There is a scene where the bird just stares at him. It’s a long shot. Like, really long.

The rooster doesn't do anything. It just blinks. But somehow, it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever seen on screen.

You can tell the director, Leonid Iyerikhonov, really liked filming animals. Or maybe the rooster was just a diva and demanded more screen time.

It reminds me a bit of the physical stuff in All Abroad, but way more gritty. There's no Hollywood shine here.

The lighting is kind of a mess. In some indoor scenes, it’s so dark you can only see the gentleman's white collar and his frantic eyes.

It’s almost like a horror movie for a second. Then the rooster crows and you remember it's a joke.

I wonder if Leonid Dobrovolsky was actually scared of the bird. He keeps flinching during the close-ups.

The pacing is all over the place. It starts slow, like a sleepy Sunday, and then suddenly everyone is running and the camera is shaking.

It’s much more chaotic than something like The Little Dutch Girl. That one feels polite. This feels like a bar fight in a chicken coop.

There is this one lady, Elena Volyntseva. She’s great. She just looks at the men like they are idiots.

She’s right. They are idiots.

The titles—the text on screen—are written in that old-school way. Some of the jokes probably worked better in 1928 than they do now.

I laughed at a part where a bucket falls. It’s the oldest trick in the book. But it worked.

Wait, I forgot to mention the music. Well, there isn't any, unless you count the humming in my own head while I watched the grain dance on the screen.

If you’ve seen Detectives, you know how these silent plots can get a bit tangled. This one stays simple, thank god.

The 'gentleman' keeps trying to maintain his dignity. It’s a very Soviet theme—the rich guy being humbled by a common animal.

It’s a bit on the nose. But it’s a 1920s comedy, so what do you expect? 🤷‍♂️

I noticed a stray dog in the background of one shot. It looked confused. I think it wandered onto the set and they just kept filming.

That’s the kind of movie this is. It’s raw. It feels like a real moment in time, not a polished product.

It’s definitely more interesting than Restless Youth, which feels like it’s trying too hard to be important.

This movie just wants to show you a bird. And a man losing his mind.

The ending is... abrupt. It just kind of stops. I think they ran out of film or the rooster quit.

I actually liked that. No long speeches. Just the end.

If you can find a copy that isn't too blurry, give it a look. It’s only about an hour long.

Perfect for when you want to feel smart for watching a 'foreign classic' but actually just want to see some slapstick.

It makes me want to look up more stuff by Dolgopolsky I. He has a weird sense of humor.

Anyway, it's better than The Fire Patrol. At least this one has a personality.

Go watch the bird movie. 🐔✨