Flying Hoofs (1928) - Spaghetti horses and silent-era chaos

I'll be honest right off the bat: you should only watch Flying Hoofs if you have a very specific soft spot for the crusty, flickering chaos of 1920s animation. If you're looking for a deep story, you are in the wrong place. 🐎

This is for the person who finds it funny when a horse's legs turn into literal noodles. You will probably hate it if you can't stand the lack of sound or the repetitive looping backgrounds.

It's a Paul Terry production, which means it has that specific Aesop’s Fables energy. Everything is bouncy. Even the trees seem like they’re breathing, which is actually kind of creepy if you look at them for too long.

The plot—if we’re being generous—is just a horse race. But it's the kind of race where logic went out the window in the first ten seconds.

I noticed this one horse that looks like it was drawn by someone who had only ever seen a horse through a very blurry window. Its neck just keeps stretching. It’s weirdly hypnotic.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Flying Hoofs (1928) through its definitive frames.

There is a moment where a character gets kicked, and they fly off into the horizon like a paper airplane. It reminded me of the slapstick in The Sawmill, though maybe a bit less polished. Actually, "polished" isn't the right word for anything made in 1928.

The backgrounds are just... there. Sometimes it’s just a single line representing the ground. It feels like they were drawing these as fast as the ink could flow out of the pen. ✍️

I caught a small smudge on the left side of the frame around the three-minute mark. It stays there for a few seconds. It’s these little imperfections that make me love this era of film; you can tell a human person was actually touching the celluloid.

It doesn't have the sweetness of something like Puppy Love. This is more mean-spirited. The animals are kind of jerks to each other.

There's a bird in the corner during the crowd scene that just vibrates. It doesn't flap its wings; it just shakes. I don't know if that was a choice or if the animator was just tired that day. 🐦

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Flying Hoofs (1928) through its definitive frames.

The way the horses run is the best part. Their legs don't move like real legs. They move in circles, like wheels. It’s efficient, I guess?

If you’ve seen The Galloping Kid, you know how westerns usually go. This is like a fever dream version of that, but with more ink blots.

The ending comes out of nowhere. It just sort of... stops? Like they ran out of paper or the lunch bell rang.

It's not a masterpiece. It's barely a movie. But it’s a weird little window into what people thought was funny nearly a hundred years ago.

I think Harry Bailey and Paul Terry were just having a laugh. It feels like a doodle that got out of hand. And sometimes, that’s enough.

Don't expect it to change your life. Just expect some spaghetti-legged animals and a bit of dust on the lens. 📽️

One last thing—the way the winner celebrates is genuinely bizarre. I won't spoil it, but it involves a physical impossibility that made me squint at my monitor. It’s just pure 1920s nonsense.