Review: Mickey's Big Game Hunt (1928) is a weird, messy gem

If you have twenty minutes to spare and want to see a very young Mickey Rooney acting like a 40-year-old longshoreman, this is for you. Most people today will probably find it totally unwatchable because of the grainy film and the fact that nothing really happens. But if you like seeing how movies used to be made before everything was polished and safe, it’s a trip.

It’s part of the Mickey McGuire series, which was based on these old comics. Mickey isn’t a cute kid here. He’s wearing a top hat that’s too big and he has this permanent scowl that makes him look like he’s about to tax your income.

The whole plot is just the gang going on a hunt. But they aren't in the jungle. They are in a dump. It’s mostly just piles of wood and old tires.

I love how low-budget the 'special effects' are. There is a dog—I think it’s a terrier mix—and they just threw a fuzzy rug over its head to make it look like a lion. The dog looks very confused. Honestly, the dog is the best actor in the whole thing because he just looks like he wants to go home 🐶.

There is this one scene where they are 'tracking' the beast and one of the kids falls into a hole. The camera just stays there for a second too long. You can almost hear the director off-screen telling them to get back up. It’s not smooth at all.

Mickey Rooney has this weird energy. He’s so tiny but he moves with so much confidence. It’s kind of intimidating. He reminds me a bit of the chaotic energy in Teddy's Goat, where the animals are basically the ones running the show.

The other kids in the gang are mostly there to be hit or to fall down. There’s a lot of hitting. It’s that old-school slapstick where a kid gets a bucket dropped on his head and everyone just laughs. It feels very 1920s.

I noticed that the background extras in the street scenes just stand there staring at the camera. They didn't even try to hide the fact that a movie was being filmed. It makes the whole thing feel like a home movie that somehow got a budget.

One of the kids, I think it’s Jimmy Robinson, has this great reaction shot when he sees the 'lion.' His eyes go so wide you’d think he actually saw a real monster. It’s the kind of over-acting that only works in silent films. It’s much more frantic than something like Anne of Green Gables, which feels like a library in comparison.

The 'big game' they finally catch is just... well, I won't spoil the ending if you actually care about the stakes of a 1928 short. But it involves a lot of dust. And more falling down.

Sometimes the title cards are hard to read because the film is so scratched up. It adds to the charm, I guess? Like you're watching something you found in an attic. It’s definitely better than Dumb Luck, which I remember being way more boring than the title suggested.

I kept thinking about how dangerous the set looked. There are sharp pieces of wood everywhere. These kids are just running around barefoot in a junkyard. Health and safety definitely wasn't a thing back then.

The pacing is kind of all over the place. It starts fast, then there is a long section where they are just walking through tall grass. Then it ends very abruptly. Like they ran out of film and just decided to stop shooting.

If you’re looking for a deep story, you’re in the wrong place. But if you want to see a weird slice of history where kids were treated like small adults who could take a punch, give it a look. It’s short enough that even if you hate it, you haven't lost much of your day. 🎬

I think the most interesting part is just seeing Rooney before he became 'Mickey Rooney.' He’s still Joe Yule Jr. here, mostly. You can see the talent, but it’s raw and a bit loud. Even without sound, he’s loud.

Is it a masterpiece? No way. Is it better than sitting in traffic? Yeah, probably. It has a certain grit that modern kids' movies are missing. No one is learning a lesson here. They are just trying to not get bitten by a dog in a rug.