Polo Joe Review: A silly, sneezing time capsule

If you have a soft spot for 1930s physical comedy and comedians with giant mouths, Polo Joe is a fun little time capsule. But if you can't stand old-school screaming and predictable plotlines, you're gonna absolutely hate this one. 🐴

Joe E. Brown has this face that looks like it is made entirely of rubber. In this movie, he plays a guy who is incredibly allergic to horses but falls for a girl who only cares about polo.

So of course, he pretends to be a world-class polo champion. The setup is incredibly silly, but that is the whole point of these old star-vehicles.

It reminds me a bit of Harold Lloyd in Movie Crazy, though Lloyd had a bit more charm. Brown is more about the loud, physical gag and making weird noises.

The Sneezing is the Best (and Worst) Part

There is this one scene where Joe gets near a horse and his sneezing fits are so violent he almost knocks himself over. It goes on for like two whole minutes.

Honestly, some of the sneezing sounds like a deflating car tire. It is stupid, but I laughed anyway. 🚗

The movie doesn't really care about developing the love interest. She is just there to love horses, look pretty, and wear some truly bizarre 1930s outfits.

Actually, Jane Wyman has a tiny role here too before she got super famous. Keep your eyes peeled or you will definitely miss her.

The polo matches themselves look... chaotic. I am pretty sure half the time it is a stunt double with a bad wig, but when they cut back to Joe, he has this terrified look that genuinely made me chuckle.

The back projection during the riding scenes is incredibly bad. Like, you can see the screen wrinkling behind him. 🎬

But that just adds to the charm, honestly. Movies back then did not need to look perfect to be fun.

What is weird is how fast the movie resolves. He gets on a horse, total chaos happens for five minutes, and then suddenly the credits roll.

It is only about an hour long, which is perfect because the joke would have gotten really old at 90 minutes. It knows when to quit.

Some random things I noticed:

• That one horse looks extremely bored during Joe's big dramatic speech.
• The sound effects for the sneezes change volume randomly between shots. 🔊
• Jane Wyman's hat is ridiculously big. Like, how does she even stay balanced?

Should you watch it? If it is a rainy Sunday and you want something totally mindless from 1936, sure. Otherwise, you can probably skip this one without feeling bad.