I watched Rocks and Socks (1924) so you don't really have to

Is it actually worth watching?

Honestly, you should only watch this if you are the kind of person who likes looking at old, dusty things in a museum. If you want a story or actual characters, you are probaly going to be bored out of your mind in about thirty seconds. But if you like seeing where stuff started, it is kind of cool in a weird way.

I think most people will hate it because it feels like a flickering lightbulb is trying to tell you a joke you don't understand. Animation nerds will love it though.

Hugh Harman was a big deal later on with the Looney Tunes stuff, but here he is just... well, he is just drawing. It feels very manual. You can almost see the ink drying on the page if you squint hard enough at the screen.

The whole thing feels like it might fall apart at any second. The lines on the characters aren't steady at all. They sort of vibrate like they are nervous to be on camera. It is not like Around the World in 80 Days where there is this big, grand sense of adventure.

No, this is just some rocks and maybe some socks? I am not even sure I saw a sock for more than a second. The title is a bit of a lie, or maybe I just missed it because I blinked.

The jittery vibe

There is this one moment where a character moves their arm and it looks like it gets longer for no reason. It is not a cartoon gag like we have now, it just feels like a mistake that they kept in because film was expensive. I love that stuff. It makes it feel like a human made it, not a machine.

It is way different than something like The Monster which came out around the same time. That movie has a set and actors and a budget. This just has a pen and a dream, I guess. It is very lonely to watch.

The background is mostly just white space. It makes the characters look like they are floating in a void. It is a bit spooky if you think about it too much. Like they are trapped in the paper forever.

I found myself wondering what Harman was eating when he drew this. Was he tired? He probaly was. You can feel the fatigue in the way the frames jump around. Sometimes the screen just goes black for a beat too long. I thought my monitor died, but no, that is just the movie.

I watched Within the Law last week and that felt like a "real" movie. This feels like a sketchbook that someone accidentally turned into a film. It has no right to be as interesting as it is.

There is no music, obviously. I played some old jazz in the background while watching and it helped a bit. Without music, you just hear the hum of your own room and it gets a little awkward.

The silence in these old shorts isn't peaceful, it's heavy.

I think I saw a smudge of a thumbprint in one of the corners. That is the kind of detail I live for. Someone’s actual thumb was on this frame a hundred years ago. That is wild to think about. It makes the movie feel like a time machine.

Compared to Fighting Cressy, there is zero drama here. Nothing is at stake. It is just movement for the sake of movement. It is like Harman was saying, "Look! I made it move!" and that was enough for 1924.

I keep thinking about the rocks. They don't really look like rocks. They look like lumpy potatoes. And the socks? Still haven't found them. Maybe the socks are a metaphor? No, that sounds too smart. It's probaly just a weird title.

The pacing is all over the place. One second it is slow, then it zooms ahead. It makes your eyes hurt after a while. I had to take a break and look at a wall for a minute.

Why do we care?

We care because without this jittery mess, we don't get the stuff we like now. It is like looking at a baby’s first drawing. It is objectively bad, but you keep it anyway because it means something. I’m glad this exists even if I never want to see it again.

If you have ten minutes and you want to feel like a film historian, go for it. If you want to be entertained, go watch literally anything else. Maybe check out The Tame Cat if you want something with more of a point.

The way the ink blurs in the faster scenes is actually kind of pretty. It looks like charcoal. I wonder if he used a brush or a fountain pen. Probably both. You can see the weight of the lines change when the character gets closer to the "camera."

It is funny how we call these things "movies" when they are barely moving pictures. It is more like a very fast slideshow. My brain had to do a lot of work to fill in the gaps. My brain is tired now.

One more thing—the ending is just... it just stops. There is no "The End" or anything fancy. It just quits. Like the animator ran out of ink or just decided he wanted to go get lunch. I respect that. Sometimes you just have to stop.

Anyway, Rocks and Socks is a weird little ghost of a movie. Watch it if you want to feel the 1920s breathing down your neck. 🎬