The Rodeo (1929) - A messy but fun silent short with an elephant

You should watch this today if you miss the days when movies were just people falling over for no reason at all. It's great for anyone who likes silent shorts where the animals have more personality than the leading men. But if you need a plot that makes sense, you are gonna hate this one.

Honestly, it’s a bit of a mess. But the good kind of mess.

The whole thing feels like the director just showed up at a dusty field and said, "Okay, who brought the elephant?" And someone actually did. That elephant is Anna May, and she is the real star here. 🐘

She walks through the scenes like she’s the only one who knows her lines. There is a moment where she just sort of looms over the humans and you can tell they’re actually a little bit nervous. I don't blame them.

Then there is Balto. Not the cartoon one, but a very busy dog who seems to be in five places at once. He’s better at physical comedy than most of the guys in the credits.

Speaking of the guys, Billy Gilbert shows up. He’s usually great, but here he’s just part of the background noise. It’s weird seeing him not doing his usual sneeze routine, but I guess there wasn't time with all the dust flying around.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Rodeo (1929) through its definitive frames.

The rodeo itself is barely a rodeo. It looks like three wooden planks and a fence. The crowd scenes have this oddly empty feeling, like half the extras wandered off to get lunch and never came back.

The editing is really jumpy too. One second a guy is standing by a gate, and the next he is upside down in a bush. There’s no transition, just BAM, he’s on his head. I kind of love that about these old Sennett-style shorts.

It reminds me a bit of the energy in The Strong Man, but way less organized. Harry Langdon usually has a plan, but the people in The Rodeo are just reacting to gravity. Mostly losing the fight against it.

I noticed one reaction shot of a cowboy that lingers way too long. He just stares into the camera with this blank look for about four seconds. It becomes funny because it feels like he forgot he was being filmed. Or maybe he was just tired of the sun. ☀️

There’s also a bit with a horse that looks genuinely bored. The horse is just standing there while people are screaming and running, and it doesn't move an inch. Best acting in the movie, honestly.

If you’ve seen Pop Tuttle's Tac Tics, you know the vibe. It’s that late-silent era desperation where they just threw everything at the screen to see what stuck.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Rodeo (1929) through its definitive frames.

I wish they had more of Mary Ann Jackson. She’s got that face that just says "I'm surrounded by idiots." Which she was. She was way too professional for this chaos.

The writing credits have like five people listed, including Carl Harbaugh. I don't know what they were writing. Probably just "Insert elephant here" and "Man falls in dirt." ✍️

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not even a great comedy. But it’s got this weirdly specific energy that you don't see anymore.

The ending just kind of stops. No big finale, no lesson learned. Just a bunch of tired people and a very happy elephant.

Check it out if you’re bored. It’s better than most of the stuff they call comedy now because at least nobody is trying to be clever. They are just trying not to get stepped on by Anna May.

It’s a bit like Trotting Through Turkey in its randomness, but with more dirt. Lots and lots of dirt.