The Royal Rider is a weirdly fun cowboy-in-a-castle mashup

You should probably watch this if you like Ken Maynard or if the idea of a cowboy doing stunts in a fictional European castle sounds funny to you. If you want a serious political drama about revolutions, you are going to hate this a lot. 🏰

It starts out feeling like a normal Western but then suddenly there is a King. Except the King is just a little kid named Philippe De Lacy who looks like he'd rather be playing outside.

Ken Maynard plays the cowboy, and honestly, he spends half the movie looking like he's just happy to be there. His horse, Tarzan, is the real star of the show if we are being real about it. 🐴

There is this one moment where the horse basically saves the day and you can tell the camera guy loved the horse more than the actors. The way Tarzan moves through these old-looking sets is just... it's weirdly cool.

The plot is about these revolutionaries trying to take over the small country. It feels a bit like the vibe in Beau Geste, but much smaller and with more lassos.

Olive Hasbrouck plays the governess and she’s mostly there to look worried and pretty. She and Ken have this very awkward chemistry where they just sort of stare at each other until the scene ends.

I noticed one guy in the background of the crowd scene who was definitely just standing there waiting for his lunch. The revolution feels like it only has about twelve people in it, which makes the stakes feel kind of low-key. 😂

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

The stunts are where this movie actually wakes up. Maynard does this jump that looks legitimately dangerous, especially for 1929 or whenever they filmed this.

It's not as grand as something like Miracle of the Wolves, but it has this scrappy energy. It feels like they were making it up as they went along, which I kind of like.

Some of the interior sets look like they were borrowed from a different movie entirely. You see a dusty cowboy boot next to a fancy velvet chair and it just doesn't fit, but that's the charm I guess.

The kid king is okay, but he has that very stiff child-actor way of talking. It makes the scenes where he’s supposed to be in danger feel a little bit like a school play.

There's a fight scene near the end that goes on a bit too long. Like, we get it, the cowboy is better at punching than the guys in the uniforms. 👊

I forgot to mention the bad guys. They are mostly just dudes in hats looking mean, nothing too special there.

Anyway, if you find a grainy copy of this, it's a good way to kill an hour. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s weird enough to stay interesting.

Just watch for the horse. The horse is the best part. 🤠