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6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Steeple Chase remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have seven minutes and a soft spot for early black-and-white animation, sure. It’s perfect for people who like their humor loud, physical, and completely disconnected from reality.
If you want complex narrative arcs or anything that makes a lick of sense, you’ll probably find this frustrating. It’s just pure, unadulterated cartoon chaos.
The whole premise is classic 1930s stakes: the Colonel bet everything on a horse, and naturally, that horse gets knocked out. The stable-hands are absolute goofs, honestly, they remind me of the dim-witted henchmen you see in Daze and Knights.
Mickey’s solution is the highlight here. He drags a horse costume out, stuffs the two guys inside, and tells them to run. It’s deeply stupid in the best way possible. Watching them try to coordinate their legs while looking like a disjointed accordion is the kind of low-brow comedy that still works.
The race itself is just a blur of hurdles and bad decisions. There’s a moment where they get stuck on a fence that feels like it goes on forever. Then, of course, the bees show up.
I don't know why cartoons of this era were so obsessed with using angry insects as a jetpack substitute. It happens in so many shorts from this decade, including bits that feel like they belong in The Weavers of Life or other random archives. It’s cheap, it’s loud, and it works.
Is it a masterpiece? No. But it’s got a rhythm that modern stuff just doesn't replicate. It’s short, punchy, and the animation has that slightly jittery, hand-drawn personality that I actually kind of miss.
It feels like a fever dream of a race track. You don't watch this to be impressed. You watch it to see Mickey get stressed out while a horse made of two men and a rug wins a steeple chase because of a swarm of angry bees. Sometimes, that's enough.