Like several other shorts made the same day on September 24 1894, "Bucking Broncho" is one of a few motion pictures that Edison filmed featuring the various members from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. (Others include Annie Oakley shooting at glass balls, Sioux native Americans performing a ghost dance, and others; the two stars in here, Lee Martin and Frank Hammitt, would also go on to be filmed doing a lasso routine). Because of the fact that the crew couldn't possibly have filmed all of the members belonging to the show, a certain amount of discretion for the various performers had to be made, which was this: what subjects would be the most exciting for audiences to view? Not only does this brief 20-second clip feature plenty of excitement and does a great job at building suspense (something that almost no films at the time had), it includes a wonderful sense of action and provides plenty of activity within the frames, which was essential in filmmaking at the time. This is obviously the main reason why certain subjects (like serpentine dancing, cockfighting and boxing) were popular during the period and remade as a result so demands for prints could be met. "Bucking Broncho", oddly enough, appears to have never been remade, but it's possible the reason it never happened was because it wasn't as well received, or there was no way to get the show to visit the studio again.
Yet, none of these observations are really what make this film particularly interesting, however. The real point of interest comes from not why it was filmed, but where and how it was filmed. Take, for instance, the lack of the black background which distinguishes all the early Edison shorts from the work of other, later filmmakers. Instead of being filmed in the Black Maria as you'd expect, the company appears to have gone to the trouble of either building a ring for the means of a proper Wild West setting, or rented a local rodeo ring for shooting there. As a result, you have one of the very first Edison films shot outside the studio, which had first been attempted with "Fred Ott Holding a Bird" (1894, made presumably early in the year) and "Caicedo (with Pole)" shot as one of the earlier vaudeville acts by the Edison company. Thus, this brief film can be considered fairly important in that regard.
Unfortunately, the outside location is also the movie's weakness. Because the subject was too unpredictable and hard to film, the broncho (nicknamed "Sunfish") and Martin often go offscreen which sort of ruins the "you're at the rodeo" effect. (Don't forget, these Kinetographic clips promoting the acts were meant to be brief sneak-peeks so you could get an idea of what the entire thing would be like). Furthermore, the wooden fence which the camera is stationed outside of doesn't help you to see the action better; and Hammitt's entire head is cut off at the very top, which makes you wonder how anyone could be entirely sure it's him.
These things could have remedied. A platform could have been constructed where the crew would've shot the scene from overhead, which would capture the entire ring and make it easier to see the action. Still, I can't blame them overly so for any of that since cinematography was still in its infancy, and overhead views would not come along until phantom rides became a thing. In the meantime, it's at least good they tried and got away with some decent footage for the period.
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