Given that horse polo is one of the world’s most prestigious sports and a common pastime of royalty and nobility alike, one would assume that the sport of kings, like football, cricket or even rugby, would see a lot of representation on the silver screen.
Surprisingly, however, there are surprisingly few films about the sport of kings, with the most recent major release, the 2009 documentary The Polo Kid, coming a full seven decades after the last major feature about the sport.
Discounting this, there are fewer than a dozen feature films that tell stories about the sport itself, which admittedly does not include the 1936 Walt Disney cartoon short Mickey’s Polo Team where Mickey Mouse challenges Charlie Chaplin, Harpo Marx and Laurel & Hardy to four intense chukkas.
What is also notable despite the small number of films on offer is the surprising abundance of variety, with polo playing a key role not only in sports drama films such as the original version of
This Sporting Age (1932) and The Smart Set (1928) but also comedies and crime dramas such as The Woman In Red (1935).
All of the films were made in the United States, and the comedies, in particular, explore the typical reputation polo has as a rich person’s game, with The Social Lion (1930) and The Kid from Texas (1939), covering the same theme in different ways.
In The Social Lion, mechanic Marco Perkins dreams of being a boxing prizefighter, but after proving his handiness with a mallet, ends up with a place on his local country club’s polo team despite not otherwise qualifying for membership.
This makes him feel like he is moving up in the world only to be shown his place in the social order by debutante Gloria Staunton.
By contrast, The Kid From Texas is about a cowboy who learns to play polo but instead of using it to try and get into the upper crust, introduces it to other cowboys.
One potential reason why so few polo movies have been made is because of the need for considerable training, which could slow production and limit the number of possible stars who could play given roles.