Roaping Wild Bears (1934)
*** (out of 4)
Pete Smith narrates this short so if you're familiar with his work then you know he adds smart comments to various bits of footage. The footage here is about two cowboys who go after wild bears who attack livestock. The comments made by Smith here really aren't that funny so many might find them annoying or that they take away from the action. I personally didn't think the comments took away from the action because the visuals here are incredibly strong and make the film worth viewing. I guess this should come with a warning as those who don't like to see animals in harms way might want to skip this. There's nothing too graphic but some of the scenes appear to show the bears in a lot of stress and there's one that actually gets one of the hunting dog's in its mouth but the mutt is able to get away. I thought it was rather fascinating seeing how these cowboys would track the bears, rope them and then get them reading for shipment to the zoo. The entire action bits are pretty dramatic as it's easy to see that a lot could go wrong and these creatures could tear both of them apart.