The Old Man of the Mountain (1933)

The Old Man of the Mountain is a classic, bizarre, and sexy Betty Boop cartoon with another smoking soundtrack from Cab Calloway and his Orchestra; in fact this one has Cab Calloway throughout the entire film, voicing all of the characters except for Betty Boop. Like in Minnie the Moocher (1932) and Snow White (1933), Cab's rotoscoped dance and song number come at the climax shortly before everything falls apart with a big chase scene. This one does a good job at building up to the appearance of the Old Man of the Mountain (a recluse residing in the mountain who everyone fears for no clear reason) with a lot of foreboding, as well as a creepy and, if I'm interpreting it right, distasteful joke with Betty meeting an unhappy female walrus anthropomorph coming down the mountain with a baby carriage containing triplets resembling the Old Man of the Mountain.

This cartoon apparently caused the biggest stir among the moralist communities at the time because of the sexuality used. This, as well as Hays Code enforcement, had an unfortunate result of Betty eventually being toned down by 1934. Woefully enough, Jazz music would become excluded from her cartoons too. Boo!   

What I find pretty cool here is that Betty is not as frightened by the Old Man as she was the Spectral Walrus from Minne the Moocher, taking him on in a sing and dance off (that had an influence on The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)), and it is terrific. All in all, the cartoon is a proto-music-video in a similar vein to Minnie the Moocher, although I like to think of Betty as older and more mature by this point, as she's not running away from home this time but working at a tourist center and doesn't act frightened but is rather brave, attempting to ascend the mountain and confront the old man, despite the whole town fleeing in fear.

I also absolutely adore Betty's outfit in this one. Her pointed collar reminds me a little of Vampirella or maybe even Caroline Munro's character from Starcrash (1978).

Snow White (1933)

Fleischer Studios adapted to animation several classic fairy tales where they substituted Betty Boop in the leading role, such as Little Red Riding Hood (Dizzy Red Riding Hood 1931), Alice in Wonderland (Betty in Blunderland 1934), Cinderella (Poor Cinderella 1934), and Snow White, in what I believe is the first animated adaptation of the famed Brothers Grimm classic.

Betty Boop (voiced by Mae Questel), looking as vivacious as ever, visits her wicked step-mama, The Queen, only to be ordered to be taken away and executed by her guards, Bimbo and Koko the Clown in knight armor, after the magic looking glass proclaimed Betty the fairest in the land. Bimbo and Koko have always been in love with Betty, so of course things don't go as the Queen would like.

I like the way Betty's signature leg garter, in a way, substitutes the wild boar's heart from the original fairy tale, a remainder of Snow White to prove to the queen she was dead. Yes, in the book the wicked queen demands Snow White's heart after her execution. She ends up salting, cooking, and eating a boar's heart all the while thinking it is Snow White's. It's pretty messed up for a children's tale, so I grinned with glee when I read it.

Snow White is a fun and memorable musical cartoon adaptation, but I think most viewers stop caring about the plot when the movie climaxes into another smokin' Cab Calloway performance, a la Minnie the Moocher, during which the evil step mother turned witch transforms Koko into a moon-walking roto-scoped specter while singing a rendition of Saint James Infirmary Blues and dancing over a scrolling macabre background. Shortly after, the cartoon wraps things up with a chase scene before a hastened but joyful closeout.

The original Snow White fairy tale serves as the inspiration for the framework of the cartoon, but it is the music, visuals, and Betty's cute numbers that make this one of the best Betty Boop cartoons. It's definitely more of a multifaceted music video that is best viewed after a couple drinks.

Minnie the Moocher (1932)

Minnie the Moocher, probably the most recognized Betty Boop cartoon episode, and for good reason, is a cool, jazzy experience with supernatural, surreal animation sequences involving ghosts, skeleton cats, and a rotoscoped dancing, scat singing, spectral walrus voiced by Cab Calloway. The technical ingenuity and macabre creativity combined with the jazz music makes this Talkartoons animation short an all time cartoon classic.

This was the first of three cartoons with Betty Boop to feature Calloway, the other two being Snow White (1933) and The Old Man of the Mountain (1933). It is also noted for containing the earliest filmed footage of Calloway, where he can be seen with his band dancing and doing what has been referred to as a proto-moonwalk.

Having Betty runaway from home with Bimbo after fighting with her parents does deliver a never-runaway-from-home message, with the creepy show in the cave being a kind of scare lesson that drives Betty and Bimbo back to home-sweet-home (I first got a similar lesson from Fleischer Studios as a kid with the short cartoon Small Fry (1939)).

It's Betty Boop's story, but the main focus and attraction is the haunted cave and the showy phantasmagoria that transpires within. For anyone checking out Betty's cartoons for the first time, Minnie the Moocher is no doubt the perfect episode to start with.