User Reviews

At the beginning of Minnie the Moocher, an animated cartoon from Max Fleischer based on Cab Calloway's famous song, we see the real Calloway doing his unique dance in live-action in what is supposedly the first time moviegoers saw him on the big screen. Then we see Betty, supposedly a teen, being harassed by his immigrant parents about the way she lives her life. As she cries in her bed at night, she writes a note saying she's running away and calls Bimbo to come with her. As they leave, the go to a cave that has a walrus doing Cab's steps (which was rotoscoped from the man himself) and singing the title song with various ghostly jailbirds and some cats joining in. During this sequence, Betty and Bimbo turn black before leaving the craziness behind in a rushed ending sequence that brings Betty back under the covers of her bed and the note she wrote ripping to just say "Home Sweet Home"...While Walt Disney seemed intent on using public domain symphony pieces for his Mickey Mouse cartoons, Max Fleischer was getting some of the best jazz musicians like Calloway and Louis Armstrong on his and Betty Boop benefits greatly from them. I'm guessing Cab enjoyed what was done with him here so much, he eventually made a couple of other cartoons with the Fleischers, Max and director Dave, like Snow-White and The Old Man of the Mountain. So on that note, I recommend Minnie the Moocher for any animation buff out there.

Spoilers herein.

Spooky in three ways. The first is in the implied use of the derogatory for the black performers. The second is in the bizarre story involving a visit to hell. Of all the strange Boop adventures, this is perhaps the most disconcerting (together with `Red Hot Mama') visits to the demonic side. The more unsettling it becomes, the more you think about it. No Scooby do here, this is real.

The third spookiness is in how the rotoscope imbues the ghost on the screen with the personality and very subtle movements of the lively Cab, a man haunted by his own demons.

This was during the period that it was possible to have a character (in Betty) that superficially looked and acted silly but conveyed deep and dangerous tides of sex. If these would have been in color, she would be redheaded, like Clara Bow.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

The title is a song made famous by Cab Calloway, and we immediately see him making like Michael Jackson smoothly dancing as she leads his orchestra in the song. Calloway was definitely a very cool cat, and ahead of his time.

After that short performance comes the cartoon story, in which we see Betty being blasted by her father at the dinner table. She's in tears, can't eat and walks away singing the blues, ready to leave home. She writes a note: "Dear Ma and Pa, I'm leaving home because you're not so sweet to me. I won't ever be home again. Betty."

She calls Bimbo and the two leave together. They get scared when it gets dark and hide in a cave, where a giant walrus (Calloway) materializes and sings them the "Minnie The Moocher" song. Bizarre?? Yeah! During the song we see skeletons, jailbirds singing on electric chairs, spooks, ghosts, all kinds of very strange sights. After witnessing these strange sights, Betty changes her mind about never going back home. Home, all of a sudden, looks pretty good.

Not hilarious, but a very entertaining cartoon. I love it when Betty and Cab get together.

I watched this film as part of my class Film: Silence to Sound. We discussed this Betty Boop short along with The Jazz Singer and discussion on minstrel shows and racism. This is an excellent example of racism in early cartoons and has a great study on gender. Betty Boop is a flapper with her short hair, makeup, jewelry, short skirt, and rebellious attitude. In this film, she writes a letter to her parents as she's running away, talks of killing herself, has noticeable stockings under her skirt, and becomes involved in subversive "black culture". Betty and Bimbo both walk with "jive", the same way Malcolm X and Shorty did in the beginning of Malcolm X. In this scene, Shorty tells X that he has to walk black and they walk in the same way Betty and Bimbo do, leaned forward, rhythmic, and arms swinging. This is represented literally in a cave in the dark. Here, Cab Calloway plays this ghastly ghost creature, while there are skeletons, ghosts, and other creatures dancing about. There is also a jail scene where the ghosts are in prison and then sent to the electric chair. This is quite exploitive, representing black culture and jazz as ghostly and evil in a way to almost scare kids away from getting involved in black culture and to stay in their comfortable homes, just as the monsters literally scare Betty and Bimbo back into their house. This film made me very uncomfortable for many reasons besides the racial undertones. In the beginning, her facist-esque father screams at her and his head literally becomes a record player. Meanwhile, Betty is balling and she, her father, and her mother are all bouncing up and down in sync. It is very uncomfortable and unsettling to me and makes me cringe a little bit.

"Minnie the Moocher" is definitely among the most famous Betty Boop cartoons. I probably don't need to say it, but these are black-and-white sound cartoons and this one here runs for 8 minutes, slightly longer than they usually do. Betty is also as always not the only main character here. Bimbo is of course also on board once again and so are many skeletons and other creepy creatures. I am probably a bit biased here as I have never been a big Betty Boop fan, but for me it says a lot if this really mediocre little film is considered one of the best of the series. I cannot say I was entertained. As usual, with Betty it is all about the weirdness and awkwardness and maybe a bit about the music too. I myself wasn't impressed though. Have to give it a thumbs down and I do not recommend the watch.

As this short opens one could be forgiven for thinking it wasn't a cartoon at all as it begins with live action footage of Cab Callaway and his band performing the opening to 'Minnie the Moocher'. When the cartoon proper begins we see Betty's parents remonstrating with her for not eating her dinner. Her father clearly sounds like a broken record, stuck in the groove, to her as his head literally turns into an old fashioned gramophone player. She soon has enough and retreats to her room; here she write a note informing her parent that she is leaving then goes off with her boyfriend Bimbo. The two of them take shelter in a cave and things become very surreal; they see an apparition of a walrus like creature that is dancing and singing 'Minnie the Moocher'. As the song progresses they see a number of disturbing images including dancing skeletons and ghosts going to the electric chair! Understandably by the end of the song they are terrified and run back home as fast as their legs will carry them.

While this short is hardly a laugh-riot, it isn't meant to be, it does have some amusing moments and the animation is very creative; far more surreal than most more recent cartoons. This provides a good illustration of the fact that animation wasn't always considered to be a medium primarily aimed at children with the numerous creepy images and drug references in the song. The combination of imaginative animation with Cab Callaway's classic song work brilliantly; any fan of classic animation is sure to love this.

That age-old fathead Betty Boop decides to teach her tee-totalling ma and pa a lesson by running away with her hip little dog pal Bimbo. She's so annoying and boring, I much prefer Toot Braunstein myself. Suffice it to say, what they experience on their little sojourn would make even the most die-hard of runaways run screaming back home to mama! The whole short is packed with the patented loony and brilliant images that make these particular types of old cartoons dark works of art. I just love how everything on show seems to spring to life. There's so many strange and macabre things to see that are leaping about and at the screen, fantastic indistinct blurry demonic things all swirling around the two characters in a satanic kind of dance around the maypole. Some of my favourite sight and fright gags are when Betty's father warps into some kind of old-timey radio, the skeleton cat and her kittens-freaking twisted, and the skeletons who die again and come back as skeleton ghosts! Then what the hell were they before?! I also spotted a miniature version of Koko the clown who can briefly be seen as he leaps out of an ink well. I was once again struck by the three-dimensional feel of the animation. I don't know if other people thought so, but there seemed to be a great sense of depth to it. Not only were there imps witches and all manner of leering sprites all bounding towards and bombarding the audience, but there were beautifully drawn Gothic skulls, faces and stalactites in the background that really gave a richly detailed perspective. It almost works as a 3D set, rather than merely a flat background for the figures to prance around in. This sense of added depth helps to create a much more atmospheric experience for the viewer, almost like we're right there in that nightmare cave with them! It must have especially been something amazing to see way back in 1932!::: Once more we are treated to the magic moves and sweet soulful tones of Cab Calloway.(RIP) Hey, now we know where the Moonwalk came from! This time he is in the guise of the walrus-goo goo ga-joob! Is there any greater honour than being animated as a jazz singing ghostly walrus version of yourself? If there is I don't wanna know about it! Loved this, another great little animated vision of madness. It's so masterfully weird and spooky. Not just "for it's time" for any time-hell, for all time!!!