Betty Boop's Crazy Inventions

This was my first look in over 40 years at a Betty Boop cartoon.....and I was impressed. It was pretty funny and very "inventive," pun intended. This really wasn't her style, either, as I have since discovered (singing and dancing was her forte.)

Our girl is outside a circus tent, playing the pipe organ (with little pigs in the inside of it blowing on the pipes). Then we see all the tickets collected the folks running into the tent to see all the inventions. Betty and others demonstrate some of them, many of which were clever and fun to watch, from "soup silencers" to fried eggs right from the hen!

One of the inventions, a sewing machine thread-makers, goes berserk and zips up everything inside and outside the tent, all over town and it's a lot of fun to watch.

Betty Boo's Crazy Inventions (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Betty and Bimbo are working at a tent show where new inventions are being shown off. Everything's going fine until a self threading sewing machine comes to life and starts sewing everything up. This film is short and sweet, which makes it worth sitting through at least once. The first part of the film isn't the strongest but we do get to see some rather unique inventions with the best being the egg hatcher then cooker. The second half was the best as the sewing machine does all sorts of damage including sewing up a river and a duck, which then flies off with various other creatures sewed to it. As with most Fleischer cartoons, the animation is great with a lot of imagination behind it.

The processes for the inventions presented here are so absurd as to be ridiculous. But their insane lack of usefulness, makes this a delightful feature. A chicken that lays eggs which are then turned into fried eggs, for instance, has absolutely no reason for existing. Betty is in charge here. Eventually, there is the final part, a sewing machine run amok, sewing up everything in sight. Those of us who see lots of these would ask, "Where is the drooling gorilla?"

Betty Boop is one of my personal favorite cartoon characters, so I jump at the chance to see anything she's featured in. This cartoon follows in her typical style, but it has an indescribable air of originality. The man plot is that she and her friends are demonstrating an assortment of bogus inventions. When a sewing machine goes nutty, it's up to them to save the day and how they do it will have you applauding.

Betty is conduction an invention show in a tent and atmosphere that looks and sounds a lot like a circus. Bimbo and Koko, naturally, are on hand to assist. Betty and her pals do demonstrations on products like a spot remover, a cigarette snuffer and an egg cooking device. Most of this was only mildly diverting, but it was pretty funny when the sewing machine ran amok.

Unfortunately, Mae Questel (the voice of Betty) ends up singing and while it's somewhat catchy, her high-pitched voice is,...um...hard on the ears. As usual, the film features pretty good Fleischer animation and Betty--a character whose appeal I have really never understood--but to each his own.

UPDATE: Since writing this review, I have recently watched quite a few Boop cartoons. Many are pretty dull affairs--with too much singing and too little in the way of plot. However, this is not always the case and some of them were pretty charming. I still wouldn't place "Betty Boop's Crazy Inventions" among her better shorts, however.