So Does an Automobile

A good deal of the pre-Production Code Betty Boop cartoons are daring and creative, with content that makes one amazed at what's gotten away with. While the later Betty Boop cartoons made after the Code was enforced are still watchable and exceptionally well-made, they are so toned down that they feel bland.

Fleischer were responsible for some brilliant cartoons, some of them still among my favourites. Their visual style was often stunning and some of the most imaginative and ahead of its time in animation. The character of Betty Boop, one of their most famous and prolific characters, may not be for all tastes and sadly not as popular now, but her sex appeal was quite daring for the time and to me there is an adorable sensual charm about her. The good news is that she has not lost her charm, despite being significantly toned down, she is still cute and her comic timing is good.

The animation is as to be expected outstanding, being beautifully drawn, crisply shaded and meticulous in detail. The music is infectious, lush and dynamic.

'So Does an Automobile' has some amusing moments without ever being hilarious, it is stranger than most later Betty Boop cartoons and all the better for it (some of it indeed has to be seen to be believed) and it is cute without being too saccharine. The voice is reliably good.

On the other hand, the story is slight and one does miss the risqué and surreal edge of the pre-Production Code Betty Boop cartoons.

Otherwise, 'So Does an Automobile' is a well made and enjoyable cartoon, one of the better later Betty Boop cartoons. 8/10 Bethany Cox

If you've seen many Betty Boop cartoons, you can see that this is one of the later ones, as Betty is very different looking from her older self. Back in the earlier days, Betty was very curvy and sexy. However, here she is much taller and less amply endowed. Part of this is because the new Production Code of 1934 mandated some changes but part was just apparently due to changing fashions--making the 1939 Betty more modern and 'normal' looking.

Despite my use of the word normal, nothing else about "So Does An Automobile" is normal! It is a very strange cartoon in which cars have become anthropomorphic and Betty works in a garage that is really much more like a hospital for sick and injured autos! Few of the gags are hilarious but it is cute and will keep your attention. Plus, like all Fleischer cartoons, the animation is terrific. You gotta see this one to believe it!

I'm not a fan of Betty Boop, but 'So Does an Automobile' is one of her more enjoyable cartoons. It features Betty in a storyline that doesn't require us to accept her as beautiful or voluptuous. (Honestly: if you saw a real woman who looked and sounded like Betty Boop -- that gigantic head, that tiny mouth, that perpetual whimper -- would you actually be pleased? More likely, you'd scream and run away in disgust.)

In this cartoon, Betty is running a service garage for anthropomorphised cars that look like Benny the Cab from 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit': really more of a car hospital than anything else. As she ministers to the cars, Betty sings a very catchy tune, every verse of which ends with the song's title, and all the verses make comparisons between humans and cars. A person needs some sympathy, and 'so does an automobile'. And so on.

In addition to the very pleasant song -- which keeps Betty from doing her usual breathy whimpering -- there's also an extremely funny payoff gag, which should be easy to figure out if you look at this movie's title while considering the Fleischer studio's penchant for risqué gags. Still, by Fleischer standards that last gag is quite clean. I might even call it "auto" erotic. I'll rate this delightful movie 9 in 10.