Sally Swing

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. Even when toned down she is cute as a button and very charming with good comic timing.

'Sally Swing' is one of her best post-Production Code cartoons. It may be light on plot (not uncommon with Betty Boop) and one does miss the risqué and surreal edge that made the Betty Boop cartoons before the Code so ahead of their time.

The animation is superb, especially in the backgrounds, the character design of Sally Swing and the astonishingly fluid dance movement and choreography (which just mesmerises). Throughout though, 'Sally Swing' is beautifully drawn, crisply shaded and meticulous in detail. The music is infectious, lush and dynamic.

On top of that, 'Sally Swing' is one of the funnier and more creative later Betty Boop cartoons and has a tremendous energy. It doesn't try too hard to be cute and any tameness is nowhere near as strong as in previous and succeeding post-Production Code Betty Boop cartoons. Sally is an immensely likable supporting character, and the voice acting from Margie Hines as Betty and Rose Marie as Sally is very good.

In summary, excellent. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I don't quite get all the adulation for this feature. I like to think of things as a total package. Once Betty's discovery gets on stage, it's just her dancing. There is some interaction with other characters and a modest plot, but it is sort of one dimensional. That said, the music is good and her dancing animation is superb.

The star of this Betty Boop cartoon is certainly NOT Betty but the character 'Sally Swing' who is voiced by Rose Marie at age 15. While having a 15 year-old singing like this might seem amazing, Rose Marie was singing with a booming adult voice 5-10 years EARLIER! Her she proves that she was truly a one of a kind!

The plot is minimal in "Sally Swing". Betty is trying to put on a show at her college but isn't having any luck until she overhears a cleaning lady singing to herself. Soon, she signs her up for the show and the last 75% of the cartoon consists of Sally singing a rousing number with her most unusual band.

While I am not a huge fan of singing cartoons, the singing is good and catchy...making this one worth your time.

I love musical animated shorts, so I was pretty much guaranteed to love this one. However, I think the animation of the title character, Sally Swing, who is discovered by Betty Boop when she's looking for someone to lead the swing concert at a college, is superb. I've never seen more fluid dance animation anywhere. Highly recommended! 10/10.