The Old Man of the Mountain

This is based on a Cab Calloway tune which we get to see at the beginning. When all the denizens of the town at the foot of the mountain hear that the old man is coming, they set sail. Betty is not intimidated and goes to see what all the angst is about. Of course, she is dressed in her signature sexy costume and when she meets the guy, he begins to drool over her. They do a cartoon version of the song and then he gets down to business, chasing her, grabbing her. This must have raised a couple eyebrows in the day. I understand it was actually banned for quite some time after its original release because the Code came in. The music really makes the thing and Betty is at her sassy best.

'The Old Man of the Mountain' is a pretty nice Betty Boop cartoon. The cartoon starts with a small live action part. We see Cab Calloway and his orchestra as they are introduced on the screen. The old man of the mountain is voiced by Calloway. From that moment the cartoon is one musical number about the old man. We see people coming down the mountain as Betty Boop, with the voice of Mae Questel, goes up to confront the old man. Of course every one she meets falls for her charms and helps her getting higher and higher.

With the usual surrealistic way of animation this is another nice Betty Boop cartoon. Although there are no real hard laughs the animation can be admired the entire time. The music adds a lot to the animation and these two things make 'The Old Man of the Mountain' worth watching.

Cab Calloway and his "hi-dee hi-dee ho" jazzy music begins this cartoon.

Through an animated owl figure, the famous jazz crooner sings "The Old Man And The Moutain" during the first half of 'toon as we see everyone in the forest fleeing when word gets out that he's coming. "He" is the old man. The lyrics of the song are good and so are the animated antics of the critters as they gather their stuff and run. The owl, through the song, is explaining to Betty why everyone is panicking.

Betty says she's going up to the mountain "to see this old man for myself." Betty dances her way up the mountain as we continue to hear the jazz music. En route she sees some strange sights.

When she meets him, they do a duet - some fabulous music! The old man even tap dances. Then we have the usual chase scene, this time with the old man after Betty, even squeezing the dress off her!

Mostly this is a showcase for Calloway's singing and his orchestra and it is so up-tempo that it's a real hoot to listen to. This is one of the few cartoons where the music is better than the visuals. And, the latter is good, too. Overall: one of the best Boop cartoons ever made.

In the early 1930s, the Betty Boop cartoons were among the most surrealistic and racy you could find. If pre-code animation had a picture next to it in the encyclopedia, then the most appropriate one would be of Betty herself. Though not the greatest Betty Boop cartoon, The Old Man of the Mountain (1933) is one of the greats, with fluid animation, trippy gags, and Cab Calloway scat-singing over the whole thing.

The cartoon is full of adult subject matter. The song Calloway sings over the action references drug use and the Old Man's plans for Betty are explicitly sexual, with him coming close to tearing off her clothes at one point. There's even a bit of implied rape when Betty meets one of the Old Man's former victims going down the mountain, a female hippo with three babies with whiskers in tow! It just goes to show, animation was not always stuck in the infamous "age ghetto." This stuff was for unashamedly adult viewing and unlike stuff like Family Guy, it didn't need to be infantile to entertain.

This was another awesome collaboration between the Fleischers and Cab Calloway. During the live-action credits sequence, dig the drummer who throws his drumstick up in the air twice and catches it both times! Then hear Cab sing the title song with the orchestra playing throughout as Betty goes up to meet this bizarre old man who has designs on her. Both the music and the animation go together perfectly and I was feeling such a high watching this that I never wanted it to end but I was very relieved when it did so I could catch my breath! In fact, rewatching this on my old VHS of "Betty Boop-Special Collector's Edition, Vol 1.", I have a new appreciation for the animators at the Max Fleischer studio. So on that note, The Old Man of the Mountain is highly recommended. P.S. Absolutely love the duet between the old man (Calloway) and Betty (Mae Questel).