Little Nobody

A merry-go-round for dogs? Well, there is one in here with the small carousel revolving around a fire hydrant! Instead of reaching for a brass ring, the dogs reach for a sausage link!

That was probably the only funny sight gag in here. The rest of this Betty Boop with Pudgy cartoon was more a just a straight story of a "little nobody" becoming a "somebody" with an heroic rescue of a snotty dog and its snotty owner.

Pudgy, thanks in part to an inspiring song by Betty - who was very good at that sort of ditty, saves another snotty pooch who had snubbed it earlier. Predictable, but still a watchable Betty Boop cartoon. Most of them are good, even if just for the catchy songs. Pudgy also is a cute little pooch that is fun to watch, too.

Pudgy is certainly a cutie, but he comes from the "wrong side of the tracks." So the little snooty rich dog rejects his friendship, as does his owner. So Betty sings to him and reminds him that he is somebody. Of course, we know what is coming. There is one clever thing here. The rich dog has her own carousel where the dog rides on cats. That carousel sets in motion the incident that will resolve everything.

This is going to be fairly similarly worded to some of my other reviews for the Betty Boop cartoons made after the Production Code, as they all have the same strengths and flaws pretty much.

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, with the risqué and surreal edge and creativity of the pre-Code cartoons gone, 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, she is still cute and her comic timing is good.

Less good is that, thanks to the production code her sensuality is heavily muted, and it was like she had lost a large part of what made her such a unique character back then and what made her popular.

'Little Nobody' is undoubtedly very cute, and the sight gag with the merry go-round for dogs is funny. As always the animation is extremely good, very beautifully drawn and meticulous in detail, while the music is infectious and dynamic with the action. Pudgy is adorable, and the voice acting is good.

However, as said many times with the later Betty Boop cartoons, if anybody enjoyed the pre-code Betty Boop cartoons for being wonderfully surreal and for its daring risqué content that was ahead of the time back in the 30s and wouldn't be seen a lot now in cartoons, they will be disappointed here. Both are missing due to the Code which gives a rather tame and bland feeling throughout.

Creativity and more consistent (in quality and timing) jokes are also missing, while the story is very thin and could have done with more momentum.

Overall, cute but bland. Watchable but not a must. 6/10 Bethany Cox