Minnie the Moocher

Minnie the Moocher (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Betty Boop gets yelled at by her parents so her and Bimbo decide to run away. They don't get too far when they run into a group of ghosts. The big highlight of this short is that Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra play a big part in it. The film opens up to a Calloway song and showing him do a dance and then once we get to the ghosts they are basically dancing to his music. We also see the main ghost dancing like Calloway was at the start of the picture. If you're a fan of the Betty Boop shorts then you'll certainly enjoy this one as there are some funny jokes throughout and the animation is extremely good. Another highlight are the actual ghosts that look quite good and there's no question that the music is excellent.

The Betty Boop cartoon 'Minnie the Moocher' has an advantage: at least the second half is entertaining whether you like the cartoon itself or not since Cab Calloway's famous song with the same name plays there. Before the cartoon starts we see the real Calloway doing one of his dance moves, another little thing to make sure you probably will enjoy this. The story deals with Betty's parents being mad at her causing her to run away with Bimbo. After they have left they enter a forest where ghosts and other scary creatures all dance on "Minnie the Moocher".

This cartoon is very nice. The Calloway part is terrific with some inventive animation that fits the music perfectly. I also liked the last moments when Betty and Bimbo have escaped the scary forest where the happy ending is found in quite a funny way. If you like Betty Boop cartoons this one is not to be missed. If you normally don't, this could be a nice surprise.

This is a Betty Boop cartoon, though it starts with a bit of footage of Cab Calloway and his orchestra. Calloway's song "Minnie the Moocher" is set to life using Betty, her friend Bimbo and an odd assortment of ghosts, though I really would have much preferred to actually just watch and listen to Calloway sing this song live--since it is very easy to like and quite funny (and a bit radical with its reference to cocaine). However, as a cartoon, it's a very strange thing indeed as I really don't know who the audience for this Pre-Code nightmare would be! After all, it is really scary and so younger kids would be terrified by it and the drug references, if the parents noticed, would really turn them off as well, as it's NOT good child fare! Interesting, well animated but too bizarre, this one is great for adults who want to see just how subversive Betty could be in her wild Pre-Code days.

Everything works here-the song, "Minnie the Moocher" goes hand in glove with the character of Betty Boop, the music and the animation are a wonderful fit, Cab Calloway has just the right flair to pull it all together, it all works splendidly and gives the viewer a treat for both eyes and ears. Betty Boop was animation's answer to Clara Bow, the "It" Girl and the early shorts were more risque and playful than the later ones, after The Code took effect. An excellent short, in print and available. Well worth seeing. Most highly recommended.

The first part of the film shows us a younger Betty Boop than we're used to seeing in the Fleischer Brothers cartoons.

Betty is a girl in her early/mid teens, being nagged to tears by her immigrant parents. Betty sings the 1911 Von Tilzer number "They Always Pick On Me". Notice how the animator attends to such details as the bouncing of Betty's breasts on the staircase-- such details would soon be suppressed in USA animation by the Hayes Code.

This is the first of 3 Fleischer cartoons with Cab Calloway featured on the soundtrack. They proved popular-- and Calloway used them as advertising, having the cartoons shown in theaters of towns the week before his travelling band would arrive.

"Minnie The Moocher" is good, as is the last of the series "The Old Man of the Mountain", but Betty Boop's "Snow White" is the best of all.