The Old Man of the Mountain

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).

Like the previous year's MINNIE THE MOOCHER (a viewing of which preceded this one), this "Talkartoon" has its genesis in the current Cab Calloway hit; however, it also seems to take a leaf out of Dr. Seuss' Grinch stories as here we have the titular character whose coming terrorizes a rural town. In fact, his advance is made public by the lion town crier – who, hilariously, jumps atop two white rabbits, straps their ears around his feet and uses them to roller-skate down the mountain into town. This level of inventiveness is kept at a steady pace throughout its standard 7-minute running time.

Almost needless to say is the fact that, like its predecessor, it features Betty Boop and her faithful dog companion Bimbo and they are the ones who finally confront the notorious ancient bully but they get more than they bargained for – Betty ends up in her underwear and has to hide herself behind a tree (a scene which caused controversy at the time with the short's distributors Paramount being asked to tone these cartoons down)! Eventually, it is the angered animal population of the town who give the dirty old man his long-in-coming comeuppance.

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.

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.