No! No! A Thousand Times No!!

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. 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.

The best character in 'No! No! a Thousand Times No!!' is the villain, one that manages to be entertaining as well as dastardly.

As ever in a Betty Boop cartoon, the animation is still incredibly good, the detail is immaculate, there are the typical imaginative moments (especially with the toys) and everything is beautifully drawn. Every bit as good and even better is the music, which is full of energy and lyrical elegance. The voice acting is good, and there are some cute and amusing moments.

However, 'No! No! a Thousand Times No!!' is agreed strongly reminiscent of 1934's 'She Wronged Him Right', except that one was much more imaginative and it was funnier and clever. Outside of a few surrealistic images, ''No! No! a Thousand Times No!!' is much tamer (in comparison to that cartoon and of the pre-Code Betty Boop cartoons), with not much of the creativity, surreal quality or daring risqué-ness of the older Betty Boop cartoons.

The story is pretty thin on the ground and could have done with more energy, while the ending is slushy and the hero is just as dashing as the one in 'She Wronged Him Right' but even blander, actually almost being devoid of a personality.

On the whole, an okay if inferior return to stage melodrama. 6/10 Bethany Cox

'No! No! A Thousand Times No!!' is not the most memorable animated short starring Betty Boop, but it has enough moment of entertainment to like it. It starts with Betty Boop and Freddie starring in a play (we only hear the audience from time to time), with Freddie showing his affection for Betty. A villain in a balloon enters the stage taking Freddie away and trying to get Betty for himself. She sings "No! No! A thousand times no!!" to him.

The first two minutes are pretty standard here. There is some comedy in the appearance of the villain. The second part where the villain fights Freddie and takes Betty in his balloon is pretty good with some nice, once again, surrealistic images. Of course with unique voice of Mae Questel. An enjoyable cartoon.

In 1934, the Fleischer Brothers made a Betty Boop cartoon called "She Wronged Him Right". It was a recreation of a very old style melodrama--the sort of campy stage show that folks loved around the turn of the century. It featured a Dick Dastardly sort of baddie, a dashing hero and a young, innocent woman the baddie is trying to force to marry her.

Now, a year later, the studio has brought out "No! No! A Thousand Time No!" and, it's essentially the same exact film! The hero is the same, the baddie is just as bad and Betty once again fills in for the heroine. In fact it's so similar, I see no reason to see it if you've already seen the previous film. As for me, it was all a case of deja-vu and I found it tough going because it was so similar...and lazy. High quality animation can't make up for a recycled story.