Boop-Oop-A-Doop

Betty is the star now and Bimbo and Koko are bit players. In this one she does just about everything in the circus. It is obvious that some expect more from her--this from a 1930's cartoon. Her scene with the lions is quite funny and her classic Boop-Oop-A-Doop catch phrase is ingrained into the audiences psyche. Some great animation too.

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. That charm, sensuality and adorable factor is not lost anywhere here, nor her comic timing and she is very well supported by the ever fun Bimbo and Koko. Loved also that a lot of development went into the circus acts too, and they were all both interesting and entertaining. You'd be hard pressed to find a more loathsome and lecherous ring-master in any cartoon anywhere.

'Boop-Oop-A-Doop' is not quite among the best Betty Boop cartoons, but still has pretty much all the elements of her pre-Code cartoons that made them great to still make it just as good. There is very little wrong here actually in 'Boop-Oop-A-Doop', the weak link being the routine of Bimbo which does feel somewhat repetitive, and the solution feels strangely unresolved.

However, the animation is outstanding, everything is beautifully and meticulously drawn and the whole cartoon is rich in visual detail and imagination. Every bit as good is the music score, which delivers on the energy, lusciousness and infectiousness, great for putting anybody in a good mood.

'Boop-Oop-A-Doop' certainly does not disappoint when it comes to being risqué, creative or delightfully bizarre. As a pre-code cartoon, a lot of the content here is very daring stuff, very ahead of its time back then and you don't see much like the pre-code Betty Boop cartoons made today. And it's done in a very hugely creative and humorous way. The voice acting is good as always.

Overall, a great cartoon that delivers on the fun, the risqué and the surreal. 9/10 Bethany Cox

'Boop-Oop-a-Doop' is an early Betty Boop cartoon, from the period when the Fleischers were still imitating Disney. The cartoon starts with Betty dancing a shimmy ... then the camera pulls back to reveal that this is actually a *drawing* of Betty on a circus banner, rippling in the wind. I laughed as I realised the meta-fiction aspect of this gag: it's not a drawing of the real Betty (who's just a drawing), it's a drawing of a drawing of Betty.

This time Betty works in the circus as a lion tamer, and I wonder if this 1932 cartoon inspired Mae West to play a lion tamer a few months later in 'I'm No Angel'. An elephant lumbers past, bearing a giant inkwell on his back like a howdah, and Koko the Clown makes his familiar entrance out of the inkwell. Bimbo is with the circus too, as the peanut butcher, but his running gag has an unfunny payoff.

Betty is pursued by the lustful ringmaster, whose moustache has a life of its own. He actually says 'Ah, me beauty!'. I was hoping he would catch Betty, so that I could find out precisely WHAT a male cartoon character intends to do with (or to) a female cartoon character. I guess I'll never know. Some of Betty Boop's songs feature double entrendres, but here she sings 'Don't take my "Boop-Oop-a-Doop" away', a sentiment which is a single entendre at best. I'll rate this toon 4 out of 10.

In this installment of Betty Boop, Betty works for a circus--doing a variety of acts but refusing to do some for the owner! In other words, this cartoon is about sexual harassment in the workplace, as the boss becomes all grabby and won't take no for an answer!

If ever there was an example of the sort of risqué character Betty could be Pre-Code (before July 1934), then this is it! While she is virtuous, she sure doesn't look virtuous and the cartoon, if you think about it, is all about sex! However, given the general uproar about how scandalous movies had become (and they really had--with lots of nudity and family unfriendly content in the early 30s), instead of coming up with a rating system, they strengthened the old Production Code and eliminated all sorts of evils from films--some of which probably should have been (such as nude scenes in religious epics*) and much of which tended to make films a bit more bland. How did this effect Betty? Her clothing became much less revealing and male characters seemed far less lecherous post-Code, that's for sure! So is this any good? Well, yes...though it's still not the sort of thing I really think I'd show to young kids. They wouldn't understand and probably wouldn't find it very entertaining. Still, for fans of Betty, it is an enjoyable little film.

They don't come with much more innuendo or double entendre than this one from 1932. Funny, definitely risque, with Koko as the support here, as well as a most despicable ringmaster, who does just about everything but chase Betty around a desk in this one. Well developed characterizations, especially among the circus animals and a solid plot as well as the typically excellent score make this a standout and a keeper. In print and available. Well worth watching. Most highly recommended.