From the word Go, this cartoon will rock you: it's got a hot score by Cab Calloway's band that kicks in the second the credits are over and never lets up, and sounds better each time you hear it. Many of these Betty Boop cartoons from the early '30s featured top jazz artists, but this one has the absolute best music --the horn solo heard when the vulture's eggs are hatching is fantastic-- along with some bizarre, naughty gags that flash past before you can get a handle on them.
Our stylishly-attired heroine finds herself in an Alpine village that is being terrorized by the titular character, a fearsome ogre who has apparently been plundering the town and having his way with the local women. The supporting characters are humanoid animals (an owl, a bear, a pair of fish, etc.) but nonetheless it's startling when we're given to understand that The Old Man actually despoiled a lady hippo. Clearly, he is one baaaaaaad dude. But Betty is nothing if not spunky, and she charges up the mountain with a determined stride to confront the villain and challenge him in a musical duel.
The Old Man's Hi-De-Ho singing voice was supplied by Cab Calloway, whose dancing was "Rotoscoped" (filmed live and then traced, basically) by the Fleischer Studio animators, which pretty much gives Cab a co-starring role. Betty, meanwhile, is at her sexiest and sauciest here, not at all fazed at the raunchy goings-on in the Old Man's cave. Dig that eerie Food of the Gods ending, too, when the woodland creatures rise up against human corruption and restore order. Cartoons don't get any better than this!
