Chess-Nuts

"Chess-Nuts" begins with a very unusual combination of live action, stop-motion and traditional animation! Two old men are shown playing chess…or least sitting there at a chess board. Suddenly, the pieces have animated characters (including Bimbo and Betty Boop) pop their heads out and look about. Then, using stop-motion, the pieces dance about for a few seconds. Then the cartoon begins. It seems that Bimbo (one of the white pieces) is making eyes at the black queen (Betty). However, the black king is jealous and most of the rest of the cartoon consists of the two fighting over sweet Betty.

During the course of this Pre-Code cartoon, there are LOTS of reminders that the toughened Production Code was not yet in place, as there are LOTS of sexual innuendos—even for a Pre-Code Betty Boop cartoon. You see her dress fly up repeatedly and even a brief scene where a small animal is staring up Betty's dress! Had the film been made two years later, there is no way the cartoon would have been approved to be shown to audiences in the US. Because of this, her character was changed—with a longer dress, less curves and no underwear shots. As far as the cartoon itself goes, it's highly creative and deserves high marks for being very different. Plus, as usual, the Fleischer Brothers animation quality is fantastic. But, the cartoon also lacks laughs and because of this, though unusual, is only about average in quality.

This Betty Boop cartoon should have had more laughs to it than it did. It was okay but had too few really good jokes.

We see a real life scene of two old chess masters hard at work in a competitive match. The pieces on the board suddenly pop out into animated people here and there. Betty is the queen, of course and some old guy claims he is the king but apparently isn't really. Anyway, the bulk of the cartoon is this old geezer fighting it out with others, and with Betty on a chess board. Half the time they play a football game or just throw things at each other. Several times, the dirty old man pulls Betty's skirt up so we see her panties (this was Pre- Code), and that's about it.

Overall, certainly not boring but not one of her best, either.

This black-and-white Betty Boop cartoon short was one of those issued on one of the recent BluRay collections and, again, is singled out for inclusion among that "All-Time Top 3000" list on the "Wonders In The Dark" website. Therefore, I had every reason to believe that it was going to be a good one. However, apart from some mildly risqué Pre-Code images of Betty in her garters, there is little to commend it except for its historical value nowadays.

The word-play of the title – which also starts with live-action footage of two old men staring each other down over a chess board and ends with them engulfed in their long white beards and a spider's web! – would suggest something akin to Vsevolod Pudovkin's CHESS FEVER (1925) or Laurel and Hardy's ME AND MY PAL (1933). However, the end result is rather bland: Betty Boop, her dog Bimbo and even Koko The Clown are pawns in a chess game who, when they come to life, are pursued by a lecherous king!

Chess-Nuts (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This is a rather bizarre mix of live action and animation. The film starts off with two men playing chess and then we turn to the animation as Betty Boop, Bimbo and KoKo take form on a chess board. We then see others come to life and before long a football game breaks out while the King chases Betty. I wouldn't necessarily call this a "good" movie but at the same time it's at least interesting enough to where fans of the series should be mildly entertained. Once again the animation itself is quite good but the first portion of the film is rather boring. Things finally pick up once Betty comes under attack as we're given some very Pre=code moments including her getting her dressed pulled up. The score is good but one wishes the film had gotten off to a better start.

Two old men are playing chess. We are transported to the board where Betty Boop is the Queen. The old lech is her king and he spends the whole episode with one thing in mind. Bimbo and Koko are around and so there will be a confrontation to save Betty. Otherwise, there are some rather graphic scenes that are unusual for cartoons.