Red Hot Mamma

After a misleadingly innocuous opening this cartoon quickly goes bizarre, and I do mean bizarre. Our plucky heroine Betty Boop makes like Odysseus, visits the Underworld and returns to tell the tale. All the elements of a great Pre-Code Fleischer cartoon are here, from the swinging jazz score and oddball gags to those delightfully gratuitous silhouette images of Betty in her nightgown, striding past the hell-fire. I love the jaunty song she sings, the design of the demons, and the visual pun when Betty turns a "cold shoulder" to Satan himself. Some of these Betty Boop cartoons -- the best ones, I mean -- are so strange they inspire not amusement, exactly, but something closer to queasiness, only it's a pleasant kind of queasiness. Which makes no sense, but neither does Red Hot Mamma. Personally I love the Fleischer output from this period, and find more film-making skill, panache, and sheer rampant imagination in these 7-minute epics than I find in most of D. W. Griffith's features. Plus, Betty is way cuter than Carol Dempster.

Betty Boop literally goes to Hell in this one, as she takes to sleeping by the fireside one cold night and everything around her is set ablaze in the process. Needless to say, the devils (with every new arrival getting fitted with their proverbial tail and horns!) prove to be a lecherous lot – albeit musically-inclined as well (they are seen letting rip during a jazz number). Ironically, given the suggestive title, the heroine wears a dress for much of the duration! Still, when she rebuffs the chief's advances and gives him the cold gaze, the whole place freezes over accordingly…and, suddenly brought back to reality, we realize Betty's house had been extensively damaged from the raging blizzard!

This movie is so ultimately perfect. Us Muslims we love it. Funny and groundbreaking. One of the best short animation movies ever; anchorman be serious who can say no to Betty boop dancing in a circle of fire???

Red Hot Mamma (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Highly entertaining short has Betty Boop growing cold so she starts a fire and decides to sleep by it. This turns the heat way up and before she knows it Betty is in Hell. This is a devilish little Pre-code short from Paramount that has some terrific animation as well as a creative streak that makes for a lot of fun. There's no question that the entire Hell sequence is the highlight and there are some very creative jokes throughout. One such thing is when we see freshmen devils getting their horns as well as another section where the Devil goes full blast by turning the heat way up to get to Betty. If you're a fan of the series then this one here certainly ranks as one of the better ones.

This cartoon is a perfect example of the creativity and inventiveness that was possible prior to the advent of the Hays Office and The Code that tamed Betty Boop and made many of the subsequent shorts so much more dull and lifeless. The irony is that Will Hays was a politician who was involved in the Harding administration, which found no rival for corruption until the Nixon administration. Mr. Hays was the last person to lecture anyone on behavior! The details of this cartoon would never have found acceptance under Hays or The Code, so I'm glad it was made and released before all the nonsense went into effect. Wonderful short. In print and available. Well worth watching. Most highly recommended.