Swat the Fly

Betty is making piecrust (I think) and an annoying housefly interrupts her work. It also tortures her little dog. The entire cartoon is an effort to kill the fly, mostly by throwing dough at it. The fly is persistent as houseflies usually are. There is nothing very imaginative about this one. It seems to go on and on.

Swat the Fly is a pleasantly slow-paced cartoon about Betty Boop and her battle with a fly. Unlike many other Betty Boop cartoons, don't expect anything crazy to happen here. This one actually stays close to the world of reality, and features only three characters (counting the fly) in one setting. Betty is charming and her dog is adorable, and unlike many other cartoons where the fly is the plucky hero, in this one I was rooting for Betty and really did just want her to squish him.

Swat the Fly (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Mildly entertaining short finds Betty Boop getting ready to bake while her dog Pudgy tries to catch some sleep. Soon a fly comes by and starts bothering both of them so they must try and destroy it. SWAT THE FLY isn't a classic Boop short by any stretch of the imagination but I thought there were enough good moments to make it worth sitting through. I thought most of the jokes were rather minor including the first one dealing with Betty pouring some baking powder. The rest of the jokes revolve around the fly as it torments the dog by flying through its ears and then goes after Betty in countless ways. The majority of the running time has the fly just buzzing around while Betty throws countless items at it. The biggest problem is that none of this is all that funny and without the laughs it just becomes somewhat annoying as it goes along. Typical for the artists, the animation is very good throughout and there's a lot of imagination here but there just needed to be more laughs.

This film makes "unfunniness" a way of life: we're supposed to be laughing our behinds off at the cute antics of the (very nondescript) fly and roaring at Betty flinging her cake batter at the little pest (CAN'T have too much room for facial expression with such a miniscule character). About the only thing remotely funny is the way Pudgy unknowingly invents breakdancing, and even that wears thin after less than a half a minute. This cartoon makes "The Impractical Joker" and "Buzzy Boop" seem like works of pure comic genius. "Swat The Fly" is an absolute masterpiece in comparison only when compared with "We did It".

"Swat the Fly" is a great example of a cartoon that is very well made but which, after a while, becomes irritating--to the point where you are happy when it finally ends.

The plot to "Swat the Fly" is simple. Betty and her dog, Pudgy, are home where a fly keeps irritating them. Again and again, this demonic fly keeps causing them to almost go berserk. In fact, ultimately Betty DOES go insane and begins destroying her home--all to try to stop that dang fly. The problem is that after a while, it stopped being funny and just started to be annoying. Too thin on plot and the plot it has is tough to endure for eight minutes! By the way, if you LIKE being annoyed by Betty Boop cartoons, also try "Stop The Noise"--one that also finds Betty battling bugs (among other things).