Not Now

A good deal of the pre-Production Code Betty Boop cartoons are daring and creative, with content that makes one amazed at what's gotten away with. While the later Betty Boop cartoons made after the Code was enforced are still watchable and exceptionally well-made, they are so toned down that they feel bland.

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. The good news is that she has not lost her charm, despite being significantly toned down, she is still cute and her comic timing is good.

Not all the late Betty Boop cartoons made after the Code was enforced are disappointing though, and most of them are still very much watchable. 'Not Now' generally is one of the later Betty Boop cartoons from this period. There is a vast preference for the Betty Boop cartoons that have a more surreal edge to the visuals and sharper and more risqué material. Although cute and entertaining, there is still a tame feel and slight blandness to 'Not Now's' material. The story is also slight and pretty predictable.

The animation, on the other hand, is extremely good. It's beautifully drawn and detailed, and more imaginative in scope than most Betty Boop cartoons from this period, and the music is infectious and dynamic with a tremendous lushness and energy.

Pudgy is adorable and the cat is a formidable enough "antagonist". 'Not Now' is a very cute cartoon, without going overboard, and there is some funny material too, more so than most later Betty Boop cartoons where many of the cartoons were hurt by the toning down. The voice acting is fine.

Overall, well above average and pretty good for late Betty Boop. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Not Now (1936)

*** (out of 4)

This here is a better than average Betty Boop short that finds the beauty fast asleep with Pudgy when an alley cat starts to meow and eventually wakes them up. The cat won't stop even after Betty asks so Pudgy goes after him, which leads to a wild and adventurous chase. NOT NOW contained enough laughs and action to make it worth sitting through even though Betty herself is basically just here for a cameo. The entire film belongs to Pudgy and this cat as the two of them chase each other through the streets, fight, chase some more and all of it leads up to a very funny ending. I'm certainly not going to ruin the final shot but it certainly fits well with everything that led up to it. I thought the best thing this short had going for it was the imagination of the animators and especially during the scenes where Pudgy is chasing the cat on the fence. I thought some of the visuals were extremely good and this continued through a gag as the two run on the roof top of some buildings. Fans of the series should get enough entertainment out of this to make it worth viewing.

A cat outside Betty's bedroom is howling and keeping her awake. Betty goes to the window and tells the cat to stop, but the cat sings back "Not Now" and a few other assorted wise-guy remarks.

Now Betty's little dog "Pudgy" is awake, too, goes to the window and sees what is happening. He jumps out and goes to down to challenge the bigger cat.

The rest is the battle of the little dog versus the nasty cat, which is pretty interesting and involves a lot of chases and hair-raising scenes. With that in mind, it is more of a cartoon with the animals as Betty just appears at the beginning and very end.

A cat is howling, keeping Betty from getting any sleep. She tries her best but to no avail. So pudge comes to the rescue. He is small and rather defenseless. He does his best but ends up being chased by a herd of cats. This episode doesn't offer much new and these later ones seem more precious.

Despite the summary, I do own a cat and like them. So, no angry emails, please! The reason I put this in the summary is that this Betty Boop cartoon features a horrible cat and by the end, he's joined by a HUGE number of his horrible friends. It begins with a great opening scene--the animation was terrific in this shot. A cat is caterwauling and keeping poor Betty Boop awake. Pudgy sees what's happening and goes to the rescue--even though he's a tiny puppy and appears to be over-matched. Then, after besting the one cat, soon his friends appear as if from no where. What's next? See the film.

As usual, the animation is lovely. However, there is no edge to this particular cartoon and is not nearly as good as many of the earlier Boop vehicles. This is also because the wonderful anamorphic elements (such as the sun and houses seeming alive) are not present--making for a very conventional cartoon. Now bad, really--just not as magical and fun as many other Betty Boop cartoons.