The Impractical Joker

This Betty Boop is memorable largely because of Grampy. The character Irving is like fingernails on a chalkboard and Betty isn't on-screen much at all here. As far as I'm concerned, Irving gets off easy. Cartoon Network runs this on Late Night Black and White periodically. Worth seeing at least once.

Although this is a nice cartoon I think it could have been a lot better. Betty Boop (voice of Mae Questel) is baking in the kitchen when the practical joking friend Irving comes along. He has a lot of irritating practical jokes for Betty so she flees to Grampy. He thinks of a way to get back at Irving. Betty asks Irving to bring a cake up to Grampy and the practical joke contest can start.

There are some nice moments in this cartoon, but with a subject like practical jokes it could have been so much funnier. Irving really feels like an irritating person and that is a good thing. The way laughs looks pretty funny. Still, Grampy has some nice touches but there were a lot of missed opportunities here.

Whenever I see that a Betty Boop cartoon features Grampy, I try to watch. His character is one of the best from the Fleischer Brothers Studio and he adds a certain level of weirdness to the cartoons that I really appreciate.

Betty is trying to do housework when he super-annoying cousin, Irving, drops by for a visit. Actually, he just dropped by to annoy EVERYONE and his jokes tend to be very mean and unrelenting. At her wits end, Betty asks Grampy if there's anything he can do to help and, as usual, Grampy uses his inventions to teach a jerk a lesson.

The best thing about this film is its frenetic pace. Some Betty Boop cartoons feature too much singing and too little plot--but here neither is an issue and the jokes come one after another after another. Add to that the typical wonderful Fleischer animation and you have more than enough reason to watch this film.

The Impractical Joker (1937)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Betty Boop is at home baking a cake when the annoying Irving shows up and begins playing some practical jokes on her. She finally goes over the edge and tells Grampy who agrees to give Irving some of his own medicine. THE IMPRACTICAL JOKER is another decent entry in the later day Betty Boop films. There's no question that this one here falls far from being a "classic" but fans of the series should at least get a few laughs out of it. The highlights are certainly Irving playing the tricks on Betty and one will especially get a kick out of her reactions. The scenes where she gets scared are pretty funny as well as another sequence where she finally starts to pull her hair out. Once Grampy enters the film things stay at a pretty fast pace as he makes sure to one up Irving no matter what. As normal, the animation is quite good throughout and as always there's a good touch of imagination going on.

Betty is just minding her own business when Irving shows up. He uses numerous lame practical jokes and drives Betty to distraction. This guy is insufferable. But Betty has Professor Grampy upstairs and she seems to rely on him when things get too bad. This isn't all that interesting.