Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Thehibikiew Not even bad in a good way

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

MARIO GAUCI Betty Boop is possibly the most durable of all Hollywood female icons, since she can still be seen adorning stationery items and girlie accessories almost 85 years after her creation! Even so, her real stock-in-trade – the Max and Dave Fleischer series of black-and-white cartoon shorts throughout the Thirties – are among the least-seen items of classic animation. She was a staple of Italian TV during my childhood, to be sure, but it has been ages since I have seen her image displayed on any channel! Although I have collected many of the comprehensive classic animation box sets issued on DVD in the past decade (be it Walt Disney Treasures, Looney Tunes Golden Collections, Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker or, best of all, Tex Avery), tellingly, I have not sprung for any of the 3(!) collections recently released on BluRay (no less!) dedicated to Betty Boop and what entries I will be reviewing from her filmography presently have been watched via "You Tube" and are simply more grit from the "Wonders In The Dark" mill.This particular "Talkartoon" short – which was obviously intended to highlight then-popular entertainer Cab Calloway's current song hit, who also appears with his jazz band in the brief, live-action intro – features Betty angering her parents by declining to eat her dinner (a helpful flower tastes it and promptly wilts away!) and fleeing the house with her dog Bimbo into the woods where they meet a bunch of ghosts, whose walrus leader scares them back home with a rendition of the titular tune. Again, for a film of its age, the animation is pleasing enough (if not particularly inventive) and the song itself is now a standard.

MartinHafer This is a Betty Boop cartoon, though it starts with a bit of footage of Cab Calloway and his orchestra. Calloway's song "Minnie the Moocher" is set to life using Betty, her friend Bimbo and an odd assortment of ghosts, though I really would have much preferred to actually just watch and listen to Calloway sing this song live--since it is very easy to like and quite funny (and a bit radical with its reference to cocaine). However, as a cartoon, it's a very strange thing indeed as I really don't know who the audience for this Pre-Code nightmare would be! After all, it is really scary and so younger kids would be terrified by it and the drug references, if the parents noticed, would really turn them off as well, as it's NOT good child fare! Interesting, well animated but too bizarre, this one is great for adults who want to see just how subversive Betty could be in her wild Pre-Code days.

ccthemovieman-1 The title is a song made famous by Cab Calloway, and we immediately see him making like Michael Jackson smoothly dancing as she leads his orchestra in the song. Calloway was definitely a very cool cat, and ahead of his time.After that short performance comes the cartoon story, in which we see Betty being blasted by her father at the dinner table. She's in tears, can't eat and walks away singing the blues, ready to leave home. She writes a note: "Dear Ma and Pa, I'm leaving home because you're not so sweet to me. I won't ever be home again. Betty."She calls Bimbo and the two leave together. They get scared when it gets dark and hide in a cave, where a giant walrus (Calloway) materializes and sings them the "Minnie The Moocher" song. Bizarre?? Yeah! During the song we see skeletons, jailbirds singing on electric chairs, spooks, ghosts, all kinds of very strange sights. After witnessing these strange sights, Betty changes her mind about never going back home. Home, all of a sudden, looks pretty good.Not hilarious, but a very entertaining cartoon. I love it when Betty and Cab get together.

Robert Reynolds Everything works here-the song, "Minnie the Moocher" goes hand in glove with the character of Betty Boop, the music and the animation are a wonderful fit, Cab Calloway has just the right flair to pull it all together, it all works splendidly and gives the viewer a treat for both eyes and ears. Betty Boop was animation's answer to Clara Bow, the "It" Girl and the early shorts were more risque and playful than the later ones, after The Code took effect. An excellent short, in print and available. Well worth seeing. Most highly recommended.