Top Ten Betty Boop Films

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Top Ten Betty Boop Films

Betty Boop is an iconic cartoon character. Her movies have stood the test of time and are still widely enjoyable today, particularly those from the first half of their span. Fleischer Studios ended up making ninety of these movies from 1932 all the way to 1939. There are some strong movies in the later period, but it is the early, more provocative and more mature era that spawned the best films. Here are ten greatest Betty Boop shorts with some honorable mentions as well.

10. Honest Love and True

Betty Boop is a poor-but-honest-actress in the gay 90s who, hungry and cold, gets a job as a singer in a dance-hall saloon. Once a villain kidnaps her, it is up to Freddie to save her. This was the last cartoon in the cycle of shorts that function as melodrama stage plays. It benefits from well used Freddie, amusing Betty and a villain who was delightfully over-the-top. It’s a very well made and consistently entertaining flick.

9. Betty Boop’s Ker-Choo

Betty, Koko and Bimbo drive at the auto races. Betty has a cold, and her sneezes help her win. In this underrated short Betty was as endearing as ever and the animation brilliantly inventive. The race itself was perfectly constructed and made up of hilarious gags that center on that lack of logic in cartoons. It deserves more attention for everything that it did right and especially for Betty’s different clothing and role than usual.

8. No! No! A Thousand Times No!!

Betty Boop and Freddie appear on stage in a melodrama. Betty sings the title song to the villain as she tries to escape his advances. Eventually, Freddie rescues her. This was the best of those stage melodramas where Betty was pursued by the theatrical villain. He was terrific here and their dialogue was at times hilariously subversive. The highlight is the brilliantly utilized stage setting along with some phenomenal stunts.

7. Stop That Noise

A sleepless Betty can’t take the noise of the city anymore, so she heads out into the country for some peace and quiet. She soon discovers that the country has its own problems. You see, while the city has noisy traffic and construction, the countryside has noisy animals and insects that are an absolute nuisance to you. This is an endlessly relatable cartoon that truthfully depicts the issues that both rural and urban areas contain. It’s fun and timeless.

6. Ha! Ha! Ha!

After drawing Betty Boop, Max Fleischer leaves the studio. Betty and Koko try amateur dentistry, releasing enough laughing gas to convulse the real world. This 1934 short is one of the most inventive Betty Boop movies as it even incorporates live-action into the proceedings. The mixing of the two mediums was exceptionally well done and its premise was very unique. Another highlight was Koko, who got his best role in this flick.

5. Be Human

In Be Human, Betty Boop is incensed at her farmer neighbor’s cruelty to his animals. Grampy knows how to teach him a lesson. This is one of the rare Betty Boop shorts released in the latter half of the movies’ span that was a genuine classic. It’s an entertaining and well made film that finally put Betty in the main role, but its lasting legacy lies in its wonderful treatment of the issue of animal cruelty through the villain that eventually gets humiliated by Grampy.

4. Judge for a Day

There are two types of Betty Boop movies. One is the sexual Pre-Code narrative while the other is the social drama. Judge for a Day belongs firmly in the latter camp. In it, Betty Boop, annoyed by “public pests”, imagines what she’d do to them if she were a judge. It’s such a timeless story about people being annoying in public places and not caring for others that it’s universally relatable to anyone who, well, isn’t a pest themselves.

3. Betty Boop’s Bizzy Bee

In this 1932 short, Betty Boop serves everybody wheat cakes and eventually all the animals get sick after overeating on the cakes. It’s such a surreal, delightfully imaginative short in its use of the medium of animation to tell a story and to deliver the gags. It’s such an underappreciated short that exemplified everything that the Fleischers did best back in their heyday – surreal animation, goofy humor and strange imagery.

2. Snow-White

1933’s Snow-White is regarded not just as the best Betty Boop short, but also as one of the greatest animated short films of all time. While it’s not my favorite short in this series, it comes close. The animation is absolutely incredible as it effortlessly brings to life all the insane, illogical stuff that happens on screen. It functions as this uniquely odd take on this oft-told fairy tale that includes so many offbeat, downright insane moments that are unforgettable to witness.

1. Poor Cinderella

In 1934, Betty Boop series did their own adaptation of Cinderella and the results were mesmerizing. This was the only color cartoon in the entire series and it looked splendid with particularly gorgeous costumes, beautiful castle and strong character movements. Unlike the above entry, this movie adapted the story faithfully, which worked in this instant as it made the movie timeless. Betty was wonderful in the main role while the score was amazing. It’s not the most typical Betty Boop short, but it’s the most accomplished one, so it gets the first spot here.

Honorable Mentions:

Betty Boop’s Bamboo Isle – Betty Boop’s Bamboo Isle is more a Bimbo than a Betty movie, but its surreal animation, great humor and a terrific soundtrack made it a winner.

Betty Boop’s Museum – This flick saw Betty in top form as she was very endearing and memorable while the museum setting was wonderfully brought to life.

Betty Boop’s Big Boss – Betty Boop’s Big Boss is a dated film when it comes to its sexual politics, but undeniably hugely effective in its twist ending. It’s the most mature Betty Boop short by far.

The Old Man of the Mountain – The jazz duet at the center of this odd cartoon was brilliant and the movie functions as a pretty strong early Betty cartoon where sex was the main subject.

I Heard – I Heard lacks in terms of character moments and plot, but the animation is fantastic and the swinging jazz music is a delight.