A Language All My Own (1935)
A Language All My Own Review
A Language All My Own is a 1935 animated short film from the Betty Boop series. It is a very progressive movie.
Betty flies to Japan to do a show and sing the title number. She then dons a kimono and sings it again in Japanese. This movie obviously was released before WWII as it portrayed the Japanese in a positive light, but still this was an uncommonly modern, not racist movie for the period. There are no caricatures to be found anywhere and the movie honors Japanese culture instead of diminishing it.
Apparently, Betty Boop was immensely popular in Japan back then. I don’t know how they even got to watch these shorts, but somehow they did and they loved them, which resulted in the studio literally making one to appease them. Mae Questel, the voice of Betty, even got to learn some Japanese, and the result is a couple of lines spoken in that language that sound surprisingly good. Betty is lovely here and a party in another country conceit (a concert in a way) was original for the time. But even though the music is strong, the overall flick left a lot to be desired in terms of humor and gags, all non-existent.
A Language All My Own was a surprisingly progressive cartoon for the time with Japan being solidly portrayed. It’s a slightly plotted, but charming flick.
My Rating – 3.6
