Out of the Inkwell (1938)

Out of the Inkwell Review

Out of the Inkwell is a 1938 animated short film from the Betty Boop series. It is a a pretty good short.

A janitor hypnotizes Max Fleischer’s pen to draw Betty Boop. Then he orders her to do things for him until she’s had enough and she turns the tables on him. This movie has one huge problem that prevented it from being a classic – racism. The black janitor is not only overly lazy, but he also talks in a ridiculous way, making him feel caricaturist and stupid. This really affected the whole movie negatively.

Out of the Inkwell is still worth seeing for the inventive animation alone. Betty diving through air was the most memorable moment. The hypnotizing gimmick led to so many of these innovative scenes and a lot of humor in-between them. The animation is polished, artistic, fluid and oh so timeless. Betty was so cute here and it was wonderful seeing her take the center stage for a change.

Out of the Inkwell is a very artistic, gorgeously animated short that was negatively affected by its overwhelming racism, but it’s still worth seeing for its inventiveness alone.

My Rating – 4