Watch Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle For Free

The Age of Commercialism

hyped garbage

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

"Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle" is an 8-minute black-and-white cartoon from 1932 and like all the other Fleischer Studios cartoons starring the title character, this one has sound. It could also be name after Bimbo though as he has at least as much screen-time and story impact than Betty here. This is a good watch for everybody who loves Betty and Bimbo as a couple as their romance becomes much more explicit than it usually does between the two. but this is also the only memorable aspect here. the music is so-so. The supporting characters are not interesting at all and the story offers little to care for really. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the cuteness factor is not enough to make up for all the mediocrity in other areas. But I can still see why it is among Betty's more known works, even if I give it a thumbs-down.

This short opens with a live action sequence of the 'Royal Samoans' Pacific island musicians before the cartoon starts. After the credits we see Bimbo playing his ukulele as his motorboat zooms around the ocean; the land opening for him to pass between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans! Eventually he lands on a Pacific island and meets a girl who looks suspiciously like a Polynesian Betty. The two of them paddle up a river till they are thrown from the boat into a clearing surrounded by Ent-like trees. Soon some savages arrive but thanks to some quick thinking Bimbo dons a disguise and Betty entertains everybody with a hula dance! This was another entertaining short; as usual the animation is highly inventive; I don't know where all the strange ideas came from but they are a lot of fun! It is clear that this cartoon was made before the Hayes Code came into effect as we see Betty dancing wearing nothing but a grass skirt and a lei to protect her modesty. This is certainly a fun short and it is far more inventive than most of today's animation.

Here's another Betty Boop "musical," this one featuring the Hawaiian music of "The Royal Samoans." You have to give the people responsible for these Boop cartoons - the Fleischer brothers, mainly - credit for giving musicians another forum to show their talents. They weren't biased, either, showing anybody from Louis Armstrong to classical violinist Rubinoff.The music in here is excellent, too, especially some of the guitar work. They always have the characters in sync with the notes, too. Here, we see Betty doing her risqué hula dance and "Bimbo" imitating an island native singing a number, too.You also get some the craziest visuals you'll ever seen. Betty's cartoons for good in that department. You just never know what absolutely crazy thing you'll see next. For instance, the motor of a small boat suddenly turns into dog, or the boat becomes a house that walks away - just insane stuff. Personally, I think it's all fascinating.

The Betty Boop cartoons -- or "Talkartoons" were always superior musically to the competition but Disney usually was better in terms of animation. The Fleischer Brothers, however, were always ahead technically, both with sound (in 1924) and here, were the dance numbers are clear animated using rotoscope.