The Production Code was bearing down on Betty Boop and she was no longer the sexy miss whose garters were likely to fall at any moment. Now she is an actress in a old time melodrama, kidnapped by the silk-hat-and-cape-wearing villain and rescued by handsome sheriff.
Although the setting and the gags in this one are just fine and should command the attention of children and adults -- I enjoyed Betty when a pre-schooler and more than half a century later, am still amused -- I am disappointed nonetheless. Betty's charm always lay in her burlesque raucousness. Now it was gone. People still wanted to see Betty and her cartoons would prosper for another half dozen years, but with a rising number of variable supporting characters. Yes, this is a good cartoon, but earlier she had sometimes been brilliant. She never again would be.
Although the setting and the gags in this one are just fine and should command the attention of children and adults -- I enjoyed Betty when a pre-schooler and more than half a century later, am still amused -- I am disappointed nonetheless. Betty's charm always lay in her burlesque raucousness. Now it was gone. People still wanted to see Betty and her cartoons would prosper for another half dozen years, but with a rising number of variable supporting characters. Yes, this is a good cartoon, but earlier she had sometimes been brilliant. She never again would be.