BCDB: Cartoon Reviews: The Old Man Of The Mountain

This is one of the "Big Three" Betty Boop films featuring the singing of Cab Calloway and rotoscoped animation based on his movements. --and this is the one that begins with actual footage fo Calloway and his band in the title sequence gearing up the title tune. This is a wierd study in lechery as Betty works her way through a landscape of horny characters ogling her gartered gams on her way to visit the Old man, who drools and slavers all over her. (Keep R. Crumb and his 60's comix cohorts in mind as you watch.) On her way up, she meets a stout matron who reveals triplets in her baby carriage resembling the Old man -- with the clear message that she got knocked up by the ruthless octogenarian. Betty eludes his advances and all her woodland pals give him a good working over at reel's end. BIZARRE cartooning - just as we like it.

Quite possibly the best Betty Boop cartoon, and one of my two favorites, along with "Any Rags". The cartoon introduces Cab Calloway and his orchestra.
They obviuosly loved what they were doing. Cab struts along, the band backing him up, the drummer throwing his sticks high in the air. The cartoon starts with mountain goats sending a warning down the mountain to the sentry lion. "Look out! Look out! The old man of the mountain!". He is warning all the townsfolk about this. They all start leaving in droves. A particularly funny sequence involves a spider who cuts his web freeing the flys trapped there who carry him away as if he were on a balloon. The spider thumbs his nose as he flys away (!).
In the village, Betty steps out of the guesthouse to see what all the comotion is about. A googly owl then sings to her explaining how dangerous the old man is.
"He'll eat you up!" he sings. Trampy Betty then declares that she's gonna go up and see this old man! The owl shrugs and googles his eyes at that. Betty starts up the mountain. She passes a puddle and Mr. Fish likes what he sees, but Mrs. Fish soon pulls him back in. There's a cave at the top with geese flying out. As Betty stares the old man comes out singing. "The old man of (Betty yelps) the mountain! The he starts panting, his mouth fills the screen. We see him advancing towards Betty, fingering his tongue (?!) all to the jazzy beat. The animated old man has cartoonish features and huge feet. When Cab is rotoscoped, the feet and features become human proportuned. He starts his jazz scat singing. "You got to Hi De Hi"
(Betty answers) "You got to Hey De Hey De Hey, you got to He De He De He, to get along with me." He sings the well known drug reference, kick the gong, then Betty asks "What you gonna do now?"
"Gonna do the best that I can" he replys and starts to do the typical Cab dance moves. As he starts the Hi De Hi again he starts chasing Betty. He sings an incredible song with scatting verses as he is chasing her, eventually ripping her dress off (!). The various forest animals hear her screams and come to her aid, goats, skunks, etc, pummeling the old man. Betty is saved. When these cartoons were first released, the audiences went wild, according to Richard Fleischer. The theatres would have to play them over and over, and it is easy to see why.

I feel these toons are the essence of what could calm the nation, as they were intended to do when they were originally released. if re run they would not induce video violence.....please lets support such art and the wisdom that made it. Betty Boop,flip the frog , are the creative origins that " walt dizy" road coattails on. "