When I watch David Lynch movies, I sometimes think he is showing us his nightmares. I often feel that the Betty Boop canon may be David Fleischer's nightmares. In this one, Bimbo, her little dog is the star. He is walking down the street when he fall in a manhole. He finds himself in some weird meeting of some kind of clan. They keep asking him if he wants to join (they are holding boards with nails in them and other weapons). He says no and this leads to one horrible situation after another where he must try to survive. It's a terrifying world but that is the Fleischer way of doing things. There is also a kind of vibration, a kind of rhythmic dance that goes on in these cartoons. I am enjoying these cartoons, fifty years after I saw them as a kid.

Well, for starters it gets points for originality, that's for damn sure! It certainly seems there was once a time when cartoons were made for adults too. I love the way the jolly old-timey opening suggests a short that's going to be all rosy and sweetness-no way, Jose! This is one of those special and awesome Betty Boop shows that gives strong credence to the notion that all animators of the 1930s were on substances of a, oh shall we say, questionable nature! Like the best kinds of old toons it is dark, even spooky. And it's got that vital 'lil dash of the macabre-perhaps more than just a little this time! Everything is alive and 'kickin, and the sinister sight gags soon abound with swiftness. Mere moments in we get creepy morlock clans, scary anthropomorphic pointy things,(one just somehow knows it's a bad thing when the knife licks its own blade!) startlingly twisted and warped perceptions, inescapable rooms and a dog-eared slutty woman. Apparently at one point they were considering Betty being some kind of poodle-like creature. Must not have panned out. It's almost as if most of the gags were done by the animators just to show that they could. There's all the wonderfully random nightmarish nonsense that I do so love! ::: Horror show frat: see the brutal recruitment methods of the good 'ol days! When Bimbo says he doesn't wanna be a member, they make his life a living hell-literally! "Wanna be a member, wanna be a member!!?" I love that, it's so absurd and surreal. I mean, a member of what exactly? This is crazy cooky 1930s Fleischer cartoon land-who the hell cares! Anything can happen there...WHY NOT?! I love the cool revolving room with the many doors of mystery where every room has some gimmicky trap. And now behind door number one... And the show really takes off beautifully when it gets to Bimbo's final run through the tunnel of doom. It's like a ghost train. And I would like to point out that the brilliant door-within-a-door-within-a-door scene is the part of the cartoon that can be briefly glimpsed on a TV screen in Twilight Zone: The Movie! ::: Very well worth seeing for any fan of vintage animation or just for anyone who likes a little dark wanton with their toons.

Bimbo's Initiation (1931) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Marginally entertaining short has Bimbo falling down a manhole where he ends up in a strange playhouse where some masked people keep asking him if he wants to be a member of their group. Each time he says no they put him through some form of abuse but soon Betty Boop shows up and asks him the same question. In terms of imagination this short has quite a bit of that but in terms of laughs there are very few. I think the film works best as some eye candy because the house is a pretty interesting one and at least keeps the movie going at a good speed. I thought all the tricks were rather clever and this includes the rolling floor and the sequence where Bimbo has to open one door after another. I think the highlight is without question the cameo by Boop and there's no doubt that this short was made before the Hayes Code. The level of pre-code sexuality is quite high as it's obvious Boop is having quite the effect on poor Bimbo who can't control himself. The scenes with Boop shaking her butt and slapping it are hard to forget and easy to see what's going on.

This is a very weird cartoon with Bimbo the dog who enters a house where he is asked by strange creatures if he "wanna be a member, wanna be a member?" His answer is no and every time he answers that again the house pulls some tricks on him. Near the end there is a short appearance of Betty Boop (with the voice of Mae Questel), only she has dog ears here.This cartoon is very weird and surreal in some ways. The house has some great surprises, all very well animated. It looks very original. The music fits the action perfectly and the appearance of Betty Boop, with the strange ears, is a nice one and it helps this cartoon with a nice ending. Recommended.