Minnie the Moocher is essentially a music video for Cab Calloway's titular song, the '30s equivalent of Michael Jackson's Thriller, a featurette with a story to go with the song. It begins with live action footage of Calloway strutting his stuff in front of his Cotton Club Orchestra, but quickly turns into an animated tale featuring sexy cartoon babe Betty Boop, who runs away from home with her lover Bimbo, only to be haunted by singing ghosts in a spooky forest.
While perhaps not quite as demented as Bimbo's Initiation (1931), this cartoon still features its fair share of freaky visuals, from Betty's father's head turning into a gramophone, to Max Fleischer's regular character Koko the clown emerging from an inkwell, to the walrus ghost who mimics Calloway's dance moves, to the bizarre skeleton cat and its kittens, and so much more in-between. The animation is top notch for the day, with lots of lovely detail (check out the backgrounds, which feature fang like stalactites and skulls), while the music, it goes without saying, is superb. If you love animation, then you simply must check this out (and Bimbo's Initiation, which I think is even better).
While perhaps not quite as demented as Bimbo's Initiation (1931), this cartoon still features its fair share of freaky visuals, from Betty's father's head turning into a gramophone, to Max Fleischer's regular character Koko the clown emerging from an inkwell, to the walrus ghost who mimics Calloway's dance moves, to the bizarre skeleton cat and its kittens, and so much more in-between. The animation is top notch for the day, with lots of lovely detail (check out the backgrounds, which feature fang like stalactites and skulls), while the music, it goes without saying, is superb. If you love animation, then you simply must check this out (and Bimbo's Initiation, which I think is even better).