Perfectly adorable

not as good as all the hype

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Fleischer were responsible for some brilliant cartoons, some of them still among my favourites. Their visual style was often stunning and some of the most imaginative and ahead of its time in animation.The character of Betty Boop, one of their most famous and prolific characters, may not be for all tastes and sadly not as popular now, but her sex appeal was quite daring for the time and to me there is an adorable sensual charm about her. That charm, sensuality and adorable factor is not lost anywhere here, nor her comic timing and she is very well supported by the ever fun Koko and Bimbo.'Chess-Nuts' is not one of her best cartoons but is very much well worth a watch. It is lacking in the humour department, something that later Betty Boop cartoons were much more successful in and the first portion of 'Chess-Nuts' is agreed on the bland and dull side, humour and energy wise.However, the animation is outstanding, everything is beautifully and meticulously drawn and the whole cartoon is rich in visual detail and imagination. Every bit as good is the music score, which delivers on the energy, lusciousness and infectiousness, great for putting anybody in a good mood.While 'Chess-Nuts' may be lacking in laughs, it certainly does not disappoint when it comes to being risqué, creative or delightfully bizarre. As a pre-code cartoon, a lot of the content here is very daring stuff, very ahead of its time back then and you don't see much like the pre-code Betty Boop cartoons made today. Chess-playing has rarely been more bizarre and sees some wonderfully creative moments (mostly visually). The voice acting is dependably good.All in all, not a favourite Betty Boop cartoon of mine but still a good worthwhile watch. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Chess-Nuts (1932) ** 1/2 (out of 4)This is a rather bizarre mix of live action and animation. The film starts off with two men playing chess and then we turn to the animation as Betty Boop, Bimbo and KoKo take form on a chess board. We then see others come to life and before long a football game breaks out while the King chases Betty. I wouldn't necessarily call this a "good" movie but at the same time it's at least interesting enough to where fans of the series should be mildly entertained. Once again the animation itself is quite good but the first portion of the film is rather boring. Things finally pick up once Betty comes under attack as we're given some very Pre=code moments including her getting her dressed pulled up. The score is good but one wishes the film had gotten off to a better start.

This black-and-white Betty Boop cartoon short was one of those issued on one of the recent BluRay collections and, again, is singled out for inclusion among that "All-Time Top 3000" list on the "Wonders In The Dark" website. Therefore, I had every reason to believe that it was going to be a good one. However, apart from some mildly risqué Pre-Code images of Betty in her garters, there is little to commend it except for its historical value nowadays.The word-play of the title – which also starts with live-action footage of two old men staring each other down over a chess board and ends with them engulfed in their long white beards and a spider's web! – would suggest something akin to Vsevolod Pudovkin's CHESS FEVER (1925) or Laurel and Hardy's ME AND MY PAL (1933). However, the end result is rather bland: Betty Boop, her dog Bimbo and even Koko The Clown are pawns in a chess game who, when they come to life, are pursued by a lecherous king!

I love how they mix the live-action and the animation at the beginning as the initially realistic chess game quickly springs to life and becomes a typically chaotic fight between the hideous Old King Cole and Bimbo over the affections of the ever-musically-boppin' Miss Boop, who appears after a spot of cigarette ash falls on the black queen chess piece. I think all all of those magically strange little "Toon Town" style moments still look very effective and interesting, even today. This one's a little weak, but there's more than enough charm and creativity put into the animation that can still be admired. I love the stylish monochrome pattern of the board, it gives the short a really cool distinctive look. I enjoyed how the loony chess fight soon further devolves to include some elements of other sports. My favourite part is an impressive moment of scrolling animation when King Cole rolls one of his underlings across the board like a bowling ball! And I also liked Bimbo's altered design in his appearance as the white king. He was all white, including his ears and other parts of him that are usually black. There really wasn't any random spooky elements or anything here except for two odd little creatures that I think were supposed to be mice that popped in and out of the walls a few times to harass Betty and sabotage her pie-throwing skills! And the closing image of the two old chess players as their beards grew long as the cute little toon spider came down beside them was mighty peculiar and funny! It was also very weird when the characters went off into crazy spats of tuneless chains of mostly nonsensical gibberish syllables every now and then. ::: Overall though, it's too bad they didn't make all that much use of the chess motif, which was what I liked the best about this. It wasn't all that great, I agree with the "Movie Man's" review, it just wasn't as good as it could have been. Too short, slightly tedious and no sight gags! It's still worth watching for a neat idea, or just plain if you're a fan of the early Fleisher cartoons. It makes no sense whatsoever, but given the animator's other, far greater projects, I'd say we've come to expect that. And in this case, actually enjoy it. Checkmate!