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6.1/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.1/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Betty Boop: Dizzy Dishes remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Is this worth watching today? Honestly, **yes**, if only to see how weird things were before Disney cleaned up the rules of animation. If you like history or just want to see a six-minute fever dream, you'll dig it. If you need a plot that makes sense, you're gonna *hate* it.
So, I finally sat down with Dizzy Dishes. It’s famous because it's the first time Betty Boop appears on screen. But she isn't the Betty we know yet.
She has these **big floppy dog ears**. It is actually kind of jarring to see her like that. She’s like a poodle mix with a human face, which sounds like a nightmare, but it kind of works in that creepy 1930s way.
The main character isn't even her, though. It’s this waiter named Bimbo. He’s just trying to serve food in a restaurant that feels like it’s located in a basement in hell.
Everything in this kitchen is alive. I’m not kidding. The roast duck starts squawking even after it’s been cooked. It’s **gross but also hilarious**.
The animation has that 'rubber hose' style where nobody has bones. Bimbo walks like his legs are made of cooked spaghetti. It’s hypnotic to watch.
I noticed this one customer, a giant hippo, who just starts eating the table. Not the food *on* the table. The actual wooden table. He looks so satisfied doing it, too.
Then Betty comes out to sing. She’s performing on a little stage and the whole movie just stops to look at her. You can tell the animators were obsessed with her 'wiggle'.
The song is called 'I Have to Have You.' It’s very high-pitched. Margie Hines did the voice and she sounds like she’s inhaling helium the whole time.
There is a weird energy to this cartoon. It feels much more adult and grimy than the stuff we see now. It’s not 'clean' fun. It’s **sweaty and loud**.
I love the small details. Like how the steam from the soup turns into hands and starts grabbing things. Or how the plates seem to be breathing.
The background characters just vibrate constantly. It’s like the animators were afraid that if something stopped moving, the audience would get bored. It’s a lot to take in for six minutes.
Bimbo is a terrible waiter, by the way. He gets so distracted by Betty that he starts dancing with a tray of food and just knocks everything over. I felt bad for the hippo.
It reminds me of the chaotic energy in His Royal Highness, but with more ink and less logic. Just pure, unadulterated madness on screen.
The sound quality is pretty rough. You can hear the hiss of the old 35mm film running through the projector. It makes the whole experience feel like you found a cursed tape in your grandpa’s attic.
I caught a mistake too. In one shot, Bimbo’s hat disappears and then just pops back into existence a second later. Nobody cared about continuity back then. It’s great.
The ending is just a big chase. Some guy starts throwing things and everyone runs away. It doesn't really 'end' so much as it just stops because they ran out of paper.
If you've seen something like Madame Butterfly and thought 'this needs more singing dogs and exploding kitchens,' then this is your movie.
I actually watched it twice in a row. The second time I just looked at the stuff happening in the corners of the screen. There’s a cat in the background that looks like it’s having a mid-life crisis.
Max Fleischer was a genius, but a very strange one. This cartoon proves it. It’s a piece of history that still feels **alive and weirdly dangerous**.
Don't expect a story. Just go in for the vibes and the dog-ears. It’s better than 90% of the stuff on TV today anyway. 🐱🍳
IMDb —
1923
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