DbcultAccessing Vault...
6.5/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.5/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Betty Co-ed remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like vintage animation that feels like a fever dream, sure. If you get annoyed by plot logic—like, why is a dog attending college and trying to date?—you might want to skip this one.
It is definitely for the crowd that appreciates 1930s musical cameos mixed with bizarre animal antics. If you prefer your cartoons to have a consistent internal world, you will probably hate it.
There is something inherently unsettling about the way these old characters move. They stretch and bounce like they are made of bubblegum. The fraternity hazing plot feels surprisingly mean-spirited, even for a short from this time period.
The dog gets shoved around, and I found myself actually feeling bad for him. He just wanted a date!
Then, the movie just kind of stops to let Rudy Vallee sing the title track. It is a weird rhythm break that feels completely disconnected from the kidnapping mess happening in the dorms.
The Bouncing Ball is the classic sing-along gimmick, and it is weirdly hypnotic. I bet people in 1930s theaters loved this, but today it feels like a bizarre commercial break.
It is not the best thing Dave Fleischer ever did, but it has a specific charm. It is messy, short, and very loud. Sometimes you just need to watch a cartoon where a dog gets kidnapped by a group of guys in sweaters to remind yourself that movies used to be really, really weird.
It makes me want to go rewatch Leathernecking just to compare the musical numbers. This one is just… a lot.