Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Barnacle Bill" is a black-and-white sound cartoon from 1930, so this one had its 85th anniversary last year. It was made by animation legends Dave and Max Fleischer and is another Betty Boop cartoon. The title character here may have the same initials, but it is another character. Barnacle Bill is actually Betty's frequent co-lead Bimbo who poses as a sailor in here and has dog's ears just like Betty. At 8 minutes, it runs for slightly longer than cartoons regularly did back in the day, but the premise is similar to many other works from back then. There is a main character, his love interest and a main antagonist, something you also know from Warner Bros. or Disney. But the difference here is that these Betty Boop cartoons are much more absurd and bizarre and this one here is no exception. Also there is lots of music as usual. All in all, nothing really good or bad to see here, I give it a thumbs-down. Only worth checking out for Betty lovers.

MartinHafer In the first decade or so of sound cartoons, studios tended to make their films with way too much singing and cuteness and way too little humor. So, I do understand the context for "Barnacle Bill"....but I also didn't need to like it, either. The film is sung from start to finish and really lacks humor and entertainment value when seen today. In fact, my score of 3 reflects the film when seen today--perhaps back in 1930 it would have earned a 5 or 6.So is the film worth seeing? Well, it all depends. If you are a huge Betty Boop fan or are a big fan of early animation, it's worth seeing--as it's one of the earliest incarnations of this and the Bimbo character. Now it might be hard to see this as being Betty at first--she has long doggy ears and is animated in a stretched out manner. Bimbo also is VERY different. As far as the story goes, well, there isn't much of one--just lots of singing. The only real plus doesn't surprise me--the background animations were first-rate--which is what you should expect from a Fleischer Brothers cartoon.

Mightyzebra I enjoyed this cartoon for what it is worth, as I do most of the cartoons of this era I watch. Here we have the second appearance of Betty Boop, released less than a month after her first cartoon, "Dizzy Dishes". In that and this cartoon, she is a dog (as one can tell from the dog ears). Here, she is not the main character, but she appears enough to glean more of her personality than "Dizzy Dishes". We have here the first appearance of Bimbo, who calls himself "Barnacle Bill", in this episode. He is an annoying character in the way that he is very arrogant.The episode starts in a cartoony way (normal for the time), where the crew are singing about being on the sea. The ship briefly docks and the captain calls all the crew (one of them looking suspiciously like Mickey Mouse) and tells them that they cannot leave the ship. Barnacle Bill, however, has other ideas...Later in the episode, Barnacle Bill meets Betty Boop as a dog and says some rather horrible things to her in his singing, which is why this cartoon is not particularly suitable for children (although I am not sure if this cartoon was directed at family, children or adults).It is a cartoon worth watching all the same and I recommend it to people who like old cartoons with singing pretty much instead of dialogue. Enjoy "Barnacle Bill"! :-)

theowinthrop An early Betty Boop cartoon, with Betty as the girlfriend of Bimbo (as Barnacle Bill) determined to flee his ship to have a tryst with her. Betty was drawn as a dog at this time - cut, sexy body and flapper hairdo - but dog ears. Since Bimbo was a dog too it did not matter, but this does lead to an interesting (if eventually dull) joke.The cartoon begins with the crew of the sailing ship that Bill is on taking it into port - and singing a chantey up to the dock. They are looking forward to getting off. By the way, the Fleischers do like to stick it to one of their artistic and commercial rivals: Walt Disney. One of the crewmen is a mouse who looks remarkably like Mickey did in the early "Steamboat Willy" cartoons.The ship captain tells the crew they can't leave the ship, but Bimbo/Barnacle Bill proceeds to do so, and knocks out the Captain when the latter tries to stop him. We see him trace the address of Betty (not under her famous cartoon name - and at an address close to the docks, suggesting what her profession may be). He arrives and rings at her door, and they start doing "Who's that knocking at my door?" and "Barnacle Bill the Sailor" in a long duet. He finally comes upstairs, and while they are alone on her coach she lowers the blinds.Here is that interesting, but eventually dull joke. Remember that both Betty and Bimbo are dogs. All the others in the building, and in the neighborhood are women who are cats, and who notice that Betty has lowered the curtain - and they proceed to "cattily" comment about Betty's behavior with each other. It took me a moment to notice it, but after awhile I felt the joke was milked for more than it was worth.At the end, love 'em and leave 'em Bill leaves a tearful Betty when he admits he'll never marry (as she wants). And he heads downstairs, right into a confrontation with his captain (who lives in the same building as Betty does). A chase and an odd resolution which is reminiscent of the movie SPLASH ends the cartoon. It is not a great Betty Boop cartoon, although the sexual relationship between Betty and Bimbo is interesting, and the use of lightning bolts in a fight at the end is creative. As said elsewhere on this thread, it is worth seeing once.