SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

TheLittleSongbird 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

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Chess-Nuts" (obviously a play on words with "chestnuts"), is a 7-minute black-and-white cartoon from 1932, so it will be 85 years old next year, and it stars Fleischer Studios' Betty Boop. Early on, we see two men playing chess and then the camera moves to the chess board where Betty Boop, the Black Queen, struggles with staying safe from a bad guy. But luckily, Bimbo is nearby to be Betty's knight in shining armor and come to the rescue. I may like this one here more than the regular viewer, just because I always though chess was a fascinating sport, so if you don't care for chess, maybe you should only watch it if you really like Betty and old cartoons. Also, the little fox is pretty hot in here and they made use of Betty's sexy physical side as they rarely did in other cartoons. We even see her in underwear on one occasions. This is also why I recommend the watch here. Thumbs up, this is one of Betty's more daring movies and also among her better ones. Also loved the "3 Blind Mice" reference.

Foreverisacastironmess 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!

Robert Reynolds This short is one of the most eccentric cartoons the Fleischer Brothers ever did! It opens with two men at a chess board, apparently playing a match and then turns its focus onto the pieces for the most bizarre game of chess played since Lewis Carroll penned Through the Looking Glass! Very odd, even for a Betty Boop in the early 1930s. Wonderful short. I sincerely doubt, however, that another commenter was talking about this short, from the gist of his or her comments. In print and available. Well worth watching. Highly recommended.