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Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: January 17, 1942
Stars: Popeye, Bluto, Olive Oyl
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
In the early 1940s America was taken by a conga craze, as is exemplified by cartoons like ‘Woody Woodpecker‘ (1941), ‘Mickey’s Birthday Party’ (1942) and ‘Juke Box Jamboree‘ (1942).Popeye’s contribution to this dance craze is ‘Kickin’ the Conga ‘Round’.
In this wartime cartoon both Popeye and Bluto are sailors ready to go the shore in some Latin American country. There Popeye has a sweetheart called ‘Olivra Oyla’ (Olive Oyl, of course, but tanned, and speaking with a fake Spanish accent). Bluto fancies her, too, and at the shore a feud ensures, with Bluto and Popeye performing magic tricks, outsmarting each other.
Popeye’s tricks are strikingly violent, but Bluto has his revenge: at the conga club it appears that Popeye can’t dance, while Bluto can, so he dances the conga with Olivra, leaving Popeye sulking at the table. Fortunately, spinach gives him the conga spirit, and soon Popeye takes over, and even clobbers Bluto to a conga beat. The animation on this short is strikingly zany, and perfectly matched to the typical conga beat.
‘Kickin’ the Conga ‘Round’ marks Bluto’s return after an eighteen months absence since ‘Fightin’ Pals‘ (1940). This short also marks his first portrayal as a navy sailor. Like Popeye, who first appeared in this uniform in ‘The Mighty Navy‘, navy white would remain his new uniform for the rest of his theatrical career. With Bluto’s return, the Popeye cartoons would more and more follow the triangular relationship between Popeye, Olive and Bluto, diverting less and less to other story ideas.
Watch ‘Kickin’ the Conga ‘Round’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 102
To the previous Popeye film: Nix on Hypnotricks
To the next Popeye film: Blunder Below
‘Kickin’ the Conga ‘Round’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1941-1943’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: December 19, 1941
Stars: Popeye, Olive Oyl
Rating: ★★★★½
Review:
‘Nix on Hypnotricks’ starts with some Eastern hypnotist called Prof. I. Stare, who needs a human victim.
He chooses one randomly, with the use of a phone book. This random victim happens to be Olive Oyl, who he manages to hypnotize through the phone, ordering her to come to him. This turns her into a mindless zombie walking to his office. This passage leads to more or less a remake of ‘A Dream Walking’ (1934), with Olive Oyl walking on great heights, and Popeye going at great lengths in saving her. This sequence is no less than hilarious, with gags rolling in plenty. At one point we even watch the both walking absentmindedly on top of a building in construction. Spinach turns Popeye into a Superman, with S-logo and cape, in a tribute to his new fellow cartoon star (at the time of the film’s release, the Fleischers had released two Superman cartoons). However, to save Olive from the spell, Popeye has to slap her. Unfortunately, Olive immediately punishes him for doing so…
‘Nix on Hypnotricks’ is a genuine gag cartoon and shows the Fleischer studio in top form. Who would have thought the two brothers would be out of business within half a year?
Watch ‘Nix on Hypnotricks’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 101
To the previous Popeye film: The Mighty Navy
To the next Popeye film: Kickin’ the Conga ‘Round
‘Nix on Hypnotricks’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1941-1943’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: November 14, 1941
Stars: Popeye
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
In ‘The Mighty Navy’ Popeye follows Porky Pig (‘Meet John Doughboy‘) and Barney Bear (‘The Rookie Bear’) and joins the army.
As a sailor, he naturally chooses the navy. Thus, at the start of the cartoon, we find him on a training ship. However, being a navy sailor turns out to be quite different, and most of the humor comes from Popeye’s inapt ways of being a navy sailor. “Do I wants to be a sailor? I AM a sailor! I’m Popeye the sailor! I was born a sailor“, Popeye exclaims at one point. But despite his lifelong experience, Popeye’s ways of hoisting an anchor, aiming the guns and flying a dive bomber in no way convince his superior, so he’s sent to the kitchen to peel onions. Yet, when the training ship is under attack, Popeye saves the day.
‘The Mighty Navy’ was released only thirteen days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and thus the enemy is neither named nor seen in this cartoon. The enemy’s fleet flag bears ‘The Enemy (Name Your Own)’, and when Popeye disposes of its fleet, no victim can be seen. This in sharp contrast to the post-Pearl Harbor Popeye cartoons by the Famous studios: now the Japanese were clearly identified, and racial stereotypes roamed wildly. None of that in this cartoon, making it much more fun to watch.
‘The Mighty Navy’ seems to be a tribute cartoon to the navy. Apart from Popeye, all sailors look like Superman, and the navy itself isn’t ridiculed at all. Instead, the cartoon looks like a celebration of the navy’s choice to make Popeye the official insignia for its own bomber squad. In the insignia, which is presented to the character himself at the end of the cartoon, Popeye looks like his older self, but in ‘The Mighty Navy’ Popeye’s clothes have changed into navy white. I don’t think that this was meant to be a permanent change of dress. Indeed, in Popeye’s next cartoon, ‘Nix on Hypnotricks’ Popeye wears his old clothes again. Yet, in most of his following cartoons, he would be dressed in navy white, and it’s in this dress he would be seen the rest of his theatrical career.
Watch ‘The Mighty Navy’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 100
To the previous Popeye film: I’ll Never Crow Again
To the next Popeye film: Nix on Hypnotricks
‘The Mighty Navy’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1941-1943’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: September 19, 1941
Stars: Popeye, Olive Oyl
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
In ‘I’ll Never Crow Again’ Olive’s garden is invaded by some cheeky crows.
Olive phones Popeye to chase the crows away. Popeye’s attempts include placing a scarecrow, and pretending to be a scarecrow himself. All his attempts fail, however, much to hilarity of Olive. In the end, Popeye gets so angry at Olive, he turns her into a scarecrow, which surprisingly works in chasing the crows away.
The crows are over-sized and they are able to talk. The pesky animals turn Popeye into the straight man, and with that some of the comedy is lost. Also, to watch an angry Popeye laying hands on Olive is quite out of character, and this gag doesn’t really work either.
In his introduction shot we watch Popeye cutting his toenails, something we hadn’t seen a cartoon character doing since Betty Boop in ‘Bimbo’s Express‘ (1931). The theme song of this cartoon is ‘It’s a Hap-Hap-Happy Day’ from ‘Gulliver’s Travels‘ (1939), which is sung by both Olive Oyl and Popeye in the opening scenes.
Watch ‘I’ll Never Crow Again’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 99
To the previous Popeye film: Pest Pilot
To the next Popeye film: The Mighty Navy
‘I’ll Never Crow Again’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1941-1943’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: August 8, 1941
Stars: Popeye, Poopdeck Pappy
Rating: ★★
Review:
In ‘Pest Pilot’ Popeye suddenly has exchanged sailing for flying.
Apparently, Popeye owns an “air-conditioned airport”, where he works on some planes. Poopdeck Pappy drops by, begging Popeye to let him fly, which Popeye keeps refusing. When put outside, Pappy finds an idle plane, and the old man takes off immediately, flying recklessly all over the world, and crashing into Popeye’s airport again.
Surprisingly little happens in this ‘Pest Pilot’: we practically only see Pappy begging and flying. Poopdeck Pappy’s flight is mildly amusing, and in fact the short’s best gag is Popeye’s original way of making a propeller.
‘Pest Pilot’ was the last Fleischer cartoon featuring Poopdeck Pappy. Popeye’s old man would turn up in ‘Seein’ Red White ‘n Blue’ (1943), but was revived by Paramount in only eight cartoons. Poopdeck Pappy’s last three Fleischer cartoons were rather weak, but earlier ones had shown that the character certainly had comic potential, so why he was eventually shelved, we’ll never know.
Watch ‘Pest Pilot’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 98
To the previous Popeye film: Child Psykolojiky
To the next Popeye film: I’ll Never Crow Again
‘Pest Pilot’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1941-1943’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: July 11, 1941
Stars: Popeye, Poopdeck Pappy, Swee’Pea
Rating: ★
Review:
This short opens with Popeye and Poopdeck Pappy playing cards (and the old man cheating a lot).
Unfortunately father and son are disturbed by a weeping Swee’Pea, and both try to nurture the baby. The two men’s methods of nurture are quite different, however, Popeye’s soft approach contrasting heavily with Poopdeck Pappy’s more outlandish methods. As soon as Popeye leaves the room, his father tests Swee’Pea’s nerves by swinging him outside the window, like a Michael Jackson avant la lettre. Next he teaches the infant how to shoot.
Despite the rather risque gags (at least to the modern viewer), ‘Child Psykolojiky’ never becomes very funny. The cartoon is hampered by its large amount of dialogue (it certainly is one of the most talkative cartoons of the era), and its moral, which throws the short back into the 1930s.
Watch ‘Child Psykolojiky’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 97
To the previous Popeye film: Olive’s Boithday Presink
To the next Popeye film: Pest Pilot
‘Child Psykolojiky’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1941-1943’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: June 13, 1941
Stars: Popeye
Rating: ★★
Review:
A Russian fur seller called G. Geezil draws Popeye inside his shop, but when Popeye discovers that all his bearskins are in fact, rabbit, the man proposes Popeye shoots a bear himself.
Popeye immediately sets out to do so, and corners a bear on a cliff. But when the bear calls for his family to say goodbye, Popeye breaks his gun. Suddenly the bear takes his revenge, and Popeye is only saved by his spinach, robbing the bear of his skin in a matter of seconds, only to discover it’s a G. Geezil coat, too…
The story idea of ‘Olive’s Boithday Presink’ harks all the way back to the Talkartoon ‘A Hunting We Will Go‘ (1932), and it’s just as weak. The bear’s goodbye scene is the highlight, in its perfect silent melodramatic comedy. However, there’s little else to enjoy: the shop scene feels like it was made years before, and the final battle is over before you know it.
Watch ‘Olive’s Boithday Presink’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 96
To the previous Popeye film: Popeye Meets Rip van Winkle
To the next Popeye film: Child Psykolojiky
‘Olive’s Boithday Presink’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1941-1943’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: May 9, 1941
Stars: Popeye
Rating: ★
Review:
‘Popeye Meets Rip van Winkle’ opens with Popeye passing Rip van Winkle’s home, which is emptied by some movers (one being a caricature of Chico Marx), because Van Winkle didn’t pay the rent.
Soon, Van Winkle is put outside himself, still sleeping. Popeye takes the old man home. But when he leaves the bearded fellow alone for a while, Van Winkle immediately starts sleepwalking. Incomprehensibly, the somnambulist ends with some fairy tale dwarfs bowling in the countryside. Popeye has to fight them all before he can take the old man back with him.
‘Popeye Meets Rip van Winkle’ makes very little sense, and certainly is one of the weakest Popeye cartoons ever made. The best part is when the dwarfs beat Popeye to their own size. Nevertheless, the short features some beautiful effect animation on Popeye, when he’s lit by lighting.
Watch ‘Popeye Meets Rip van Winkle’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 95
To the previous Popeye film: Flies Ain’t Human
To the next Popeye film: Olive’s Boithday Presink
‘Popeye Meets Rip van Winkle’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1941-1943’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: April 4, 1941
Stars: Popeye
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
In ‘Flies Ain’t Human’ Popeye tries to take a nap, but he’s bothered by some flies.
Popeye manages to blow the flies out of the window, but then one has stayed behind, giving the sailor a hard time, especially after the little insect has eaten spinach.
Like most 1941 Popeye cartoons, ‘Flies Ain’t Human’ is fast and gag rich. The turning around of the classic spinach story device is a great invention, and provides some excellent comedy, as Popeye becomes helpless against the surprisingly mighty little fly. In his final attempt to kill the tiny foe Popeye blows his own house to pieces, only to find multitudes of flies on his head in the end. The most delightful gag is when Popeye’s head gets stuck in a painting of a snowy landscape, and the fly takes some time to ski jump from his face into the painted snow.
The idea for the fly may have come from the bee troubling Donald Duck in ‘Window Cleaners‘ (1940). The cartoon itself at least looks forward to the cartoon ‘The Pink Tail Fly‘ (1965), in which a mosquito keeps the Pink Panther out of his sleep.
Watch ‘Flies Ain’t Human’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 94
To the previous Popeye film: Olive’s Sweepstake Ticket
To the next Popeye film: Popeye Meets Rip van Winkle
‘Flies Ain’t Human’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1941-1943’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: February 7, 1941
Stars: Popeye, Poopdeck Pappy
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
‘Quiet! Pleeze’ opens with Poopdeck Pappy lying with a hangover in bed.
When his son comes in to wake him, Poopdeck Pappy pretends to be ill, and Popeye goes at lengths to give his poor old dad peace and quiet, e.g. giving a crying baby across the street a bottle, and stopping workmen from blowing up a huge hill. This part is very fast, and reuses footage from various Popeye shorts, but now in a very different light. Of course, all Popeye’s actions are to no avail, as in the end he finds his dad being the life of a party.
Like ‘Problem Pappy‘, ‘Quiet! Pleeze’ is a fast and gag-rich cartoon, which belongs to Popeye’s best. It’s clear that the character of Poopdeck Pappy brought some new life into the series, giving the otherwise goody-goody Popeye something to work with.
However, it seems that with this cartoon the new formula had reached its limits, for Poopdeck Pappy’s next two cartoons, ‘Child Psykolojiky‘ and ‘Pest Pilot‘ aren’t half as good.
Watch ‘Quiet! Pleeze’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 92
To the previous Popeye film: Problem Pappy
To the next Popeye film: Olive’s Sweepstake Ticket
‘Quiet! Pleeze’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1941-1943’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: January 10, 1941
Stars: Popeye, Poopdeck Pappy
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
In ‘Problem Pappy’ story man Ted Pierce (of later Warner Bros. fame) reuses part of the story idea from ‘With Poopdeck Pappy‘: Popeye wants to wake his dad, only to find the bed empty.
When Popeye starts looking for his father, he finds his mischievous old dad juggling on a pole on top of a tall building. Popeye’s attempts to retrieve his pop account for some delightful comedy on dizzying heights. T
he film is simply stuffed with great gags and original images, like Popeye using lightning bolts as Tarzan would use lianas. The staging in this cartoon is absolutely wonderful, and the animators make great use of a shot of the staircase of the tall building. In all, ‘Problem Pappy’ is one of the all time best Popeye cartoons, and completely in tune with the faster comedy style of the chase cartoon era.
Watch ‘Problem Pappy’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 91
To the previous Popeye film: Popeye Presents Eugene, the Jeep
To the next Popeye film: Quiet! Pleeze
‘Problem Pappy’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1941-1943’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: December 13, 1940
Stars: Popeye, Eugene the Jeep
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
After reviving Poopdeck Popeye in ‘My Pop, My Pop‘ and ‘With Poopdeck Pappy‘, the Fleischers reintroduced the Jeep in ‘Popeye Presents Eugene, the Jeep’, despite the creature having appeared already in ‘The Jeep’ (1938).
‘Popeye Presents Eugene, the Jeep’ opens with a package deliverer delivering a package to Popeye. This package deliverer is clearly voiced by Pinto Colvig, and sounds exactly like Goofy.
The package contains the Jeep, which Olive has sent to Popeye, with a strange instruction to keep it outdoors to sleep. This premise leads to a great chase cartoon: for despite all Popeye’s efforts, the Jeep refuses to remain outside, and time and time again ends up in Popeye’s bed.
Now in E.C. Segar’s comic strip the Jeep had magical powers, being able to cross the 4th dimension, but the Fleischers don’t use this premise in this film. In some scenes it’s clear how the Jeep enters the house, in others they keep it wisely unknown.
With this mysterious ability to be at any given place at will the Jeep anticipates Tex Avery’s characters Cecil Turtle in …. and Droopy in …. The comedy of this cartoon certainly is of a new era, and the fun is greatly helped by the inspired score, which, like the one in ‘With Poopdeck Pappy’ makes great use of the lullaby ‘Go to Sleep, My Baby’.
Watch ‘Popeye Presents Eugene, the Jeep’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 90
To the previous Popeye film: With Poopdeck Pappy
To the next Popeye film: Problem Pappy
‘Popeye Presents Eugene, the Jeep’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor Volume Two’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: November 15, 1940
Stars: Popeye, Poopdeck Pappy
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
After his reintroduction in ‘My Pop, My Pop‘ Poopdeck Pappy immediately returns in ‘With Poopdeck Pappy’.
In this cartoon Poopdeck Pappy behaves as Popeye’s disobedient child: Popeye repeatedly tries to put him to sleep, but he sneaks out time and time again to have some fun in a nightclub downtown.
The antagonism between father and son is wonderful, and leads to lots of silly gags. With this cartoon Popeye certainly entered the chase cartoon era, as also exemplified with his next cartoon, ‘Popeye Presents Eugene, the Jeep‘. Like the Jeep, Poopdeck Pappy has almost magical powers to escape Popeye’s bedroom. More importantly, Poopdeck Pappy defies Popeye’s 1930s morality: in the end, it’s he who wins, leaving Popeye roped in his very own bed.
Throughout the picture, the comedy is well-timed and greatly enhanced by the inspired score, which makes excellent use of ‘Go To Sleep, My Baby’ during the bed scenes – apparently a new favorite song of composer Sammy Timberg, as it also appears in the Hunky & Spunky cartoon ‘Vitamin Hay‘ from three months earlier, and in the next Popeye cartoon, ‘Popeye presents Eugene, the Jeep’.
With this cartoon Poopdeck Pappy proved to be a worthy addition to the Popeye cartoon cast. So he would be full of mischief again in his next cartoons ‘Problem Pappy‘, ‘Quiet! Pleeze‘, ‘Child Psykolojiky‘ and ‘Pest Pilot‘ (all from 1941).
Watch ‘With Poopdeck Pappy’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 89
To the previous Popeye film: My Pop, My Pop
To the next Popeye film: Popeye Presents Eugene, the Jeep
‘With Poopdeck Pappy’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor Volume Two’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: October 18, 1940
Stars: Popeye, Poopdeck Pappy
Rating: ★★½
Review:
In ‘My Pop, My Pop’ Popeye builds a boat. Poopdeck Pappy comes along and insists on helping him, but in the end, it’s Popeye who does all the work.
Although Poopdeck Pappy had already been introduced in the Fleischer Popeye series in 1938, in ‘Goonland‘, he was shelved for two years. With ‘My Pop, My Pop’ he reentered the Popeye universe: having his own theme song, a Scottish voice, and being remarkably weak and lazy. These character traits don’t match the character in E.C. Segar’s comic strip or in ‘Goonland’, and were not repeated in his next cartoon, ‘With Poopdeck Pappy‘.
Indeed, they’re not even very funny in this cartoon, with Poopdeck Pappy remaining a rather bland character. Moreover, the whole short is rather slow moving and too rich in unfunny dialogue. The best gags are Popeye’s original ways of boat building.
Luckily, Poopdeck Pappy’s most of next cartoons would be much better.
Watch ‘My Pop, My Pop’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 88
To the previous Popeye film: Popeye Meets William Tell
To the next Popeye film: With Poopdeck Pappy
‘My Pop, My Pop’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor Volume Two’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: September 20, 1940
Stars: Popeye
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
Without any explanation Popeye walks through a medieval setting, where he meets William Tell.
When William Tell refuses to bow for the governor, Popeye volunteers to act as his son, so he can shoot an apple from his head. But Tell misses, and Popeye collapses. But when Tell is about to be beheaded, Popeye comes to the rescue, with help of spinach.
The story of ‘Popeye Meets William Tell’ is not really remarkable, but the cartoon is full of silly gags and anachronisms. None of it makes sense, and there’s a sense of anarchy present reminiscent of the Marx Brothers films.
The cartoon is a rather oddball entry within the Popeye series, with the designs of the other characters being more reminiscent of the inhabitants of Lilliput of ‘Gulliver’s Travels‘ (1939) than of the other characters in the Popeye universe. The short is definitely worth a watch, as it displays the large amount of creativity the Fleischer studio put into this series.
Watch ‘Popeye Meets William Tell’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 87
To the previous Popeye film: Puttin on the Act
To the next Popeye film: My Pop, My Pop
‘Popeye Meets William Tell’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor Volume Two’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: August 30, 1940
Stars: Popeye, Olive Oyl
Rating: ★★★
Review:
‘Puttin on the Act’ reveals that Popeye and Olive had been a vaudeville duo once.
The short opens with Olive running to Popeye, full of joy, because she has read in the newspaper that vaudeville is coming back. This would be a surprise, as already during the 1920s vaudeville had gone into a steady decline, due to radio, film, and jazz.
But Olive and Popeye immediately revive their old routines in their own home. Most fun is Popeye doing impersonations, imitating Jimmy Durante, Stan Laurel and Groucho Marx (using some of Marx’s best quotes). Their routine ends with ‘The Adagio’, an acrobatic act that is very similar to the one by Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow and Goofy in ‘Orphan’s Benefit‘ (1935), proving this was a staple act in vaudeville. At the end of the cartoon, unfortunately, it’s revealed that Olive’s newspaper had been from 1898…
‘Puttin on the Act’ is nice piece of nostalgia. Most of the animators and story artists of the time had grown up in the vaudeville era, and this cartoon is a homage to a form of entertainment long lost since.
Watch ‘Puttin on the Act’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 86
To the previous Popeye film: Wimmin Hadn’t Oughta Drive
To the next Popeye film: Popeye Meets William Tell
‘Puttin on the Act’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor Volume Two’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: August 2, 1940
Stars: Popeye, Swee’Pea
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
‘Doing Impossikible Stunts’ is a cheater, a.k.a. a compilation cartoon. Yet within this genre, this short is a nicely told one.
In this cartoon Popeye heads for ‘Mystery Pictures, Inc.’ , to apply as a stunt man. He has brought with him some footage of his stunt work. Little Swee’Pea follows him, and at one time swaps Popeye’s footage for his own, gaining the job.
Popeye’s films are excerpts from ‘I never Changes My Altitude’ (1937), ‘I Wanna be a Lifeguard’ (1936) and ‘Bridge Ahoy’ (1936), and Swee’Pea’s is from ‘Lost and Foundry’ (1937).
The film company’s slogan, ‘If it’s a good picture, it’s a mystery’ echoes a similar gag involving Wonder pictures, in ‘Daffy Duck in Hollywood‘ (1938).
Watch ‘Doing Impossikible Stunts’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 84
To the previous Popeye film: Fightin Pals
To the next Popeye film: Wimmin Hadn’t Oughta Drive
‘Doing Impossikible Stunts’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor Volume Two’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: July 12, 1940
Stars: Popeye, Bluto
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
‘Fightin Pals’ is a cartoon devoted to the love-hate relationship between Popeye and Bluto.
The short opens with Dr. Bluto boarding a ship for an African Expedition. Popeye and Bluto show their own tough way of saying goodbye, but as soon as Bluto has left, Popeye starts pining for his rival. Thus, when he hears on the radio Bluto has been lost, he himself sails straight into dark Africa to look for his lost pal. Soon, Popeye is in a bad state himself, and when he finally discovers Bluto, who is pampered by some beautiful natives, it’s Bluto who has to revive him by giving the poor sailor spinach. As soon as Popeye is on his feet, the two immediately resume their happy quarrel again.
‘Fightin Pals’ is a beautiful cartoon on friendship. Jack Mercer’s mumbling is particularly inspired in this cartoon. The short also shows a brief World War II reference: when Popeye sails passes Europe he encounters some violent fighting there.
After ‘Fightin Pals’ it looks as if Bluto stayed in Africa, for he was not seen in any Popeye cartoon for almost two years. He returned to the screen in ‘Olive Oyl and Water Don’t Mix’ (1942), this time to stay.
Watch ‘Fightin Pals’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 83
To the previous Popeye film: Nurse-Mates
To the next Popeye film: Doing Impossikible Stunts
‘Fightin Pals’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor Volume Two’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: June 20, 1940
Stars: Popeye, Bluto, Olive Oyl, Little Swee’Pea
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
‘Nurse-Mates’ opens with Bluto and Popeye both visiting Olive to invite her to the movies.
Olive agrees, but first has to go to the beauty parlor, leaving the two rivals to take care of little Swee’Pea. This leads to several gags showing the two men’s original ways to bathe, feed, and dress the baby, while competing each other.
In this cartoon Bluto is no villain, only Popeye’s rival, and he gets ample screen time to show his parental instincts. Moreover, there’s no spinach involved, and Bluto’s and Popeye’s rivalry is almost playful, when compared to other entries. This more harmonious relationship between the two would be explored further in the next Popeye cartoon, ‘Fightin’ Pals’.
Watch ‘Nurse-Mates’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 82
To the previous Popeye film: Wimmen Is a Myskery
To the next Popeye film: Fightin Pals
‘Nurse-Mates’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor Volume Two’
Director: Dave Fleischer
Release Date: April 12, 1940
Stars: Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
This short opens with Popeye reading a letter in which Olive tells him she leaves him for real men in the West.
Undaunted, Popeye sails right into the prairie town, where he challenges the ‘real man’, cowboy Bluto. Bluto makes Popeye taming a wild mustang, in a delightful sequence.
When Popeye succeeds, however, he soon gets strangled by a rattlesnake. Time for spinach! Popeye clobbers the snake into purses, hand bags and a rattle, and soon knocks Bluto and all of his men unconscious, restoring Olive’s love for him.
‘Me Feelins Is Hurt’ is a nice, if rather average Popeye cartoon. Popeye’s sailing to the prairie town, a rather Tex Averyan sequence, is the highlight of the cartoon.
Watch ‘Me Feelins Is Hurt’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This Popeye film No. 79
To the previous Popeye film: Stealin’ Ain’t Honest
To the next Popeye film: Onion Pacific
‘Me Feelins Is Hurt’ is available on the DVD set ‘Popeye the Sailor Volume Two’
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 