Saturday, May 21, 2011

Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936)




Directors: Dave Fleischer & Willard Bowsky

Starring: Lou Fleischer (Wimpy), Jack Mercer (Popeye), Mae Questel (Olive Oyl), Gus Wickie (Sindbad)

More info: IMDb

Plot: The legendary sailors Popeye and Sindbad do battle to see which one is the greatest.



My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Aye!

I've been mesmerized at the quality of the animation of this 16 minute toon since I was a little kid. It's one of three wonderful Technicolor two-reelers the Fleischers did in the mid-to late 1930s and they all have some jaw-dropping animation. This scene in particular is stunning!


When you see it in motion it's as close to 3D as you can get with 2D. The layers at work are astounding. This was also made back when Popeye was cool. Just listen to him mumble to himself. It's hilarious. In some of these tunes he's cursing under his breath and you'd swear he actually said something he shouldn't. I love the song Sindbad sings, how he goes apeshit for Olive Oyl, the creative climactic battle, the works. I adore this short and last year when I saw it for something insane like $15 for the POPEYE THE SAILOR 1933-1938 (volume 1 of the chronological shorts collection) I couldn't pass it up. If you want to see the absolute best quality you can, Netflix disc 3 and then get disc 4 because that's got another classic in the same style, POPEYE THE SAILOR MEETS ALI BABA'S FORTY THIEVES.

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